Choose your serum by skin concern

Pick and choose your serum based on what matters most to you. You can always double-up too, using serums on alternate nights or mixing and matching between morning and evening.

For firmer, bouncy skin: Peptides + hyaluronic acid

As we age, the collagen and elastin that give our skin that delicious bounce and structure start to deplete. But the good news is, that if we ask our skin nicely, with the help of persuasive peptides, we can replenish that lost plumpness.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that make up proteins including collagen, elastin and keratin. Picture them like Trinny London stacks. The amino acids are the individual T-Pots, and when you join every one of them in the range together, you have a complete protein. These are large, and too big to be absorbed into the skin – just as you couldn’t fit the entire Trinny London makeup range in your handbag. Peptides are smaller chains of amino acids, e.g. smaller, more curated (and more portable) stacks, making them well placed to penetrate the skin. Peptides are also, as we have alluded to, brilliant messengers. They can help to impact the way skin cells behave, supporting natural collagen production. This will not only help to restore lost volume, but minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles too.

The perfect partner to peptides is another skin-plumping hero – hyaluronic acid. A great quick-fix for skin that’s drab and dehydrated, it works as a moisture magnet to draw in moisture from the atmosphere and hold it in the skin. It’s a little bit like a sponge – without water a sponge is flat and dehydrated, but when filled with water it becomes plumper and more elastic. Your skin undergoes the same kind of transformation. An added benefit is that skin, like the rest of our bodies, functions best when hydrated. A generous glug of hyaluronic acid will help it to perform at its best.

For brighter, glowing skin: Vitamin C

Not just something you find in the fruit bowl, vitamin C has serious benefits for the skin. It’s what’s known as an antioxidant, which means it does a brilliant job at shielding skin from the damaging effects of free radicals. Free radicals are pesky molecules and atoms created by things such as UV rays, pollution and stress and cause damage to our complexions, by causing the components of healthy cells to oxidise. Antioxidants are, as the name suggests, anti this negative process. They shield and protect our healthy skin cells from damage, preventing dullness and premature ageing.

Vitamin C’s blocking capabilities don’t stop there. This powerhouse is also part of a family of ingredients called tyrosinase inhibitors. They help prevent the production of excess melanin (the protein that gives skin its pigment), so age and post-breakout dark spots needn’t be a fact of life.

With continued use, a vitamin C serum will leave you with a brighter complexion, as well as helping to even skin tone and visibly reduce age spots. The ultimate refresh, think of it as a juice cleanse for your complexion.

For smoother, more even and youthful skin: Retinal and niacinamide

Struggling with stressed skin? One of the first ways stress can manifest itself is through your skin. Whether it’s dullness, blotchiness, fine lines or congestion, somehow those pesky daily life stressors have a way of constantly reminding us they’re there. However, while we can’t always control what happens in our lives, we can reduce the visible impact stress has on our skin.

When your body is stressed, it releases a hormone called cortisol which can accelerate the aging process on your skin, resulting in that lacklustre appearance. Retinoids have the ability to speed up cell turnover, slowing down the formation of ageing signs in your skin and essentially reversing the visible signs of stress. Fine lines are erased, dark spots are reduced, and you can say hello to skin that looks soothed and renewed.

Niacinamide helps boost NAD+ (a coenzyme linked to metabolism) which is used by the skin to convert retinal into retinoic acid (the gold standard in anti-ageing). In less science-y terms, niacinamide and retinal work together in a perfect anti-ageing (and anti-stress) powerhouse partnership.

For visibly renewed, ageless-looking skin: Retinoids

Feel like your skin isn’t quite as vibrant as it used to be? Maybe it’s lost its energy, with a lack of firmness and wrinkles among your biggest bugbears. We have already sung the praises of retinoids when it comes to helping to banish breakouts, but they have a huge part to play in restoring life to the skin too.

Retinoids have the ability to jumpstart our skin’s dwindling production of collagen and elastin, making it behave less like older skin, and more like younger skin. Think of it like a shot of espresso the morning after a late night. They can also speed up cell turnover, reducing the appearance of marks and fine lines in the process. Skin appears firmer and plumper, with tell-tale age spots dulled and diminished.