Tuesday, August 5, 2014

DIY How To: Make Home-made Vitamin C Serum


DISCLAIMER: I was not paid in any way by the brands or services mentioned on this blog entry. 


I just want to share this DIY Vitamin C Serum formula that I've been using for months now.

I use it every night and it made my skin brighter in the morning after a washing my face. It also helped fade acne marks faster.


Now lets get on with it!

Firstly, you will need a dark container like this. One with a glass dropper preferably. It needs to be dark because Vitamin C reacts to light and oxidizes. It's simply a MUST.

This bottle is actually an essential oil container. The ones for potpourri and that one where you light a tea-light candle underneath and infuses scent? (sorry I forgot what it's called :p )

You can re-use a serum container if you have one.


Next you'll need Vitamin C. Preferably an L-Ascorbic Acid one because it's the one used for the skin. But since I just can't find one here in the Philippines, I just got a Sodium Ascorbic since it's in powder form. It only contain 50% L-ascobic acid according to my research so that will have to do. I've used a couple of brands but this one's powder is whiter than the other. You'll need it WHITE not YELLOW

If it's yellow or orangey it's probably oxidized already and won't do any good to the skin! So throw it away!

This one is Alka-Cee and it contain 500mg of vitamin C. Very affordable too. I think it's only available at Generika Drugstore.



Now you'll need a plastic spoon. And here I'm just using the ones you see in parties and ice cream cups.

I added two spoonful of water in the container here. 




Now here is the powder. Sorry I couldn't get a good shot of it but here's just to show that it's white.



Add two capsules of that to the water.

You can see here it turned yellow. Probably because I used alkaline water. My bad. 

I suggest you use distilled water.





Mix until it's dissolved.




Next you'll need to add liquid glycerin. Preferably vegetable glycerin but again this is the only glycerin that I was able to get.
You can get Apollo liquid glycerin from drugstores. I got mine from Watsons in our nearbly SM Mall for I think P120. It's also available in most Mercury Drugstores nationwide. Make sure you say it's for skin asthma because they might hand you suppository instead.



So here I also added two spoonful of liquid glycerin.





This is optional but is really great because it prolongs the shelf life and oxidizing of the serum. Plus it's less sticky to feel and very hydrating because of the hyaluronic acid.




See? So much less yellowy now. :)



Pour everything in the bottle now. 





If you can see, the mixture was able to fill the bottle.




Here is the consistency. A bit more in the watery side which I like.


Smooth that in until absorbed.


 And viola! smoother, brighter skin!


Application Tips


For face. Apply just the right amount. Don't go over board or else you might get a bloated face in the morning.

Store it in the fridge. Never leave it out, Since here in the Philippines, temperatures usually go above 30 degrees. A no no if you want to make the vitamin C serum last longer.

Consume the whole content within a month or less to maintain freshness!

You can also use the serum for your body. I used it on my knees and dead skin came off as I showered the next day. 

The Formula:


1000mg sodium ascorbic and equal parts of water and liquid glycerin.
Drops of Hada Labo/ hyaluronic acid. (optional)