Review: Andalou Naturals Turmeric + C Enlighten Serum

From my previous post regarding my hunt for a vitamin C serum, I was keen on finding a vitamin C serum which was better formulated than the dismal serum I once loved. Oddly, Vitamin C serums are not such big fads in the Asian skin care scene even with tons of studies to back its claims as compared to unproven ingredients such as snail secretion. Disappointing, but I never found such serums from the Korean brands here, and all they have were products with lemon extract. Ugh.

After much Googling I luckily stumbled upon Andalou Naturals' Turmeric + C Enlighten Serum. Look, I am a stark critic of the organic and natural hype that has been going around in the food and cosmetics industry, but a skin care addict cannot do without a proper Vitamin C serum!

Price and Availability: I've seen Andalou Naturals once from a Healthy Options store when I bought the other Vitamin C serum. I bought it for 845 php, which may be too expensive when compared to a DIY serum (which I don't have time to prepare for), but is much cheaper than other Vitamin C serums in the market. One from Kiehl's and another from Mario Badescu cost around 2000 php, and one from Obagi costs around 5000 php... so you get the idea.

Packaging: The product's box has proper labels as per the FDA product checking guide (I expounded on that here). The bottle comes with a pump which can be easily controlled to dispense your desired amount of product. The bottle is made of plastic, so the product is quite safe from the accidental slip ups.

Texture and Scent: The serum is quite viscous and may be hard to apply for some. Because of this, one might need more product to apply for the whole face (and for me, my neck, too). The scent? It's not labelled Turmeric + C for nothing. Good thing the smell of turmeric is not that strong and will go away in a minute. Or maybe I just liked it over time. I don't know.

Ingredients: I came for the Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C) and was not disappointed. I was specifically looking for MAP since it is more stable than L-Ascorbic acid, a form which is more potent but may degrade quickly. The ingredient list reminds me of the old formulation of a Vitamin C serum that I used to love until its formula was changed to be "more sustainable".

As for the other natural ingredients in it, a quick run with cosdna shows that the most of of the ingredients are non-irritating and non-comedogenic. Whether they work or not, to me it does not matter that much because all I ask for is a more stable version of Vitaminc C. And guys, I found it!

Cool ingredient list! You may also refer to Andalou Naturals' website
for more information.

Finish / Effect: The formula is moisturizing enough, like a lotion or emulsion of sorts, which is nice since it does not feel tight on my face. Will leave a shiny film immediately upon application, but proper patting in of the product will dry that film matte.

As for the long term effect, this along with exfoliation did lighten the pigmentation on my face (due to a recent, very big zit on my nose) in a matter of days. As for the other effect of Vitamin C, especially on its contribution to the anti-aging bandwagon, I cannot comment on it since I have no wrinkles or fine lines so I have no point of comparison. Very sorry!

Rating: Relatively cheap, has good formulations and most importantly, it works fast. Found my new Vitamin C serum. HG status, unless the manufacturers decide to destroy the formulation or I actually find time to make a DIY serum. 5/5