Summer is the perfect time of the year to add plenty of great antioxidant ingredients in your skincare routine. And Paula’s Choice can definitely help you with that with their new Power Berry Serum!
If I had to name just one category of anti-aging ingredients where I could say I saw results on my skin in the very long term, it would definitely be anti-oxidants.
They have been part of my routine for over 15 years now and I know they are effective, I have no doubt about it!
Have you ever heard of oxidative stress? Free radicals? What about photo-aging of the skin? Does that mean anything to you? All of this doesn’t seem ideal to preserve the youth of your skin though, does it?
The good news is that there’s a category of powerful ingredients that can protect the skin from all these annoying things.
These ingredients are experts in anti-aging prevention, and they’re called anti-oxidants. Let me introduce them to you, and I’ll also give you my thoughts on Paula’s Choice Power Berry Serum, which contains plenty of them in its formula!
What are antioxidant ingredients:
Antioxidants are very effective anti-aging ingredients for the protection and prevention of skin aging.
In short, they are molecules capable of preventing the skin oxidation (yes, like with metal and rust, the skin can also oxidize!). This oxidation (also known as oxidative stress) is responsible for the production of free radicals, and these unstable molecules cause chain reactions in the body and therefore a lot of damage to the skin. Free radicals are one of the main sources of accelerated skin aging.
These free radicals are caused by several factors: stress, lack of sleep, pollution, tobacco, skin infections and inflammations, exposure to sun/UV rays…
As their name suggests, anti-oxidant ingredients are therefore inhibitors of oxidation and help protect the skin by eliminating excess free radicals in the cells.
In other words, anti-oxidant ingredients help prevent aging by protecting the skin.
They are therefore useful as a protective shield against pollution, but also against the infamous blue light that you can hear a lot about these days!
They are also supposed to have soothing, anti-inflammatory effects for some of them, and the most effective are great to bring a lot of radiance to the skin!
In short, there are many good reasons for adding them to your skincare routine!
A few examples of antioxidant ingredients:
Vitamines (and derivatives):
The most effective (and most used):
– vitamin A (or retinol),
– vitamin C,
– vitamin E (or tocopherol)
– vitamin B3 or Niacinamide.
Natural extracts:
To name a few:
– polyphenols (from coffee, tea, cocoa or fruits),
– EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate) which comes from green tea,
– ferulic acid (which can come from rice, elderberry, white willow, sweet clover…),
– tomato and its lycopene,
– grape and its resveratrol: Vitis vinifera, Resveratrol…
(there are many others).
“Biotechnological” extracts (from natural fermentation extracts ):
For example:
– ginseng (Panax ginseng cambium cell culture),
– rice (Saccharomyces and Galactomyces),
– turmeric (Lactobacillus/Saccharomyces/Turmeric ferment extract filtrate)…
Likewise, these are only a few of many.
In the case of the Power Berry Serum, berries and red fruits are used in the formula. Scientific studies have recently shown that, in addition to their antioxidant properties, they’re also anti-inflammatory and help to strengthen the skin barrier.
Product presentation: Paula’s Choice Power Berry Serum
Paula’s Choice Power Berry serum is an antioxidant serum. It helps to protect the skin from free radicals and therefore to preserve the youth of your skin.
Paula’s Choice takes anti-aging prevention very seriously and the brand already includes about ten anti-oxidant serums in their range (not to mention boosters like the one with vitamin C or Niacinamide, which I love).
I think this Power Berry clearly targets Millennials. It’s indeed a great first anti-aging product that young people (starting 25) can add to their routine to start taking care of their skin (and also, it’s millennial pink!).
Now, I still find it useful for me who hasn’t been 25 for 15 years (lol). My routine has always been very, very rich in antioxidants.
For me, they’re essential and I use as many as possible! I have always believed that a good anti-oxidant complex is the most effective way to protect my skin. And that’s obviously also the opinion of Paula’s Choice! 🙂
In addition, anti-oxidant ingredients boost the effectiveness of sunscreen, so it’s even more interesting!
The Power Berry Serum is part of Paula’s Choice’s “Earth Sourced” range, the brand’s most natural range. They claim a 95% natural formula.
It contains a lot of plant extracts in its formula, including 13 different berries, known for their antioxidant effects. Its pink color is due to all these red fruits, there is no additional dye!
In addition, it doesn’t contain silicones, for those who avoid them 😉
My experience:
I started to use the Power Berry Serum about 6 weeks ago. I added it to my morning routine, because I think that’s when anti-oxidants are most useful!
During the day, the skin is constantly under attack (pollution, blue light, stress, UV rays…), so an anti-radical shield product is more than welcome!
The texture is very “classic serum”; it’s a rather viscous liquid gel, not the lightest of my serums (I use a lot of Korean serums which are generally intended for a layering routine, so often super lightweight in texture). It still spreads fairly well and absorbs easily, leaving the skin very comfortable (without any greasy effect at all).
Regarding the results, you definitely have to think about the long term with this type of product. But I already said it, for me, it doesn’t matter, I know I’m investing in the future of my skin!
The brand also talks about an effect on skin radiance, but to be honest, I’m not convinced, and I’m counting more on my acids or my vitamin C for that! 😉
It’s rather pleasant to use for the season, at least, which is always a plus!
In conclusion:
Antioxidant ingredients have always been part of my skincare routine, so the Power Berry serum found its place in mine without any issue.
It’s pleasant to use, and fits easily into a travel kit. A reminder: an anti-oxidant serum boosts the effectiveness of sunscreen products, so if you don’t use them yet, summer is the best time to start! 😉
Discovering this product made me want to take a look at the brand’s other antioxidant serums and so I ordered the salicylic acid version to try after this one 😉