the dewy serum reviews

the dewy serum reviews

The hydrating elements are bolstered by plant-derived hyaluronic acid and squalane straight from sugarcane. Not only do they help plump skin, but they combine with the Hadasei-3 complex to also ensure your skin's moisture barrier is in tip-top condition during the chilly months — and beyond. For those unfamiliar with this part of your skin, it's basically a security system. At its best, the moisture barrier protects from irritation, fine lines, and dehydration by retaining moisture and keeping skin dewy and smooth.

Tatcha Is Adding a New Dewy Serum to Lineup and I Tested It on My Dry, Winter Skin

My skin is like a drooling dog waiting for a treat whenever I pull the Tatcha The Dewy Serum out of my bathroom's medicine cabinet. After a long night of sleeping in an arid, radiator-heated room, the milky, floral serum replaces all the moisture that was sucked out of it like dehydration never even happened.

Wait, I should probably back up for a second. I just buried some major news in there: Tatcha is about to add a serum to its beloved Dewy lineup. Although it's not launching until Tuesday, December 22, Allure got exclusive details on The Dewy Serum.

After three years in the making, The Dewy Serum joins the Mario Dedivanovic-inspired The Dewy Cream, which even Selena Gomez swears by, as well as the Kim Kardashian-approved Skin Mist and the ultra-thin sheet mask.

The prior Dewy launches give complexions an instant glassy (or even dolphin skin) effect with the help of Tatcha's proprietary Hadasei-3 complex, which features antioxidant-rich Japanese rice, algae, and green tea extracts. All are double-fermented to unlock their fullest potential of benefits, Sparacio says.

The serum, on the other hand, works behind the scenes to maintain that enviable my-skin-is-so-hydrated-it-looks-wet look. Out of all the Dewy products, the new serum packs the highest concentration of the complex — 73 percent to be exact, compared to 13.4 in The Dewy Cream, Rose Sparacio, Tatcha's vice president of product innovation, tells Allure.

Let's zoom in on each extract in the complex, shall we? Rice is rich in essential fatty acids to help with moisturizing, says cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski. Algae, on the other hand, can be an anti-inflammatory when it's fermented, as it's made up of mostly carbohydrates, he adds. Green tea can also reduce irritation, thanks to its polyphenols. "They're like fire extinguishers, putting out inflammation caused by environmental free-radical damage," according to New York City-based board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner. Basically, the complex is a recipe for calm, nourished skin.

Fermentation also causes the extracts to release lactic acid, which gently smooths away roughness while drawing moisture into skin. This double-duty action of exfoliating and hydrating is what powers the serum, Sparacio says. Without it sloughing away flakes, the hydration has nowhere to go. "You can moisturize all you want, but you're really not doing anything because you have all of these dead skin cells hanging on, hogging up the room for all of these new, healthy cells below them," she explains.

The hydrating elements are bolstered by plant-derived hyaluronic acid and squalane straight from sugarcane. Not only do they help plump skin, but they combine with the Hadasei-3 complex to also ensure your skin's moisture barrier is in tip-top condition during the chilly months — and beyond. For those unfamiliar with this part of your skin, it's basically a security system. At its best, the moisture barrier protects from irritation, fine lines, and dehydration by retaining moisture and keeping skin dewy and smooth.

The only oil spiking The Dewy Serum is crambe abyssinica seed oil, which is drawn from a mustard-related plant with a high level of fatty acids to help skin lock in moisture, says Romanowski. Why did Tatcha pick this oil in particular? It's lightweight, non-greasy, absorbs quickly, and "makes it very easy to layer with other products," Sparacio adds. (I can attest to this. I have acne-prone skin, and so far, so good.) "Dewy Serum allows you to prime the skin and bring the skin to its functional level."

"The Dewy Serum helps makeup grab onto skin and gives it a naturally radiant finish."

