Our Vitamin C Collagen Boosting Face Serum with Niacinamide is the one water-based serum in a face line otherwise built on oils. Marianella formulated it as a light morning step that brings brightness and a more even tone in a single bottle, and it is made by hand in our Williamsburg workshop in small batches. You can buy it on its own, and at times we also include it free as a gift with qualifying orders. Either way, it is the same serum, made on the same bench by the same hands.
Why we made a vitamin C serum
Most of our face care is oil. The Royal Kalahari Face Serum is a blend of botanical oils led by Kalahari melon seed oil. The Midnight Youth Potion is an oil-serum for the evening. Our five pure face oils, from squalane to sea buckthorn, are exactly what their names say. Oils are wonderful at holding moisture in and leaving skin soft, but some of the most useful ingredients for brightness dissolve in water, not in oil.
The vitamin C serum fills that gap. It looks like water and feels like a cool drink for the skin, sinking in without stickiness, and it goes on first so that an oil or moisturizer can seal it in. In The Complete Face Serum Collection it is the morning serum: vitamin C in the morning, peptides at night, the Midnight Youth Potion last.
Inside the formula
Two ingredients sit at the center, and the name tells you both.
Ethyl ascorbic acid
This is a stabilized form of vitamin C. Pure L-ascorbic acid is the best-known form, but it breaks down quickly in light, air and warmth, and it has to be very acidic to work, which is why it can sting. Ethyl ascorbic acid holds up better and is gentler, which is why the serum suits sensitive skin as well as normal and combination skin. It helps skin look brighter and more even.
Niacinamide
A form of vitamin B3 that helps tone look balanced and texture look refined. It works by a different route from vitamin C, so the two complement each other, and having both in one bottle means one step where many routines take two.
The supporting cast
Around those two, Marianella built a short list chosen for how the serum feels. Aloe leaf juice and cucumber extract give cool, light hydration. Sodium hyaluronate, a form of hyaluronic acid, and glycerin help skin hold moisture. Extracts of bilberry, sugar cane, sugar maple, orange and lemon add a fresh, soft feel. A lactobacillus ferment supports the formula and leaves skin feeling balanced. Every one of these, with where it comes from and how it feels, is in our Ingredient Library.
Made by hand in Williamsburg
Marianella still makes every formula we sell, and this serum is hers. Like nearly everything in our range, it is made in our workshop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in batches of 50 to 100. Each batch is poured, labeled and packaged by hand by the same people who made it. The only exceptions in our whole line are the two Ultra Peptide formulas, which a specialist cosmetic lab makes for us.
Small batches matter more than usual for a vitamin C serum. We make what is needed rather than filling a warehouse, so the bottle you open was made recently. Working this way also lets us check how each batch feels and looks before it leaves the bench. The bottle and label are David's work, as they have been for every product since the first bars of soap in 2007.
Why we sometimes give it away
Many brands handle gifts with purchase by ordering foil sachets in bulk. A small workshop cannot do that, and we would not want to. When the serum goes out as a gift, it is the full product, from the same batches as the bottles we sell at full price.
When the offer is running, the gift version of the serum is added to orders that reach the qualifying amount, and the current terms are on its page. It cannot be bought or shipped on its own, and it is removed if an order falls below the threshold. If you would rather not wait for a promotion, the Vitamin C Collagen Boosting Face Serum with Niacinamide is always available to buy.
Most people who receive it already use other things we make, so it tends to land beside a body cream or a hand wash rather than on an empty shelf. That suits it: it is a small, quick step meant to sit inside a routine that is already running.
Using it the way it was designed
Press three or four drops into clean skin, wait a moment, and follow with moisturizer or a face oil. Use it in the morning with sunscreen, or in the evening. Keep it out of any routine that also uses retinol or benzoyl peroxide.
Questions about the story of our vitamin C serum
Who makes the vitamin C serum?
We do. Marianella formulated it, and it is made by hand in our Williamsburg workshop in batches of 50 to 100.
Why is it water-based when your other face serums are oils?
Niacinamide dissolves in water, not oil, and ethyl ascorbic acid sits comfortably in a water base. A light, water-based serum also goes on first, so an oil or moisturizer can seal it in.
Is the gift-with-purchase bottle the same serum you sell?
Yes. It comes from the same batches as the bottles we sell, made the same way.
Do I need a code to get the gift?
No. When the offer is running, it is added automatically to orders that meet the qualifying amount shown on the gift's product page.
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