One of my all-time favorite clean beauty brands, Ursa Major, recently came out with their new skin remedy, the Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum. I tried it for three weeks and loved the way my skin looked: glowy, firm, and smooth. A high-quality Vitamin C product like this has the ability to give skin a little youthful brightness. It didn’t do much for my melasma—that’s the annoying “mask of pregnancy”—but it did visibly lighten the acne marks on my cheeks.
Not only is this serum effective at improving the look of skin, it’s also made of clean, quality ingredients.
Benefits (and drawbacks!) of Vitamin C
Here’s what you can expect from a high-quality Vitamin C serum or skin treatment:
- an evening out of skin tone
- visibly improved hydration
- enhanced protection from environmental stressors like pollution and ultraviolet radiation
- smoother skin
- younger-looking skin, longer
Topical Vitamin C is great to begin using in your early 20s, and becomes even more useful as time goes on.
There are, however, a few problems you’ll sometimes find in Vitamin C skincare. They’re usually related to the specific form of Vitamin C used (there are several) or poor packaging that renders the key ingredients less effective.
The other lesser-known issue some people can have with topical Vitamin C is irritation. Sometimes, it can even create breakouts. Yikes. If that happens, it’s certainly not the product for you!
What I like about the Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum from Ursa Major is that it’s both effective and non-irritating, a rare combination for a Vitamin C skin product.
Sweet Like Lemon Candy
Ursa Major is always mindful of the texture of their products. All of their products I’ve tested, from the sunscreen to the face balm, are delightfully lightweight. They feel like next to nothing on the skin. Even their ultra-moisturizing Golden Hour Recovery Cream never feels heavy or greasy.
The Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum is no different. It is silky and absorbs well into the skin. It isn’t sticky like other comparable Vitamin C serums.
And it smells like lemon candy, which is just yet another reason to love this serum!
It’s a Good Value
In terms of ingredients, results, and packaging, this serum is a good value.
Other Vitamin C serums in the $40-$60 range sometimes contain less stable—and therefore less effective—forms of vitamin C. Others are sticky and difficult to wear under makeup.
But the Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum utilizes a comparatively stable form of the antioxidant. It also has a texture that makes it very wearable, day or night.
Inside the Ingredients
The ingredients are 100% naturally-derived and 84.7% organic.
It utilizes ascorbic acid polypeptide, a relatively stable, water-soluble form of Vitamin C that offers all the benefits you want in a Vitamin C product.
The rose hip is an additional ingredient which supports the brightening action of the serum. Rose hip helps to minimize the appearance of scars and dark spots, while also hydrating skin and minimizing fine lines.
Because Vitamin C products can be irritating for some of us with sensitive skin—and even create breakouts—the soothing presence of aloe, rose, and aspen bark are welcome additions. I’ve never had any skin redness or congestion from this product.
All ingredients: organic aloe leaf juice, organic sunflower seed oil, glycerin, cocoglucoside, coconut alcohol, aspen bark extract, ascorbic acid polypeptide, organic rose hip seed extract, organic shea nut butter, edelweiss meristem cell culture, hydrogenated lecithin, glyceryl caprylate, sclerotium gum, organic rose flower oil, blood orange peel oil, organic rosemary leaf extract, bisabolol, sodium anisate, lactic acid, xanthan gum.
| Extremely Safe | Reasonably Safe | Proceed with Caution | Insufficient Data |
What you don’t see above is just as important as what you do see in this list. There are no parabens, synthetic fragrances, synthetic colors, sulfates or PEGs. Nice.
Where to Purchase
You can find Ursa Major’s Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum in a 1oz size for $54.
*This post is not sponsored. All opinions are my own.
**Products get makeovers too. Be sure to check if this product has been recently re-formulated before using it yourself.
