Perricone MD – Vitamin C Ester 15

Lately I’ve been on the hunt for gentle but effective serums that can kind of do-it-all. I have used Perricone MD products in the past and they’ve always been decent. They’re made by Dr.Perriocone, a Dermatologist known to many as the mind behind the anti-inflammatory diet to fight aging. His products aren’t the cleanest, but I’ve never really had an adverse reaction from using his stuff. One of his cult products, Cold Plasma is a staple for my mom, and for a while I was pretty addicted to his High Potency Eye Lift.

I discovered the Vitamin C Ester 15 serum in the stock room at work the other day and felt like it was the perfect product for me. My skin always reacted well to Vitamin C, which made it seem to brighten and just look more youthful in weeks. So when I read the description, “An unprecedented 15% maximum concentration of Vitamin C Ester designed to boost collagen and deliver dramatically brighter, firmer, smoother skin.” – I was hooked!

Vitamin C is one of the best things we can feed our skin. It does a lot including brightening and evening complexion, increasing collagen production which leads to firmer and stronger skin, reversing sun damage, and smoothing overall skin tone. This makes it perfect for using during the day under a great sunscreen.

The kit comes with four .34 fl oz tubes to maintain efficacy (Vitamin C can oxidize and lose efficacy over time – so I really appreciate the thought behind this). They come out as a very light white cream that smells ever-so-slightly like orange peel. The cream spreads evenly and absorbs relatively fast. Unlike some Vitamin C serums, this didn’t leave my skin red so that was a relief especially for something with this high of a Vitamin C concentration. 

The primary area I focused on was around my cheek and mouth. I developed what I believe to be thin skin lacking some collagen due to my years of drinking everything with a straw (my brother is an orthodontist so all this stuff about staining, enamel wear, etc really gets to me).

It has been roughly 40 days since I started using this and I noticed that my skin just looked healthier. Areas that I wanted to target for aging signs seem to have been held back a little. It won’t iron away fine lines but it’ll delay and gentle pull back the hands of time a little bit. I no longer notice weak fine lines around my cheeks/mouth area when I make the fish face and the area seems to have become a little bit thicker. 

The full ingredients list is:

Water/Aqua, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Ceteareth-20, Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Caprylyl Glycol, Cyclohexasiloxane, Fragrance/Parfum, Zinc Sulfate, Disodium EDTA, Limonene, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Tocotrienols, Sorbic Acid, Tocopherol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Linalool, Citral

Ascorbyl Palmitate and Isopropyl Palmitate are the main sources of this fat-soluble Vitamin C. Because of this, I actually apply the serum with a facial oil rich in plant omegas at night to make sure it gets delivered deep down. There are some not so great things in here such as PEGs, Silicones, synthetic fragrance, etc but I didn’t have a bad reaction to it. And for those of you who don’t usually use clean, natural products anyway, this is actually better than what you’ll find on most department store beauty counters.

The product retails for $120, and can last roughly 2 months with moderate use. The results are fairly good and for people who respond really well to Vitamin C, this is one of the most concentrated clear-cut products on the market.

Available at Perricone MD