Best Antioxidant Face Serums to Supercharge Your Skin Care

It's more than just your regular vitamin ABCs. We're spotlighting the best antioxidants for anti-aging skin care.

So you’ve heard enough from us about how important the right facial cleansers and moisturizers are to balanced skin. This daily maintenance is necessary to prep your sleepy face for your busy day, and to help purify and reset your skin at night after all those long hours. But what about everything that goes in between? We know that not everyone has enough time for 10 step Korean skin care routines. That’s where an antioxidant face serum comes in. While you may not see immediate results from an antioxidant serum at first, it’s essential to repairing and nourishing your skin for the long run.

What’s an antioxidant face serum?

An antioxidant face serum contains active ingredients that are also antioxidants that help fight free radicals. To set it straight, free radicals aren’t exactly found in things like UV rays. UV rays and pollution can trigger the formation of free radicals in your skin and body. These free radicals are what mess with your skin cells and even skin cell DNA, leading to pesky fine lines and wrinkles, or worse, skin cancer.

Antioxidants are a type of molecule that helps extinguish these harmful free radicals, and may help repair damage too. So think of an antioxidant face serum as both a shield and a concentrated recovery tonic! It’s an essential for any anti-aging routine, and usually advised for all skin types.

Here are some of our favorite antioxidants to look for:

1. Vitamin C – often called a holy grail ingredient, it turns out this vitamin is an antioxidant too. When applied to skin, it’s actually been found to protect against UV sun damage. It’s especially beneficial for promoting skin radiance, collagen production, and brightening dark spots..
2. EGCG – this under-looked antioxidant is found in green tea, and not only has been shown to prevent against UV damage. It’s been shown to prevent tumor formation in skin. EGCG is ideal for treating uneven skin tone, fine lines, and sun damage.
3. Vitamin E – Vitamin E is naturally found in your skin sebum and helps absorb UV light to prevent damage to skin. It’s also a powerful anti-inflammatory and promotes skin healing.
4. Niacinamide – a form of vitamin B3 that’s been shown to reduce hyperpigmentation and smooth out wrinkles when applied to skin.
5. Resveratrol – an antioxidant found in red wine, which is the reason why wine has been associated with anti-aging properties.
6. Coenzyme Q10 – also known as ubiquinone, this antioxidant has been shown to improve recovery and healing of damaged skin.  

Best antioxidant face serums

Multi-Vitamin + Antioxidants Potent PM Serum from 100% Pure
Do you know your vitamin ABCs? No worries about keeping track with this powerful tonic. It’s the first of its kind that contains both anti-aging stars niacinamide and vitamin C (the two usually can’t coexist, but 100% Pure has chosen super stable versions that can!). Vitamin E helps to condition skin, while carrot-based retinol improves skin tone.

Antioxidant Serum from Juice Beauty
Fancy some beauty sweet talk? This product has been “clinically proven to help reduce free radicals up to 87%.” That’s thanks to the vitamin C and E, as well as alpha lipoic acid and CoQ10 that help improve skin appearance while nourishing deep down inside skin cells.

Vine Therapy Serum from Puristry
Here’s another reason to love red wine more. This USDA organic serum contains both grape seed extract and the antioxidant resveratrol that’s found in red wine to help improve skin tone. Hyaluronic acid helps lock in these antioxidants, ensuring maximum benefits for your skin.

Physical Attraction Insanely Hydrating Serum from Rutz Naturals
Have dry skin that’s in need of anti-aging care too. This facial serum focuses on brightening your glow with hyaluronic acid and vitamin C, while protecting your skin against damage with green tea and vitamin E.

Vitamin Sea Serum from Osea
This serum may be lightweight on skin, but it’s jam packed with hero ingredients so you’re getting the most out of your beauty routine. In addition to vitamin C and E, you’ll also get a good dose of ferulic acid that may help prevent against free radical damage, as well as an abundance of antioxidants from turmeric.

Antioxidant Dew from Kypris
This serum is a bit of a heavy hitter for your wallet, but its antioxidants are phospholipid encapsulated to ensure better absorption and delivery to your skin cells. It’s truly an antioxidant playground with its vitamins C, E, superoxide dismutase, as well as ferulic acid to really pamper your skin.

Remember, you don’t have to wait until serious signs of aging pop up to start using an antioxidant face serum. Just like with using sunscreen, prevention is key (it isn’t exactly ideal to pop a serum on a sunburn like a bandaid!). Keep your bathroom cabinet beauty products up-to-date with the latest in skin care technology and the best in clean beauty, and your skin will thank you later.