Active Anti-Ageing Serum

I looove a good serum - particularly different serums for different purposes, and also layering serums for multiple benefits.

I usually use a light water-based serum in the morning, and something richer and oil-based in the evening, but this anti-ageing serum is the best of both worlds. Because it incorporates a small amount of emulsifier, it combines oil and water-based ingredients to create a thin lotion-like serum jam packed full of actives. You can use it any time, but night time is ideal for actives to get to work in your skin.

This serum is designed to go in a pipette or serum bottle, so you can gently squeeze out just the right amount into your palms. For a luxury look, go for a gold or silver pipette.

How to Select which products to add:

There's often a real temptation to get carried away with adding lots of actives to a serum. I could have kept going and added actives such as Vitamin A, allantoin, extracts, and other oils (which all have anti-ageing benefits), but at some point it starts to become overwhelming, not to mention expensive! You don't need a plethora of actives in a serum to see results, you just need a handful that work well together and do their jobs. Here is how I 'justified' my ingredients:

• My aim was to create an anti aging serum, so of course all ingredients should work towards this purpose and you want to choose actives that have anti aging benefits.
• To help the actives get down into the skin and do their jobs, I included a penetration enhancer in the form of propanediol. Penetration enhancers help carry other ingredients into the skin.
• Humectants like panthenol and propanediol give a hydration boost. Hydration is key to making skin look younger, more supple and more plumped.
• I used moisturising squalane which is perfect for all skins.
• Berry and seed oils are included for their high-end moisturising, antiaging and antioxidative effects.
• Bisabolol is used for its protective properties.
• I used actives such as caffeine to depuff and boost skin circulation, as well as CoQ10 to defeat the aging effects of free radicals and replenish loss in the skin over time.
• Citric acid, an AHA, also adjusts the pH down to ideal skin levels.

This serum has a light yellowy orange colour due to the seabuckthorn oil and CoEnzyme Q10 content.