So after you slather on The Dewy Serum, you can reach for your favorite vitamin C serum or moisturizer. You can also blend foundation over it without any piling happening. "The Dewy Serum helps makeup grab onto skin and gives it a naturally radiant finish," makeup artist Daniel Martin, who is also Tatcha's global director of artistry and education, tells Allure. "I'll also mix it with full-coverage foundation or concealer to sheer out the coverage and give it a more life-like finish."

Ready to make Tatcha's The Dewy Serum a part of your winter skin-care routine? Well, you'll have to wait until December 22 to add it to your cart on tatcha.com and sephora.com for $88, but you can get a head start on shopping it if you have Sephora's mobile app. A pre-sale will be running on December 21.

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Read more about Allure's favorite Tatcha offerings:

Non-comedogenic. Non-irritating. Non-sensitizing. Dermatologist tested. Cruelty-free.

Ingredients

Featured Ingredients

Lactic Acid & Gentle AHAs in Hadasei-3™: Our proprietary complex of Japanese superfoods Uji green tea, Akita rice and Okinawa algae comprises 73% of The Dewy Serum. The three superfoods are given new life through a double fermentation process that generates high levels of naturally-occurring lactic acid and gentle AHAs that promote natural skin surface turnover, smoothing the look of lines and improving texture.

Hyaluronic Acid & Sugarcane-derived Squalane: Hyaluronic Acid is a polysaccharide that naturally occurs in the skin. This moisture-binding molecule helps skin retain moisture for a hydrated, plump appearance. Sugarcane-derived Squalane is a saturated and stable hydrocarbon naturally found in the skin, which works as a humectant to seal in moisture and keep skin hydrated throughout the day.

Ingredients

SACCHAROMYCES/CAMELLIA SINENSIS LEAF/CLADOSIPHON OKAMURANUS/RICE FERMENT FILTRATE*, GLYCERIN, PROPANEDIOL, AQUA/WATER/EAU, SQUALANE, GLYCERYL STEARATE, ISONONYL ISONONANOATE, BEHENYL ALCOHOL, DIMETHICONE, STEARYL ALCOHOL, SODIUM HYALURONATE, HYDROLYZED COLLAGEN, HYDROLYZED ELASTIN, BETAPHYCUS GELATINUM EXTRACT, CRAMBE ABYSSINICA SEED OIL, STEARYL GLYCYRRHETINATE, ASCORBYL TETRAISOPALMITATE, PHYTOSTERYL MACADAMIATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, SODIUM DILAURAMIDOGLUTAMIDE LYSINE, SODIUM CHONDROITIN SULFATE, POLYGLYCERYL-10 EICOSANEDIOATE/TETRADECANEDIOATE, CELLULOSE GUM, HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE/SODIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE COPOLYMER, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM EDTA, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, SORBITAN ISOSTEARATE, POLYSORBATE 60, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, TOCOPHEROL, ALCOHOL, PARFUM/FRAGRANCE, PHENOXYETHANOL

Non-comedogenic. Non-irritating. Non-sensitizing. Dermatologist tested. Cruelty-free.

Formulated without: Mineral oil, synthetic fragrances, sulfate detergents, parabens, urea, DEA, TEA, or phthalates.

I love the way this serum makes my skin feel. Immediately upon application my skin feels soft, supple and dewy. The serum literally sinks into the skin and gives it soothing hydration and lasting moisture that the skin has been lacking. I use it over another serum, usually a hyaluronic acid or polyglutamic acid serum and still this serum hydrates better than that one does. It must be the combination of ingredients together. There are a lot of humectants in this serum, for example glycerin is listed as the fifth ingredient on the list. Glycerin is a powerful humectant and is worth its weight in gold for attracting moisture to the skin. Listed second on the ingredients list is camellia sinensis extract, more commonly known as green tea extract. Well known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, skin conditioning, and humectant properties; this extract is perfect for this serum as it helps to soothe and hydrate the skin. Another moisturizing ingredient listed is crambe abyssinca seed oil also known as Abyssinian oil. It helps to promote skin softness, suppleness, and wrinkle reduction.

