Garnier Vitamin C Brightening Serum

This is a great light weight serum. It has a slight milky look to it with a watery consistency and a light scent, not too overpowering. I found it to sink in quite nicely into the skin and not sit on the surface and leave any stickiness or greasiness. The applicator is easy to use and one full applicator did my neck and face. As someone who is prone to reactions to some skin care and I also suffer from eczema around my nose, I had no redness, stinging or irritation from this product. Within a week of using it I had colleagues say how much more bright and glowing my skin looked. Also it just felt so much more hydrated and the tone of my skin was starting to look much more even. The fact that garnier is cruelty free is also amazing! Overall I really liked this product, formulation and ease of use was great!

So I have used this product in my skincare routine over the last fortnight and I’ve grown to really enjoy it. It’s a very light watery consistency so a little goes a long way which is good for the fact you’re not going to over do it on product use and it’s going to last a lot longer which is also value for money and in this day and age, we need something that’s gonna last and is not super expensive to replace so this product ticks the box there. It doesn’t have a strong fragrance but it certainly smells nice. No strong chemical smells or anything like that. The packaging is very sleek, I love the glass bottle and the dropper does pick up a lot of product allowing you to apply to all areas on the face in one go. Overall I think my skin looks brighter and always feels nice in the morning after I’ve used the product the night before. I have pretty sensitive skin myself and in 2 weeks have had to issues with any irritation and would recommend to anyone wanting an inexpensive way too give your skin a boost coming into winter.

I trialed this serum for 10 days - which is more than enough time to gets results according to the box's claims of "results in 6 days". I was excited to try this serum, as I have several dark spots on my face I'd like to get rid of (even if they faded a slight amount I'd be happy!). Taking the bottle out of the box I immediately like the packaging, I'm a big fan of products that come in glass bottles. The serum itself has a slightly thinner consistency than others I've tried in the past, and has a very light floral smell. The dropper makes it very easy to apply, one squeeze of the dropper is enough for one application. The serum absorbed into my skin quickly and didn't leave any greasy feeling. They recommend using this both morning and evening, however I've only added it to my night routine for now.

Regardless of the above, the key point is did this product stand up to the following claims: Claim 1: Immediately skin looks healthier and more radiant My response: that's a very vague and ambiguous claim, but I think I'd have to agree that yes, my skin did look healthier and more radiant immediately after use.

Claim 2: From 3 days, skin appears more even, brighter and smoother My response: after 3 day the areas that I had used this on did appear a little more even and brighter, though I'm not sure I would go so far to say smoother.

Claim 3: From 6 days, the density of dark spots appear reduced My response: after 6 days I feel like some (not all) of my dark spots appear to look slightly less dark.

Claim 4: From 8 weeks, -43% of dark spot and acne mark appearance is visibly reduced My response: as I've only used this for 10 days I can't comment on this claim, but I will continue to use it and hope that the appearance of my dark spots continue to reduce!

Note: Unfortunately because wearing a face mask is something I have to do regularly for work, the skin around my mouth has become quite dry, flaky and irritated. So I wasn't able to use this serum on that skin as I find salicylic acid in products tends to cause further dryness and peeling.

I really loved using this Garnier serum! The consistency was thin enough that it spread on my skin easily and absorbed quickly without feeling sticky. The fragrance was quite subtle so I didn't feel like I was walking around smelling like a lemon tree after putting it on. I mostly used it in the evening after cleansing my face and then following up with my night cream. It seemed to make my night cream absorb into my skin quicker too. The little dropper made it easy to get a suitable amount, but wasn't as helpful once I got towards the end of the bottle. Luckily the bottle was clear glass so it made it easier to see how much I had left. And with the consistency being on the thinner side it was easy enough to carefully tip the bottle on it's side and get the last bit of the serum out. The serum itself is marketed towards removing dark spots and evening out skin tone, I don't currently have any of these issues, but I did notice my skin looked brighter after applying it.

Great product comes in a glass bottle with a dropper. The scent is very fresh and has a slight lemony scent to it with a tad scent of yuzu. Does absorb in the skin well and does not feel sticky after waiting to dry, leaves the skin shiny and hydrating pairs well with a few dark spot moisturisers and over 5 days skin looks brighter and skin texture looks slightly even

I was fortunate to be able to trial the Garnier Skin active Vitamin C Anti-dark spot serum. I definitely think the serum had a brightening effect and worked to reduce some dark spots around my chin from acne scaring, although I have a brown pigmentation spot on my cheek I was hoping to fade but it didn't have much of an effect on that. The product did leave my skin a bit dry although we are coming into winter so my skin has a tendency to do that. I also found I had no issue if I applied a Moisturiser afterwards. The product has appealing packaging and is easy to apply with the dropper although I used through a third of the bottle in this trial applying morning and night so I'm unsure if it is economical. The product has a slight floral fragrance and is the right consistency for the dropper. I will continue using the product as I am interested to see if it has further results.

