What Does a Face Serum Do?

Face serums are mysterious and exciting. How can a small, pea-sized amount of lightweight moisturizer have such a big impact on your skin’s overall health? If you talk to any skincare expert, they’ll tell you that serums are a staple of any daily regimen for healthy, brighter, ageless skin.

But what exactly does a face serum do, how does it differ from a regular moisturizer, and is it really worth the money? Let’s break down the facts behind face serums, see why you should incorporate one into your skincare routine, and determine what to look for in choosing the ideal product for your skin type.

L'Unique Miracular Facial Serum

Understanding the Basics of FacE Serum Effectiveness

Before asking, “What does a face serum do?”, it’s essential to define what a face serum is. Put simply, a face serum is a lightweight moisturizing gel, specifically designed to penetrate your skin at a deeper level than a traditional cream.

Serums often contain anti-aging ingredients that rejuvenate your skin, leaving it looking brighter and reducing fine lines and wrinkles along with other signs of aging, such as dark spots and an uneven skin tone. Serums are much more concentrated than traditional moisturizers, and deliver higher proportions of beneficial compounds, making them more effective at producing real results. That’s why most people see rapid results from using a quality face serum.

Make Sure Your Face Serum Contains These Ingredients

When you’re looking through the wide variety of face serums on the market, it’s vital to understand the basic ingredients each face serum should have in order to get the results you want. Make sure that the one you choose has been thoroughly tested and has been proven to not cause skin irritation or inflammation, which can make your skin look and feel worse rather than better.

Here are a few essential components of an effective face serum you can count on to leave your skin glowing and more youthful: - (click here for full infographic)

Important ingredients

  • Hydrating ingredients: Ceramides, peptides, amino acids and fatty acids can help moisturize your skin, leaving it feeling soft and supple.
  • Antioxidants: You may see vitamins, fruit extracts, kelp extract or other well-known antioxidants as ingredients in your chosen serum since they are proven to fight free radicals that can damage and age skin prematurely.
  • Anti-inflammatories: Aloe, zinc, chamomile, or other anti-inflammatories may be added to your face serum to decrease redness and inflammation, but they leave your skin uneven and make you look older.
  • Anti-aging properties: There are proven anti-aging ingredients, many proprietary, that may also be in your face serum. Growth factors are some of the most effective at fighting aging and ensuring youthful skin cell cycle turnover. So, if having skin that looks as it did when it was younger is important to you, look for these specialized compounds.
Choose a Facial Serum backed by Scientific Research

Backed by Scientific Research

When choosing a face serum, research is your best friend. A surprisingly small number of serums are thoroughly tested. Even fewer are formulated by medical professionals with a broad understanding of skin health.

Nourishing Biologicals (NB) goes above and beyond to perform clinical research to test the effectiveness and safety of our products. As George Sadowski MD, founder of NB says, “We didn’t try anything that wasn’t backed up by science.”

Our thorough, clinical trials showed our skin serum resulted in immediate hydration and continued improvement over the 12-week clinical testing for 100 percent of the human subjects. And, over 90 percent of subjects experienced increased skin firmness and improvement of skin tone.

    Should You Apply a Face Serum at Night or In the Morning?

    With so many different skin cleansers, toners and moisturizers, it can be hard to know where a face serum should fit into your routine. When exactly is the best time to apply your face serum?

    The answer is, it depends. If you use a retinoid containing formula, don’t apply a serum because the combination of the two can cause burning and irritation. Apply your face serum in the morning, and use your retinoid formula at night after cleansing your face but before your traditional cream moisturizer. By layering a heavier cream on top of your serum, it will give the active ingredients a chance to penetrate your skin more deeply without the risk of rubbing off before you can experience all of its benefits.

    Note: you should limit sun exposure with retinoid containing products.

    Avoid This Common Face Serum Mistake

    When it comes to serums, you only need a small amount to see significant benefits. Many people fall into the trap of thinking if a little is good, a lot must be better. However, when you use too much serum, it can leave your skin feeling sticky and greasy. Since serums are designed to be concentrated, and their active ingredients are more potent compared to other skin creams, a pea-sized amount is typically enough to cover your entire face. For best results, be sure to apply the face serum daily. If you don’t start seeing brighter, younger-looking skin after 2 or 3 weeks of use, you may need to switch brands.

    Choose a Serum that Puts Results & Satisfaction First

    Check for brands that include a money-back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied within the first 30 days of purchasing a product. Quality brands that stand behind their products want you to be satisfied with your results. If a brand doesn’t give that assurance, it’s often a sign that the claims they make and the results you’ll see don’t match. In which case, you should make a different choice.

    At Nourishing Biologicals, we stand behind our products 100% and are proud to offer our unconditional satisfaction guarantee.