DO I REALLY NEED TO USE A FACIAL SERUM?

The Short answer is YES! But only if you want the best results possible for your skin that is ....

The Facial Serum is the key essential product that I use to target specific skin care concerns and focus areas. From my recent post on Which Exfoliant is Best For My Skin I mentioned the top 4 things that one MUST do as part of an active skin care regime:

1. Cleanse
2. Exfoliate
3. Moisturise
4. Protect with mineral spf daily

Once you are in a regular skin care routine, incorporating the above 4 points you will notice that your skin is hydrated, balanced, protected from UV and smooth with no excess dead skin build up, You are ready to incorporate step 5!

The skin is ready for more active concentrated ingredients commonly found in facial serums.

What is a Facial Serum?

A Facial Serum is usually thinner in consistency to a moisturiser. A moisturiser is designed to moisturise our skin and prevent water loss keeping our skin strong and supple. Whereas a Facial Serum with its thinner more watery consistency will penetrate deeper into the skin, with a higher concentration of active ingredients to target specific skin care concerns.

How to Choose the Right Facial Serum

This is where you need to determine what your primary skin care goal/target/mission is.

Once you determine that, you can choose from the many varieties of skin serums available today:

Antioxidant Facial Serum:

These are serums that are full of free radical scavengers or ingredients that have the ability to slow down oxidation in the skin. I liken these serums to taking a multivitamin tablet daily. It is a great all rounder skin serum that usually moisturises the skin without being too strong. This facial serum is a blend of ingredients with the % of each ingredient usually low so one could use this facial serum morning and night. Antioxidants also protect our cells from the daily onslaught of UV and other environmental forces that age our skin. Great choice if you only wanted the one serum. For eg our Skin Matrix Skin Perfection Serum contains licorice to brighten the complexion, Niacinamide for anti-ageing and acne, Hyaluronic Acid for plumping and nourishing, Vitamin C for UV protection and anti-ageing, Heptapeptide-8 for anti-ageing and Green Tea and Vitamin E for Antioxidant value.

High Potency Vitamin Facial Serum:

Each vitamin has a different benefit to the skin, just like taking vitamins internally has different benefits to the body. Let's look at the different types of Vitamin Facial Serums:

Vitamin A Facial Serum: the Rolls Royce of anti-ageing and my best friend! I love vitamin A, it is a powerhouse for  collagen synthesis, repairs damaged DNA, smooths fine lines and thickens the matrix of the skin for a more youthful look. It also regulates over active oil glands, so also fabulous for acne sufferers. There are different types of Vitamin A, Retinaldeyde, Retinol and Tretinoin. As well as Retinyl Palmitate but this ingredient is of an antioxidant value only (no collagen synthesis!). We love the Skin Matrix Rebuild, Cosmedix Refine and Alpha-H Vit A.

Vitamin B Facial Serum: From Vitamin B5 (pathenol) with its healing, regenerating and hydrating properties to my favourite Vitamin B3 - Niacinamide, this fantastic ingredient when used over 5% has the ability to stimulate your collagen production, heal blemishes and post blemish marks and brighten the skin. With this knowledge, I developed the Skin Matrix IQ Serum as throughout my pregnancies I wanted an active anti-ageing serum that could hold the reigns whilst I was not using my Vitamin A (you cannot use vitamin A skin serums whilst pregnant/lactating).

Vitamin C Facial Serum: Best used of a day as Vitamin C has a natural defence against harmful UV rays. It also is a great anti-ageing facial serum and is a well-known skin brightener against facial pigmentation. Aspect Extreme C and the Skin Matrix IQ Serum are popular Vitamin C Serums. Partially because they use an oil soluble form of vitamin C which is far more stable than the once popular Ascorbic Acid, and they last longer (longer shelf life) and they can penetrate deeper and more effectively in the skin.

Vitamin E Facial Serum: A great antioxidant, protects the skin against UV damage, and reduces inflammation in the skin. With the above power houses I would recommend using Vitamin E in combination with any of the above for best results.

Brightening Facial Serum:

This facial serum has one goal and one goal only. To slow down and inhibit the process of melanin processing in the skin. For the treatment of lightening sun spots, freckles, age spots, and deeper pigmentation such as melasma (hormonal pigment). Tyrosinase is an enzyme that is responsible for the formation of melanin in the skin. Therefore many brightening products contain Tyrosinase inhibitors, to control and slow down areas that are over producing (eg sun spots). Typically used in the morning, results heavily depend on one's ability to reduce sun exposure, the very thing that stimulated melanin. Shop the Skin Matrix EnlightenMe.

Rosacea and Sensitive Skin Facial Serum:

These serums will repair the barrier of your skin, strengthen the skin, reduce inflammation and in turn reduce visible redness and irritation. If you feel this is something for you. I strongly advise you use this type of serum alone before introducing the more active facial serums mentioned above. We go to is the Osmosis Rescue.

Acne Serums:

Acids! These Facial Serums contain AHA's and BHA's to keep pores clean and clear. Acneic skins main concern is preventing the excessive dead skin build up within the pore. Finding the right balance of AHAs and BHAs will bring a positive change to the skin. Some acne facial serums will also be anti-inflammatory to reduce redness and some will contain Vitamin A to control that naughty oil gland. Use Am and or PM as per instructions and remember to pull back on the usage if you get red, pink or flaky as this means you are over using. Below is the Skin Matrix BTB Serum, one of the most popular serums used by my clients with acne.