Review: TATCHA The Dewy Serum

(product photo courtesy of www.tatcha.com)

  • Immediately it boosts hydration by 6x
  • 91% showed an improvement in radiance**
  • All day long people maintained 2x the hydration*
  • After 2 weeks:
    • 100% showed improvement in radiance**
    • 98% showed an improvement in texture**
    • 100% showed an improvement in radiance and texture**
    • 87% showed improvement in elasticity**
    • 82% showed an improvement in the appearance of fine lines**

    (*based on bioinstrumentation study conducted on 25 people. **based on an expert graded 4 week study, twice daily use on 45 people.)

    To Use: dispense 1-2 pumps and gently massage into your skin. Use The Dewy Serum during your morning and/or evening skincare routine. TATCHA recommends using it following their The Essence and before using any moisturizer, to amplify its results.

    I love the way this serum makes my skin feel. Immediately upon application my skin feels soft, supple and dewy. The serum literally sinks into the skin and gives it soothing hydration and lasting moisture that the skin has been lacking. I use it over another serum, usually a hyaluronic acid or polyglutamic acid serum and still this serum hydrates better than that one does. It must be the combination of ingredients together. There are a lot of humectants in this serum, for example glycerin is listed as the fifth ingredient on the list. Glycerin is a powerful humectant and is worth its weight in gold for attracting moisture to the skin. Listed second on the ingredients list is camellia sinensis extract, more commonly known as green tea extract. Well known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, skin conditioning, and humectant properties; this extract is perfect for this serum as it helps to soothe and hydrate the skin. Another moisturizing ingredient listed is crambe abyssinca seed oil also known as Abyssinian oil. It helps to promote skin softness, suppleness, and wrinkle reduction.

    I definitely noticed an immediate increase in hydration, skin looks more radiant and maintained the hydration all day long. My skin’s texture was already pretty good, but this serum did help make it feel more supple, so I will not complain. Is it worth the money? Yes. I do believe that the difference with TATCHA lies with their ingredients. They have a proprietary ingredient that acts like lactic acid, which helps to exfoliate the skin. A trademarked ingredient like this would increase the cost of the product, for sure. Can you get these results with a serum that is less expensive? It is possible. However, this serum does not cause any irritation, nor does it cause much in the way of peeling, etc. There is that to think about. I am very happy with this serum and currently I might repurchase it.

    Aspergillus/Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate
    Aspergillus/saccharomyces/rice ferment filtrate contains essential minerals, amino acids, beta-glucan and vitamins that help to soothe skin and improve skin brightness.

    DEWY GLOW‘s convenient mist form makes it easy to get probiotic nourishment any time of the day. Made for ease, it’s handily sized so you can get an instantaneous dose of glow straight from your vanity or handbag. Formulated with over 60% probiotic ferments (aspergillus/saccharomyces and lactobacillus), safflower extract and our special 7-year aged vinegar, it helps hydrate, nourish and soothe skin as well as stimulate cell turnover to promote a smoother, brighter complexion. Unlike other water-based mists or sprays, it’s a true serum that helps keep skin feeling dewy and radiant. It’s perfect for glow on the go!

    Based on an independent clinical study of 31 women, 21-63 years of age:

    • 100% demonstrated an increase in skin hydration over 12 hours.
    • 100% demonstrated an improvement in skin barrier function repair over 24 hours, with an average 75% improvement in skin barrier function repair.

    Based on an independent consumer study of 54 women, 20-55 years of age (after four weeks of daily use):

    • 98% agreed it absorbs easily into skin.
    • 96% agreed skin looks and feels instantly dewy and moisturized after using.
    • 93% agreed it works well under makeup.
    • 93% agreed skin feels nourished.
    • 93% agreed skin looks and feels healthier.
    • 91% agreed skin appears less dull.

    Mist at an arm’s length distance over the face and neck. Use in the morning and at night after cleansing and toning, and as needed throughout the day.

    Tips

    • Use to set makeup, or over sunscreen, to provide a dewy finish to your daily routines.
    • At night, mist an extra layer and pat gently into the skin with hands for deeper absorption.
    • Use on airplanes or during the winter to keep skin nourished – or anytime you need a pick-me-up!

