The Best Brightening Serums That Will Keep Your Summer Glow Going Strong
Keep glowing, even after summer ends
A few key products are required to curate a truly effective skincare routine—the best cleanser for your skin type, a hardworking moisturiser to keep your skin barrier healthy, and a decent toner can do wonders for the texture of your skin. There is one product, however, that I’d consider to be the absolute key to great skin and that’s the best face serum. Designed to target and treat—whether that’s acne, dryness or pigmentation—serums are a crucial step in really tackling your skin’s specific needs.
And with summer well and truly on the horizon, I’d hazard a guess that there’s one fairly universal desire that most of us hold for our skin—glow. Yes, bright, radiant skin looks good all year round, but there’s something about stepping into spring that always gets me noticing how dull my complexion looks following a long winter. Whilst products like illuminating primers do a good job of helping you fake it, the very best brightening serums can make luminous skin a reality—and there is a plethora of brilliant formulations to choose from.
To help with streamlining my edit of the best, I spoke to dermatologist Dr Beibei Du-Harper to find out exactly what causes skin to look dull in the first place and what ingredients we should seek out when choosing the best brightening serum.
Best brightening serums at a glance:
- Best clinical brightening serum: iS Clinical
- Best high-street brightening serum: The Inkey List
- Best brightening serum for mature skin: Beauty Pie
- Best brightening serum for sensitive skin: Byoma
- Best brightening serum for oily skin: Naturium
- Best brightening serum for tired skin: Ole Henriksen
- Best brightening serum for overnight use: Sunday Riley
What factors can contribute to our skin looking dull?
Interestingly, while I was expecting things like fatigue or stress to be the main factors to our skin looking tired and flat, Dr Beibei actually suggested that dull skin is more likely attributed to things like uneven texture, pigmentation and dehydration. “When skin is smooth and hydrated it tends to reflect light more effectively and therefore appears brighter and glowy,” Dr Beibei explains. “If skin is dull, it tends to be because it is not well hydrated and the outer layer known as the stratum corneum isn't smooth”. An uneven skin tone caused by things like acne, pigmentation or brown or red marks on the skin can also make skin appear less vibrant.
What ingredients in the best brightening serums will help with radiance?
Luckily, there are a huge array of ingredients that are proven to help skin look brighter and more luminous. If you’re after something really potent, then Dr Beibei suggests talking to a dermatologists or trying a personalised skincare service like Skin + Me where you might be prescribed ingredients like tretinoin or hydroquinone which help to regenerate the skin and brighten the surface.
“Over the counter, things like topical retinoids, including retinaldehyde and retinol, have brightening effects due to their ability to make the stratum corneum more compact and regenerative, while ingredients like alpha arbutin, kojic acid and vitamin C also have brightening properties.”
Ahead, 7 of the best brightening serums to get your glowiest skin yet.
1. iS Clinical Super Serum
I’ll be the first to admit that £95 is a lot to shell out on one skincare, but this is truly the best brightening serum I’ve ever tried. Beyond just making skin look more radiant and glowy (which it does with ease) it also targets things like scarring, hyperpigmentation and any texture caused by things like breakouts or ageing. Using a blend of 15% L-ascorbic acid—a potent, time-released vitamin C—and copper tripeptides it helps to promote collagen production in the skin, lightens dark spots and minimises the appearance of fine lines and uneven skin tone. Truly, my skin always looks its best when I’m using this regularly as its undeniably brighter and smoother.
2. The Inkey List 15% Vitamin C and EGF Serum
At the opposite end of the spectrum, and proving that efficacious skincare doesn’t have to be eye-wateringly expensive, is this £15 serum from The Inkey List. Vitamin C is notoriously tricky to get right as it’s such an unstable ingredient and can lose potency fast. However, this serum contains it in the form of a 15% concentration of ascorbyl glucoside which converts to L-ascorbic glucoside once it hits your skin—ensuring that you’re really getting an active burst of antioxidants that will genuinely make a difference to the appearance of your skin. It also comes in a pump dispenser which prevents the formula from being exposed to the air and losing potency that way. As well as that, this brightening serum contains Epidermal Growth Factors (or EGF) to stimulate collagen and improve the elasticity and texture of skin too. It’s seriously impressive considering the price.
3. Beauty Pie Youthbomb 360° Radiance Concentrate Serum
If you’re in your 40s and are finding that your moisturiser isn’t cutting it anymore then adding in a hydration-boosting serum like this one might just be what your skin needs to restore its glow. Formulated with Consultant Dermatologist Dr Andrew Markey, this brightening serum is all about delivering dewy skin while targeting the loss of elasticity and firmness that naturally occurs as we age. It’s a uniquely honed blend of marine actives to firm and strengthen the skin, phyto extracts to moisturise and soothe, and synthetic hexapeptide to brighten and provide antioxidant benefits, and skin is left plump, firm and beautifully bright. Not in your 40s yet but have really dry skin? This would also make a great choice for you.
4. Byoma Brightening Serum
Finding the best brightening serum if you have sensitive skin can be tricky as oftentimes the active ingredients that promote luminosity (vitamin C, for instance) can be quite irritating to reactive complexions. This one from Byoma makes a great option thanks to its gentle blend of hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and the brand’s tri-ceramide complex which strengthen the skin barrier, improve hydration and smooth texture for a really lit-from-within glow.
5. Naturium Vitamin C Super Serum Plus
As someone with acne-prone, oily skin I’ve typically avoided brightening serums in the past, preferring instead to opt for formulas that will target congestion, breakouts and scarring. Plus, I’m always nervous that anything promising glow will just exacerbate the natural sheen my skin already has from its excessive oil levels. This serum from Naturium, however, offers the best of both worlds and is in my opinion one of the brand's best products. It contains retinol to boost cell turnover and minimise scarring, salicylic acid to gently exfoliate and decongest pores, and niacinamide and hyaluronic acid to boost moisture levels. The result is bright, fresh, and healthy skin with a natural luminosity.
6. Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Vitamin C Serum
On days where I wake up and my pallor is zombie-like, the Ole Henriksen Truth range is what I reach for first—and this brightening serum is the star of the show. It contains banana-powder inspired pigments which give the formula a yellow tint and really help to combat purple undertones in the skin, whether that be dark circles or pigmentation. This means that your skin will instantly look more radiant while the rest of the ingredients get to work on long-term glow. Alongside 15% vitamin C, this serum contains 5% PHAs—a gentle chemical exfoliant—to smooth and brighten, and hyaluronic acid to plump the skin. Plus, it has a really uplifting citrus scent that I find instantly re-energising.
7. Sunday Riley Good Genes Glycolic Acid Treatment
Harnessing glycolic acid has its most valuable player, this cult brightening serum from Sunday Riley makes the perfect overnight treatment if you want to wake to megawatt glowy skin. You can, in fact, use this of a morning too but I find that because it is quite a potent formula that I like using it best as part of my evening routine. The glycolic acid works by exfoliating away the dead skin cells that can cause our complexions to look dull when they build up, but it also helps to really reduce any congestion caused by either spots or uneven texture. Come morning, skin is smoother, pores appear smaller, and there is a healthy radiance.
