Dr Dennis Gross C + Collagen Brighten and Firm Vitamin C Serum

Dr. Dennis Gross C + Collagen Serum is pretty young in the market, first released back in spring of 2017. When an expensive ($78 for 30ml) skincare product makes a debut at Sephora, oftentimes they would offer very generous gift with purchase of those pricey concoction, hoping it would lure some customers. At first they were giving away 7x1.5ml of samples of this serum, later there was the mini tube (less volume but also you can dispense exactly what you need). You don't need a math degree to figure out it's a good deal.

If you want to see the third grade math...Here you go. The serum is 78bucks/30ml, 2.6 dollars per ml. When you get 7x1.5 ml pouches (10.5ml total), it's 27.3 dollars worth of product to try when you spend 25 on a regular toy.

Anyway, I almost got a full bottle worth of samples by by other little toys (since I reckon I need a longer trial period to make my final decision). 

The serum is a moisturizing gel that smells strongly of vinegar. On the skin, it feels light and watery and often pills into little crumb when I use the whole 1.5ml pouch. In a nutshell, the formula is the polar opposite of what people call "cosmetic elegance". Anyway, the pump bottle is less hassle as I can control the amount being applied.

I have used it on and off (I could never used it continuously) from April to December of 2017 and felt the formula is  simply too strong for my skin type. If I use it twice a week, I might feel a bit of brightening...But most of its visible effect was just exfoliating and thinning with the bunch of acids they throw in (3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid, phytic acid etc), so much it's like a skin peel I can handle (if I am not using any other active or scrubs) once a week.

And so far, my reactions includes: Flushing of face allover, giant red hard bumps that turns into hyperpigmentations that takes months to fade (this was last June right before an work trip...urgh), any brightening it managed to do was quickly overturned by the skin irritation and more pigmentation (produced by my skin in protest).

Last December, I decided to bring the small bottle to a quick trip to Toronto (I needed a vitamin C and this is cute, little and airtight) and this actually made my skin so much worse combining with the winter wind. That's when I concluded that despite being packed with dozens of supposedly beneficial ingredients, it's essentially an acid peel that does more harm on my skin.

I am sure there are people who can use and love the formula, just looking at the ratings on Sephora (then again I know first hand that they don't publish all the negative reviews and many products I found utterly junk are kept at 3.8/5).  I personally can't use it at all, not even use it my body at night, who wants to go to bed smelling like a pickle anyway?

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Niacinamide, Glycereth-7 Triacetate, Lactic Acid, SD Alcohol 40-B, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Ascorbic Acid, Collagen Amino Acids, Superoxide Dismutase, Glycine, Carnitine HCl, Ubiquinone, Hexylresorcinol, Emblica Officinalis Fruit Extract, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Isoquercetin, Mandelic Acid, Pueraria Lobata Root Extract, Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Extract, Phytic Acid, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Citrate, Butylene Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 20, T-Butyl Alcohol, Sodium Hydroxide, Polysorbate 80, Denatonium Benzoate, Benzyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Natural Colorant.