    For best results, follow up with EVERYDAY PLUMP Hydro Cream.

    7-Year Aged Vinegar
    Our exclusive handmade vinegar is fermented and aged for seven years, then purified through a proprietary process to maximize effectiveness in skincare formulations. It contains a potent complex of vitamins and postbiotics (including 17 different amino acids, acetic acid, lactic acid and malic acid) that helps to exfoliate skin and provide antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory protection. Learn more about Our Core Ingredient .

    Aspergillus/Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate
    Aspergillus/saccharomyces/rice ferment filtrate contains essential minerals, amino acids, beta-glucan and vitamins that help to soothe skin and improve skin brightness.

    Lactobacillus/Soymilk Ferment Filtrate
    Lactobacillus/soymilk ferment filtrate is a powerful fermented ingredient that helps to nourish and strengthen the skin barrier.

    Safflower Extract
    Safflower extract is one of the world’s oldest skincare ingredients and is charged with Vitamin E to help fight free radicals and soothe skin.

    Formulation Notes
    All our products are formulated without butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), ethanolamines (MEA/DEA/TEA), formaldehyde, formaldehyde releasers, hydroquinone, methoxyethanol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, mineral oils, oxybenzone, parabens, paraffins, petrolatums, phthalates, resorcinol, sulfate surfactants (SLS/SLES), synthetic dyes, synthetic fragrances, toluene, triclocarban and triclosan. We test all our formulations to ensure no 1,4-dioxane or unreacted ethylene oxide contamination (down to 1ppm). Our formulations are also cruelty free and packaged in recyclable containers.

    Full Ingredient List
    Aspergillus/Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate, Butylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Arbutin, Water, PEG/PPG-18/4 Copolymer, Pentylene Glycol, Lactobacillus/Soymilk Ferment Filtrate, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Allantoin, Adenosine, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Flower Extract, Pyrus Communis (Pear) Fruit Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Water, Prunus Persica (Peach) Fruit Extract, Hedera Helix (Ivy) Leaf/Stem Extract, Pimpinella Anisum (Anise) Fruit Extract, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract, Vinegar, Cucumis Melo (Melon) Fruit Extract, Phenoxyethanol (0.36%).

    We don’t have description for this ingredient yet.

    The dewy serum reviews

    This super-long named thing is trade named Hadasei- 3 and it's Tatcha's "superfluid of Japan’s three essential nutrients of Green Tea, Rice, and Algae ". The liquid is obtained by fermentation and the basic idea behind any fermented ingredient is that the fermentation process helps to break down the complex bio-molecules in the plants and helps to isolate the beneficial components for the skin.

    The Algae component is claimed to help skin hydration, while rice gives high-protein nourishment and green tea is indeed an excellent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory ingredient.

    • A natural moisturizer that’s also in our skin
    • A super common, safe, effective and cheap molecule used for more than 50 years
    • Not only a simple moisturizer but knows much more: keeps the skin lipids between our skin cells in a healthy (liquid crystal) state, protects against irritation, helps to restore barrier
    • Effective from as low as 3% with even more benefits at higher concentrations up to 20-40% (around 10% is a good usability-effectiveness sweet spot)
    • High-glycerin moisturizers are awesome for treating severely dry skin

    Propanediol is a natural alternative for the often used and often bad-mouthed propylene glycol. It's produced sustainably from corn sugar and it's Ecocert approved.

    It's quite a multi-tasker: can be used to improve skin moisturization, as a solvent, to boost preservative efficacy or to influence the sensory properties of the end formula.

    Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.

    It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.

    Expand to read more

    Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside – putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.

    One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.

    It seems to us that squalane is in fashion and there is a reason for it. Chemically speaking, it is a saturated (no double bonds) hydrocarbon (a molecule consisting only of carbon and hydrogen), meaning that it's a nice and stable oily liquid with a long shelf life.