I am on my 9th day today. 1st night - after my shower, I applied one entire dropper for my face as instructed. I was waiting for it to dry up, (initially, I thought, how much longer do I need to wait? 2 minutes passed, I could still see the sheerness. I touched it, and to my surprise, it's ALREADY DRY AND ABSORBED, this was the only Vitamin C that it's like combined or with the effect of a moisturiser alone! So that made me happy). *I said to myself, "Oh, the fragrance is intense. This will be stingy for my dry face or if I have breakouts. TRUST ME, the smell is intense, but the product is not that stingy compared to other brands I have tried. It is strong - yes, however, it is a good smell. 1st day of waking up with it, I had exactly two pimples that were noticeable because they were in the healing and drying stage, so for me, I said this could be the perfect timing to see if there would be any improvement. Honestly, I can't tell if it got lighter on the first day, but I continued. 2nd night after showering, I did the same. I applied it while my skin was still dumped, and at this stage, I am still uncertain, but I stick to it because of the moisturising effect I am getting. I still don't notice any changes. 2nd day of waking up with it, I noted that the pimple on my forehead was surprisingly lighter than the night before. Of course, I said to myself, "Hmmm, it cannot be just like that", So I am not 100% giving all the credit to Garnier. :D 3rd night after the shower, I applied it, and this time I wanted to see changes FOR MYSELF. I took many photos that night in all angles you can imagine and all light and no lights settings, with and without flash, to see if there would be improvements. 3rd time waking up with it, after seeing it in the mirror, I said to myself, "Now, we are talking. Could you be a game changer??" 4th night after a shower was the same routine. By the time I woke up the fourth morning with it, both of my pimples were hardly noticeable. This has got me thinking if this were all just an accident, or is it because I am using it and my next layer is from La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo (+) Anti Acne? Could it be it was a great mix?? Now, I am confused but happy with the results. I stuck with the routine I developed and continued to do so. Now I am on my 9th day, and tonight will be the 10th night that I will shower and will apply it, and let me tell you one thing, I will not hesitate to skip and say goodbye to my current Vitamin C with much $$$ and replace it with this. It's surprisingly effective on me. Whether it is because of the mix I use, I will recommend this based on my experience. I loved using it. It surprised me on the first application and still does to this day. So yes, I think I have found my perfect face-regime solution.

This is a great product and I have had a lovely time using it.

I like the bright white, yellow and orange packaging, which is made of cardboard so is completely recyclable. The packaging also states to recycle the glass serum bottle meaning only the dropper is going to landfill. The packaging has very clear instructions, claims about what the product does and when you should expect to see results. I really liked the “What’s inside” section which lists every ingredient and why it is in the product which was very informative. I also love the clear glass serum bottle which is labelled clearly again with the instructions as well as leaving plenty of space to see the product and how much you have used. There’s nothing worse than not knowing when you are going to run out of something!

The dropper lid is easy to unscrew from the bottle and doesn’t leak but a lot of serum sticks to the outside of the dropper, so you need to wipe off excess product on the bottle rim before applying to your face.

The serum has a thick consistency and is cloudy white in colour. It smells slightly sweet, but I couldn’t recognise the scent. It reminded me of some of the Garnier sheet face masks.

The instructions are clear that you are to apply a full dropper of serum to a clean face before applying face cream. A full dropper easily spreads across your whole face using your fingers, but you need to allow a little time for it to absorb properly before applying any other products as it can feel quite sticky while it dries.

It is clear before and after I have put on my face cream on that this product gives you a dewy brightened appearance. Even after a bad night’s sleep this helps you look immediately more radiant. It also feels quite refreshing to put on.

I was glad to find that I didn’t have any skin irritation or reactions to this product which I have had with other vitamin c products – it’s clearly designed with sensitive skin in mind.

I have noticed a slight reduction in dark spots, but I think I will need to try it for the full 8 weeks to see substantial results. However, I don’t think one bottle would last anywhere near that long so you may need to buy 2 or even 3 bottles to get the full results.

I would highly recommend this product to anyone looking to reduce dark spots and acne scarring but personally would wait till the product was on special and buy two or three at once to get the full effects.