Youth to the People 15% Vitamin C + Clean Caffeine Energy Serum

Trying to bring you another review in time for the Sephora sale with the new Youth to the People 15% Vitamin C + Clean Caffeine Energy Serum. This is their new vitamin C serum. Details per Youth to the People:

Elevate your morning routine. This first-of-its-kind clinical-grade 15% vitamin C serum is boosted with clean, plant-derived caffeine from superleafs yerba mate and guayusa to immediately brighten, visibly reduce morning puffiness, and hydrate.

Our custom time-release 15% triple-C complex delivers 100% of the actives, penetrating both the epidermis and dermis for visible results. Never irritating and ultra-stable. Together, these three forms of vitamin c are so stable that they activate when the serum hits your skin—never in the bottle.

Directions In the morning, apply 2-4 pumps to cleansed face and neck. Follow with Superfood Air-Whip Moisture Cream or Adaptogen Deep Moisture Cream. With daily use, this super dose of antioxidants helps reduce the look of hyperpigmentation, even skin tone, and visibly firm. More energy. More youth.

Key Ingredients

• Antioxidant Blend: 15% Triple-C Complex, Passion + Dragon Fruit Extracts
• Superleaf Blend: Yerba Mate + Guayusa

What is this? A vitamin C and antioxidant serum. What's in it? Stable vitamin C derivatives (3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate & Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate), antioxidants (passion fruit, dragon fruit), hydrators (glycerin, hyaluronic acid, squalane) and plant extracts (Yerba Mate & Guayusa) which are high in caffeine and antioxidants. The texture is a light hydrating gel. It sinks right into the skin and layers well with no pilling. It has a very faint herbal scent (herbal extracts and ginger root oil). It's nothing strong or bothersome to my rosacea prone skin. The packaging is a brown glass bottle with a pump. I love the packaging, their products always have that luxe yet modern, minimalistic vibe. I also love that they use good ingredients and don't cost a fortune. They're mid price but still obtainable.

So the vitamin C they used is derivatives (not ascorbic acid) which means it's more suitable for all skin types including sensitive (not everyone can tolerate ascorbic acid). 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid and Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate are not only very stable meaning no oxidizing (turning orange) but they also happen to be two of the best derivatives as far as effectiveness. They tend to give me the best results closest to ascorbic acid out of the vitamin C derivative family. Vitamin C is great at brightening and evening the skin tone as well as promoting collagen production so while this is best to use to protect against free radical damage in the daytime, it's also able to be used at night to help with anti-aging. This one is very tolerable and I had no irritation whatsoever. I used it for 5 weeks solid daily in the morning and I used 1/3 of the bottle, so it should last a good amount of time.

I like that this is combined with antioxidants so you can use it as a one and done morning serum with SPF and moisturizer. I like caffeine extract as it's such a fabulous antioxidant. It does mild brightening for me, I suffer from melasma which is very hard to treat so not everything makes a huge difference for me. I tend to get best results with pure ascorbic acid which is why I prefer it over derivatives. I did notice a nice bright, even skin tone and it helped keep any news spots of pigmentation from forming. All that being said this is probably one of the best derivative style vitamin C serums I've tried, especially in the lower price range. I do recommend it and think most skin types will tolerate it well.

Ingredients

Water/Aqua/Eau, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Propanediol, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Sodium Citrate, Squalane, Triethyl Citrate, Gluconolactone, Citric Acid, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Sodium Benzoate, Lauroyl Lysine, Passiflora Edulis (Passion Fruit) Extract, Sclerotium Gum, Lecithin, Ilex Paraguariensis (Yerba Mate) Leaf Extract, Ilex Guayusa (Guayusa) Leaf Extract, Pullulan, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C), Mannitol, Hylocereus Undatus (Dragon Fruit) Fruit Extract, Ergothioneine, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil, Calcium Gluconate, Silica, Potassium Sorbate

*PR with no obligation to post, all thoughts are my own.