What is Face Serum & Why Should You Be Using It?

Serums are a key step of any solid skincare routine, as they are known to provide the skin’s surface with a concentrated amount of efficacious ingredients.

Do us a favour: Take a good look in the mirror. If your skin’s appearance has room for improvement, then it may be time to add serum skincare products to your daily regimen.

Face serums come with major skin benefits, and they are often seen as one of the more rewarding steps in your beauty routine. It’s also known that you can layer serums for added results – but you’ll need to remain patient, apply your serum twice a day and your skin will thank you in the future.

Are you curious to know exactly what face serums are, or perhaps when to use them? Below, our beauty experts break down our favourite types of serum and the top reasons to add this product to your routine.

What is Face Serum?

A face serum is a lightweight skincare product that contains a higher concentration of active ingredients (such as Hyaluronic Acid, Glycolic Acid and Vitamin C), compared to typical facial moisturisers. Known for their effectiveness, face serums are often used to manage specific skin concerns such as wrinkles, acne, dry skin and dullness. They are designed to brighten, hydrate and provide a variety of benefits, depending on the types of serum you use. Serum for skin can come in a variety of formulas, including gels and oils—some may even have a water-like consistency.

How To Use Face Serum

AIf you are wondering when to use face serum or how it differs from moisturiser, our experts have all the answers to help you understand proper serum skincare.

When to Use Face Serum: Apply face serums once or twice a day, in the morning and at night. You should always cleanse your skin and apply toner first, followed by the serum. Moisturiser will need to be applied after the serum to lock in moisture and hydration.

How to Apply Face Serum: After cleansing and toning your skin and allowing it to dry, apply two to three drops of serum to your face and neck. A little goes a long way when it comes to serums. Using your fingertips, delicately massage the serum over your skin. Once the serum is dried, apply your moisturiser and any other skincare products you use daily.

Where to Apply Serum: Face serum should be applied to your entire face and neck, as that area requires moisture too. If you are using an eye and lash serum, you will want to gently target the eye area.

Is Serum a Cream or Moisturiser? Serums are neither! Face serums provide moisturising ingredients, but they should not be considered your primary moisturiser, especially for those with dry skin. If you have naturally oily skin, you could potentially use a hydrating face serum on its own. Serums are thinner than moisturisers and absorb into the skin more quickly, making them perfect for layering, but you should still apply moisturiser on top of the serum to help nourish the skin’s outermost layers.

Types of Serums by Lancôme

Whilst some serums may work well for one particular skin type, some formulas may not be the best choice for another skin type. Key ingredients are very important when it comes to picking the right serum. Although Vitamin C and Hyaluronic Acid are two popular serum ingredients, you will find a mix of other hydrators and antioxidants.

Vitamin C Enriched Serums

At Lancôme, we are particularly fond of serums formulated with Vitamin C. Why is this? Vitamin C, which also goes by L-Ascorbic Acid, is known to be a skincare powerhouse. It’s a well-known antioxidant that helps defend the skin’s surface from free radicals, which are spawned by environmental aggressors like pollution and sun exposure. In addition, our Clarifique serums with a Vitamin C derivative are designed to visibly brighten skin and even out your skin tone and appearance. Not surprisingly, a Vitamin C enriched brightening face serum is a good starting point for most skin types.

The Clarifique Watery Emulsion has an aqueous rebalancing texture that works to reduce the appearance of skin discolouration and pigmentation, giving you an even, refreshed and brightened complexion. It is formulated with wild French Beech Bud Extract, which is known for accelerating skin cell renewal. After using the emulsion, your skin will appear mattified, pores will be tighter and hydration will last for up to 24 hours.

If you are looking to try an essence that is part of our enzyme skincare range, we recommend the Clarifique Dual Essence. This is a brightening essence that improves your skin’s natural mechanism of renewal and ensures a refined, plump and even skin tone. Essences are similar to serums, as they have a concentrated formula and lower molecular weight than creams—and they penetrate the skin much deeper than a moisturiser.

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Hyaluronic Acid Enriched Serums

Hyaluronic acid serums are ideal for those with dry skin. Hyaluronic Acid, also known as Sodium Hyaluronate, is a molecule that can hold up 1000 times its weight in water. Our Absolue serums formulated with Hyaluronic Acid are a wonderful option for addressing visible signs of aging, since a lack of moisture can increase the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Our Absolue Oleo Serum is a moisturising serum specifically formulated to target signs of aging, giving your firmed, more toned skin with stronger elasticity. This serum contains Rose Extract and Native Cells, so in addition to nourishing and adding radiance with natural oils, it also visibly regenerates your skin to give you a more youthful glow.

We also recommend trying the Absolue Ultimate Repair Bi-Ampoule, which has a dual-phase formula infused with pure Oleo-Distillate, Tri-Ceramides and Grand Rose Extracts. After using this serum, your skin barrier is repaired, leaving you with visibly regenerated, beautifully soft, plump skin.

The Absolue L’Extrait Ultimate Concentrated-Elixir is a pearly gel emulsion, formulated with legendary Lancôme Rose, which envelops the skin and transforms upon contact into a light and fresh elixir. This concentrate immediately enhances the skin’s feel and appearance, giving you a new feeling of refined smoothness and velvety softness. Your skin features look more hydrated, tightened and lifted, and the skin’s density and firmness feel improved.

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Anti-Aging Serums

Anti-aging serums within our Génifique range help improve the appearance of signs of aging and increase key signs of youth, such as radiance, tone, elasticity and firmness.

The Advanced Génifique serum adds luminosity and the lit-from-within glow that begins to fade with the very first signs of skin aging. Enriched with millions of prebiotic and probiotic fractions, including Yeast and Bifidus Extracts, this serum acts on the skin microbiome and improves your skin’s texture, firmness and elasticity.

If your skin is going through a period of sensitivity, swap out your Advanced Génifique for our Advanced Génifique Sensitive, a serum for sensitive skin, which is ideal for nighttime. It has a dual concentrate enriched with soothing probiotic extracts and pure antioxidants like Vitamin E and Ferulic Acid to protect your skin against daily aggressors.

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Eye Serum

An eye serum can deliver visible benefits specifically for the eye contour area, and some formulas help visibly de-puff and minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Our Advanced Génifique Light Pearl Youth Activating Eye & Lash Concentrate doubles as an eye and lash serum. It not only works to visibly improve dark circles and eye bags, but also visibly fortifies eyelashes to make them feel supple and look silky.

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How to Layer Serums

There are no rules against how many face serums you can add to your daily beauty routine, and you can stack two or more formulas to get the results you’re looking for. Firstly, no matter your skin concerns, we recommend the Advanced Génifique facial serum to anyone who wants to take better care of his or her skin.

Choose your next face serum based on your particular skin concerns. If your skin is going through a period of sensitivity, opt for the Advanced Génifique to soothe your skin. If you’re more concerned about wrinkles, loss of firmness and hyperpigmentation, use the Clarifique Watery Emulsion. If your skin is dull, try the Absolue Oleo Serum to make skin look immediately fresh, radiant and renewed.