I first heard of Cosmetic Skin Solutions’ Vitamin C+E serum on Twitter. Jacie raved about it and that it is comparable to the very popular Skinceuticals’ C E Ferulic serum but at a much lower price. I checked out the website and was certainly intrigued. The ingredients looked good and I admit, I was blown away by the price of the serum. I knew I had to try it out.

Now before I go on to the review of the serum, there are a few things I have to be clear about:

1. I’ve never tried Skinceuticals Vitamin C+E Serum, so I cannot compare that serum with the one by Cosmetic Skin Solutions. All I can do is compare their ingredients and review how the latter worked on my skin.
2. I’m not a scientist, so this isn’t going to be an in-depth review of the composition of the formula, comparison of pH between the serums, and so on. It’s a review of how this serum fared on my skin. However, I shall link you to more information on the in-depth comparison of these two serums later on in the review.

Okay, now that I’ve cleared that up, let’s begin!

Ingredients: Water/Aqua/Eau, L-Ascorbic Acid (Topical Vitamin C), Propylene Glycol, Ethoxydiglycol, Butylene Glycol, Laureth-23, Zinc Sulfate, Glycerol, Alpha Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Triethanolamine, Ferulic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, D-Panthenol, Hyaluronic Acid.

Shopping on the Cosmetic Skin Solutions website was easy. Since it was from the US, I expected to receive my order in 2 weeks since I only paid for the cheapest shipping option. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the package in just slightly over a week.

Packaging of the bottle is a standard brown glass bottle with a dropper. No frills about it. The dropper allows me to control the amount of serum I needed on my face, neck and décolletage. I only needed a maximum of 5 drops for the entire area.

The serum is a clear liquid that, to be honest, does not smell good. If I were to compare the scent of this serum to all the other serums I’ve tried, let’s just say this one stinks the big one. I’ve been told that the one by Skinceuticals doesn’t smell that good either. It smells of something fermented if I can put a description to it. It did put me off for a bit but I’ll be damned if the smell alone stops me from fully experiencing this out for at least 6 weeks.

The serum is a combination of 15% Vitamin C (stabilized L-Ascorbic acid), 1% vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), and 0.5% ferulic acid. Vitamins C and E are powerful antioxidants. The hero of this serum is the high percentage of Vitamin C, which protects the skin against photodamage that is created by sunlight in both the UVB and UVA bands. Having said that, it’s not a sunscreen; it does not absorb or block harmful ultraviolet radiation. Instead, it augments the skin’s ability to neutralise free-radical damage that is created by the UV radiation, thereby preventing photodamage to the skin*.

In other words, if you want bright, radiant skin, work on reducing hyperpigmentation and protect your skin against the sun’s harmful rays, use a good Vitamin C serum AND sunscreen.

The serum feels a tad sticky upon application. It absorbs fairly quickly and does not leave a greasy residue on the skin.

After 6 weeks of use, I’m in love with the serum. I’m still not a fan of the scent (gah, it stinks!), but the serum does wonders to my skin. About 3-4 weeks in to the serum, I had one mighty hit of the flu and was feeling all kinds of awful. Strangely enough, my skin looked pretty damn good. It was very strange because whenever I’m sick, my skin is the first to show the signs: blotchy skin, breakouts and my cheeks will be dry and peely. I may have felt like crap, but my skin wasn’t. It was clear, boing-boing and very smooth. Curiouser and curiouser, eh?

Having said that, I have to be careful in not using too much of the serum in one go, and preferably not every day. During the first 2 weeks, I used the serum once a day, every day without any problems. At some point, I increased the amount of serum I was using to twice a day, and my skin started to react. It broke me out. When I cut back to once a day, it was back to normal. Just to be sure, I’m now using it once every 2 days and I’m still getting the same results without any skin issues.

It’s a great serum to use, and very affordable too for its strength. Nicki Zevola of the highly popular Futurederm did an in-depth comparison of the Skinceuticals C E Ferulic serum and the Cosmetic Skin Solutions Vitamin C+E, and although she still prefers the Skinceuticals, she mentioned that this serum will still get you 95% of the benefits of the one by Skinceuticals (according to Nicki, it’s also not as optimised) but at a much lower cost. She included a list of ingredients of the serums in her post, and I was surprised to find that they are exactly the same (including the concentration of active ingredients).

I’ve not tried the one by Skinceuticals due to the high price factor (AU$269.25 for 30ml), so I cannot say which one is better. But I do like the one by Cosmetic Skin Solutions and am happy to stick with it.

Cosmetic Skin Solutions Vitamin C+E Serum Advanced Formula retails at US$39.85 for 30ml and is available from the Cosmetic Skin Solutions website.

What I like about it: High concentration of Vitamin C, gives me bright and lovely skin, oil-free, affordable

What I do not like about it: Tends to break me out if I use too much

*Source: Don’t Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me by Paula Begoun, 7th Edition, page 1162