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Spend 30 seconds in the skin care aisle of any pharmacy or department store and you will almost certainly be bombarded with labels that promise skin-renewing, anti-aging and nourishing properties for something or other.
Anti-aging is big business. While thousands of products compete to be the best at preventing wrinkles, a quick look at their ingredient lists reveals a super ingredient that everyone seems to share: vitamin C.
Topical vitamin C has a range of skin benefits like no other. The powerful antioxidant can help brighten the skin, increase collagen production, even out skin tone and fight dark spots. It is also a notoriously effective anti-aging ingredient.
Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, helps to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Because collagen production is negatively affected as we age, L-ascorbic acid has been shown to increase collagen and elastin in the skin, which, in turn, can help keep your skin firmer for longer.
BUY: The Ordinary, $ 5.80
However, vitamin C is also highly unstable and subject to a short shelf life. Exposure to air, light and heat oxidizes the antioxidant, making it more or less useless if it is not kept in perfect condition.
Type: L-ascorbic acid powder. The powdered version of the antioxidant has all the same benefits as other vitamin C derivatives, but is highly stable. This means that you can mix and match your vitamin C powder with other (non-acidic) treatments and reap all its benefits.
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Ordinary L-Ascorbic Acid Powder has become a cult hit for this reason. If you are familiar with the Deciem and The Ordinary brands, you probably know that the item has a waiting list more often than not. Uncomplicated topical powder is drastically cheaper than other vitamin C products, costing less than $ 6.
To use The Ordinary’s vitamin C powder, combine a small amount of the powder (1/5 of a teaspoon) with a water-based product (for example, a serum or lotion) and apply to your skin at night. It is normal to feel a slight tingling sensation in the first weeks, while your skin adapts to the new product.
“I am 40 years old and I have normal to dry skin. [The Ordinary’s 100% L-Ascorbic Acid Powder] improves my skin tone, radiance and stiffness dramatically – overnight “according to one user.” My skin looks just wonderful! Younger! I mean, I look in the mirror and I love what I see. “
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When using the powder, it is important to read the label and not combine it with some other ingredients like EUK 134 and Niacinamide.
“It did wonders for my 72-year-old skin. Since I use it, I am often told that I look much younger than I am,” writes another reviewer.
The Ordinary product is infamously out of stock, so if it sounds like the anti-aging product you’re looking for, you better act quickly. And for less than the price of a Starbucks latte – what do you have to lose?
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