    It occurs naturally in certain fish and plant oils (e.g. olive), and in the sebum (the oily stuff our skin produces) of the human skin. As f.c. puts it in his awesome blog post, squalane's main things are "emolliency, surface occlusion, and TEWL prevention all with extreme cosmetic elegance". In other words, it's a superb moisturizer that makes your skin nice and smooth, without being heavy or greasy.

    Expand to read more

    Another advantage of squalane is that it is pretty much compatible with all skin types and skin conditions. It is excellent for acne-prone skin and safe to use even if you have fungi-related skin issues, like seborrhea or fungal acne.

    The unsaturated (with double bonds) and hence less stable version of Squalane is Squalene, you can read about it here >>

    A super common, waxy, white, solid stuff that helps water and oil to mix together, gives body to creams and leaves the skin feeling soft and smooth.

    Chemically speaking, it is the attachment of a glycerin molecule to the fatty acid called stearic acid. It can be produced from most vegetable oils (in oils three fatty acid molecules are attached to glycerin instead of just one like here) in a pretty simple, "green" process that is similar to soap making. It's readily biodegradable.

    Expand to read more

    It also occurs naturally in our body and is used as a food additive. As cosmetic chemist Colins writes it, "its safety really is beyond any doubt".

    An emollient ester with a rich and creamy but non-greasy skin feel. It makes skin supple and protects dry skin.

    A fatty alcohol (the non-drying type with a long oil loving chain of 22 carbon atoms) that is used to increase the viscosity of the formula and it also helps the oily and the watery parts to stay nicely mixed together (called emulsion stabilizing).

    Probably the most common silicone of all. It is a polymer (created from repeating subunits) molecule and has different molecular weight and thus different viscosity versions from water-light to thick liquid.

    As for skincare, it makes the skin silky smooth, creates a subtle gloss and forms a protective barrier (aka occlusive). Also, works well to fill in fine lines and wrinkles and give skin a plump look (of course that is only temporary, but still, it's nice). There are also scar treatment gels out there using dimethicone as their base ingredient. It helps to soften scars and increase their elasticity.

    Expand to read more

    As for hair care, it is a non-volatile silicone meaning that it stays on the hair rather than evaporates from it and smoothes the hair like no other thing. Depending on your hair type, it can be a bit difficult to wash out and might cause some build-up (btw, this is not true to all silicones, only the non-volatile types).

    A handy multi-tasker, white to light yellowish oil-loving wax that works very well in oil-in-water emulsions. It makes your skin feel nice and smooth (emollient), stabilizes oil-water mixes and gives body to them.

    Oh, and one more thing: it's a so-called fatty alcohol – the good, emollient type of alcohol that is non-drying and non-irritating. It is often mixed with fellow fatty alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, and the mixture is called Cetearyl Alcohol in the ingredient list.

    It’s the – sodium form – cousin of the famous NMF, hyaluronic acid (HA). If HA does not tell you anything we have a super detailed, geeky explanation about it here. The TL; DR version of HA is that it's a huge polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) found in the skin that acts as a sponge helping the skin to hold onto water, being plump and elastic. HA is famous for its crazy water holding capacity as it can bind up to 1000 times its own weight in water.

    As far as skincare goes, sodium hyaluronate and hyaluronic acid are pretty much the same and the two names are used interchangeably. As cosmetic chemist kindofstephen writes on reddit "sodium hyaluronate disassociates into hyaluronic acid molecule and a sodium atom in solution".

    Expand to read more

    In spite of this, if you search for "hyaluronic acid vs sodium hyaluronate" you will find on multiple places that sodium hyaluronate is smaller and can penetrate the skin better. Chemically, this is definitely not true, as the two forms are almost the same, both are polymers and the subunits can be repeated in both forms as much as you like. (We also checked Prospector for sodium hyaluronate versions actually used in cosmetic products and found that the most common molecular weight was 1.5-1.8 million Da that absolutely counts as high molecular weight).

    What seems to be a true difference, though, is that the salt form is more stable, easier to formulate and cheaper so it pops up more often on the ingredient lists.

    If you wanna become a real HA-and-the-skin expert you can read way more about the topic at hyaluronic acid (including penetration-questions, differences between high and low molecular weight versions and a bunch of references to scientific literature).

