A good skincare routine should ideally consist of 3 vital steps – cleanse, tone, and moisturise. However, it’s a little more complex than that and if you’re keen to give your face the glow up it deserves, it’s time to introduce serum face boosters to your daily regime.
In this article we’re going to look more closely at the role serum face boosters play in the care of your facial skin, as well as exploring the different types available to help you buy the best one for you.
What Are Serum Face Boosters?
If you already look after your skin with twice daily cleansing, toning, and moisturising you might well be wondering why you need to introduce a face serum into the mix as well. Well, we’re here to answer that question for you, because face serums are the missing link.
It is a common misconception that face serums are like face oils. In actual fact, face serum boosters can be both oil and water based depending on which product you go for. Serums are lightweight formulas that are easily absorbed by the skin. This quick absorption means the skin nourishing ingredients get to work straight away. In addition to this, they help to form a protective barrier against the effects of daily life.
Start by cleansing and toning your face as you usually would, but before you apply your moisturiser, rub in a few drops of your chosen serum. Face serums have a lighter texture than moisturisers, as they are made up of much smaller molecules. This enables them to penetrate deep into the skin and deliver high levels of active ingredients that get to work straightaway. By following up with moisturiser, you are essentially sealing in all of that goodness, thus maximising those skincare benefits.
The Benefits Of Using A Serum Booster On Your Face
As with any skincare product, the benefits they offer will vary depending on your specific skincare needs. Here are some of the benefits you can expect to see from using a serum booster on your face:
- Smaller Pores – Boosters help to reduce the size and appearance of open pores, which in turn reduces the chances of you suffering from spots and skin breakouts.
- Smoother Surface – The addition of collagen and retinol in some face serums help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, thus creating smoother, younger looking skin.
- Protection – Serums help to protect facial skin from the effects of free radicals such as pollution, UV light, poor nutrition, smoking etc.
- Soothing – Face serums are particularly beneficial for people with sensitive skin, oily skin, and skin that is prone to acne, as they are often more gentle than other facial products and can help to soothe problem skin.
- Radiance – The active ingredients within face serum boosters help glow up dull skin by reducing redness and evening out areas of discolouration.
- Hydrating – Serums work in tandem with your moisturiser by helping to lock in the moisture. This results in reduced areas of dryness and fresher, healthier looking skin.
- Reduce Signs Of Fatigue – The area of skin around your eyes is one of the hardest places to disguise signs of an unhealthy lifestyle. Giving this delicate skin a gentle boost can help to lessen fine lines, dark circles, and general signs of fatigue.
What Different Types of Face Serum Can You Get?
There are lots of different types of face serums available on the market, all with their own unique purpose. Which one you choose will depend on your skin type (oily/normal/dry/sensitive/acne prone), your budget, your skincare goals, and to a degree your age.
To help you make your decision, let’s take a look at some of the different types of serum out there:
Anti-Aging Serums
These serums do exactly what the name would suggest, they help fight against the signs of aging to give you a more youthful complexion. Serums marked as anti-aging often contain ingredients such as retinol, which helps encourage and speed up the rate at which the body regenerates cells, and peptides that increase the production of collagen. The human body naturally produces collagen, however as we age the amount of collagen produced decreases and this is visible as fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging. The solution therefore, is to boost the skin with products containing ingredients that stimulate the production of collagen, or to supplement it with products containing collagen itself. Look out for serums that contain peptides like Hyaluronic Acid and collagen.
Hydrating Serums
Many of us would love to have skin that looks glowy and healthy without the need for make-up. Well, we’ve got some good news for, because if you introduce a hydrating serum into your daily skincare routine, you can have that dewy skin you’ve lusted after.
Hydrating serums contain hyaluronic acid as their main active ingredient, and it is this that helps to lock the moisture into the skin. This creates a fuller and fresher look and can temporarily reduce the appearance of fine lines. In the same way that the body naturally produces collagen, it also produces hyaluronic acid. In fact, the hyaluronic acid comes attached to the collagen, kind of like a crime fighting double act. But just as we lose collagen when we age, so too do we lose hyaluronic acid. Which is why kids have such gorgeously smooth healthy looking skin, and elderly people have wrinkled, dry, saggy skin. Serums of this nature may also include vitamin B5 to help smooth out skin and keep it hydrated, and other natural plant based ingredients such as marine glycogen.
Sensitive Skin Balancing Serums
Sensitive skin requires products that are much gentler so as not to exacerbate any problems. Look out for products containing as many natural ingredients as possible and ones marked as suitable for oily and sensitive skin.
Serums that are suitable for oily skin will work towards minimizing the appearance of excess oil as well as helping to close pores and therefore reducing oil production. The addition of hyaluronic acid will produce a radiant effect and allantoin, a type of glycolic acid, boosts skins overall appearance by treating and repairing areas of rough, dry, and itchy skin.
If you suffer from acne prone skin it’s important to not only treat the problem, but to also soothe any sore skin outbreaks you currently have. A sensitive skin balancing serum can minimize irritation and soothe sensitive skin, especially if it contains niacinamide (a form of vitamin B3), which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Brightening Serums
Skin-brightening serums are packed full of antioxidants and essential skin boosting vitamins to brighten and even out skin tone. Key ingredients include: vitamin C, vitamin B3 (niacinamide), glycolic acid, kojic acid, ferulic acid, and mushroom extract, among various others.
Apply 2-3 drops of this serum to your face and neck before applying your regular moisturiser, for skin that is noticeably brighter, more luminous, and to help lighten the appearance of dark age spots.
Antioxidant Serums
One of the biggest elements our skin must fight against is the damaging effect of free radicals. These can come from pollution in the air, chemicals contained in the cleaning products and beauty products we use, the food and drink we eat, and other environmental factors. All of these can damage healthy skin and so it is important to look for a serum that can counteract this damage to repair and restore.
If this sounds like the type of serum you need, keep an eye out for ingredients such as vitamins C, A, and E, and resveratrol, as these help to neutralize free radicals whilst also protecting and repairing damage that has already been done.
If you are unsure of the type of serum that you should use, it’s worth remembering that you can use more than one. Combine a couple of drops of one with another for a complete serum boost.
We can’t stop the aging process, but if we use the right skincare products for our face we can at least reduce the appearance of it. Face serum boosters are a simple way to protect and nourish the skin, but there are so many products out there it can get a little confusing when you go to buy your first one. Hopefully this guide will help you make an informed decision about the type of serum that is right for you and your quest for youthful, healthy looking skin will be complete.