    The chemically chopped up version of the big protein molecule, collagen. It is often derived from fish or bovine sources and works as a nice moisturizer and humectant that helps the skin to hold onto water.

    To understand a bit more what Hydrolyzed Collagen is, you have to know that proteins are large chains of amino acids connected with so-called peptide bonds. These bonds can be broken up when a water molecule is added and the resulting thing is a mix of shorter length amino acids, also called peptides. So Hydrolyzed Collagen is not really collagen, it is rather an undefined and varying mix of largish peptides. Based on a manufacturer's data, the whole, soluble collagen has an average molecular weight of 300 000 Da, while this chopped up mixture has an average MW of 12 000 Da (still pretty big).

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    The main thing of these largish peptides is to act as water-binding agents, and to make the skin nice and smooth (aka emollient). Hydrolyzed Collagen is also often used in cleansers as it can make harsh surfactants milder and in hair conditioners as it improves the flexibility and manageability of hair.

    If you wanna know more about collagen in cosmetics, we have a shiny explanation about soluble collagen here >>

    We don’t have description for this ingredient yet.

    We don’t have description for this ingredient yet.

    The emollient plant oil coming from the seeds of Crambe Abyssinica, a not very well-known plant native to the Ethiopian Highlands. It has a unique fatty acid profile and contains high amounts of erucic acid (50-65%), a 22 carbon long unsaturated fatty acid.

    The oil is described as having an elegant, silky and cushioning skin feel, kind of silicone-like. Also ideal for hair-care as it gives slip, softness, and shine to the hair.

    We don’t have description for this ingredient yet.

    Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate is a stable, oil-soluble form of skincare big shot Vitamin C. If you do not know, why Vitamin C is such a big deal in skincare, click here and read all about it. We are massive vitamin C fans and have written about it in excruciating detail.

    So now, you know that Vitamin C is great and all, but it's really unstable and gives cosmetics companies many headaches. To solve this problem they came up with vitamin C derivatives, and one of them is Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (let's call it ATIP in short).

    Expand to read more

    It's a really promising candidate (see below), but while reading all the goodness about it in a minute, do not forget that derivatives not only have to be absorbed into the skin but also have to be converted to pure vitamin C (ascorbic acid or AA) and the efficacy of the conversion is often unknown. In addition, vitamin C's three magic properties (antioxidant, collagen booster, skin brightener) are all properly proven in-vivo (on real people), but for the derivatives, it's mostly in-vitro studies or in the case of ATIP, it's in-vitro and done by an ingredient supplier.

    With this context in mind let's see what ATIP might be able to do. First, it is stable (if pH < 5), easy to formulate and a joy to work with for a cosmetic chemist.

    Second, because it's oil-soluble, its skin penetration abilities seem to be great. So great in fact, that it surpasses the penetration of pure vitamin C threefold at the same concentration and it penetrates successfully into the deeper layers of the skin (that is usually important to do some anti-aging work). There is also in-vitro data showing that it converts to AA in the skin.

    Third, ATIP seems to have all three magic abilities of pure vitamin C: it gives antioxidant protection from both UVB and UVA rays, it increases collagen synthesis (even more than AA) and it has a skin brightening effect by reducing melanogenesis by more than 80% in human melanoma cell cultures.

    So this all sounds really great, but these are only in-vitro results at this point. We could find Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate mentioned only in one published in-vivo study that examined the anti-aging properties of a silicone formula containing 10% AA and 7% ATIP. The authors theorized that the 10% AA is released slowly from the silicon delivery system and probably stays in the upper layer of the skin to give antioxidant benefits, while ATIP penetrates more rapidly and deeply and gives some wrinkle-reducing benefits. The study was a small (10 patients), double-blind experiment, and the formula did show some measurable anti-aging results. However, it is hard to know how much pure vitamin C or ATIP can be thanked.

    Bottom line: a really promising, but not well-proven vitamin C derivative that can be worth a try especially if you like experimenting (but if you like the tried and true, pure vitamin C will be your best bet).