Lactic acid serums are an effective and affordable way to keep your skin in tip-top shape while maintaining the results of a professional or at-home chemical peel like a lactic acid peel.
But with so many lactic acid serums on the market, which one is right for you? 🤔
Let's find out!
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What Is The Best Lactic Acid Serum?
Here are my top recommendations:
- Editor's Choice: Sunday Riley Good Genes All-In-One Lactic Acid Treatment
- Professional Quality: Erno Laszlo AHA Resurfacing Sleep Serum
- Best for Dark Spots: Dermalogica BioLumin-C Serum
- Best for A Gorgeous Glow: Farmacy Beauty Honeymoon Glow
- Best for Silky Smooth Skin: Paula's Choice Advanced Smoothing Treatment 10% AHA
- Best for Hyperpigmentation: Civant Skin Care AHA Exfoliating Serum
- Best for Body Blemishes: REN Clean Skincare AHA Smart Renewal Body Serum
For a more affordable option (without the botanical extracts), The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% is a pretty good Sunday Riley dupe and a bestselling lactic acid serum in its own right.
(although, on a personal note, I didn't see any significant results when I used it a few years ago)
My Verdict: Give your skin all the brightness, clarity, and smoothness that it deserves with the bestselling Sunday Riley Good Genes featuring multi-tasking lactic acid, brightening licorice, refreshing lemongrass, soothing arnica flower, and hydrating prickly pear extract.
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My Verdict: Boost your beauty sleep routine with Erno Laszlo AHA Resurfacing Sleep Serum to rejuvenate and refresh tired skin with 15% AHAs, goji berry, and wild plum extracts, for a milky smooth complexion in the morning that's worthy of a true sleeping beauty. 😉
In this case, Dermalogica uses two vitamin C derivatives:
- Ascorbyl Methylsilanol Pectinate
- Aminopropyl Ascorbyl Phosphate
While both are considered stable, they are relatively recent vitamin C derivatives, which means the medical research on them is very limited. Now, that's not to say they don't work, just that third-party research on them hasn't been published yet.
In addition to lactic acid and vitamin C, palmitoyl tripeptide-5 (a synthetic peptide) increases firmness for smoother-feeling skin while sophora japonica flower fights oxidative stress and chia seed oil nourishes parched skin.
My Verdict: No match, your dark spots are, for the combined power of lactic acid and vitamin C using Dermalogica BioLumin-C Serum with bonus peptides to promote firmer skin.
(Farmacy Beauty has committed to 100% carbon neutral shipping and waste-free packaging)
You can interact with the full ingredient list as well and learn more about any ingredient (powered by the ClearForMe database of 2+ million ingredients).
My Verdict: Let your skin glow like never before with Farmacy Beauty Honeymoon Glow featuring 10% AHAs, 1% BHA, 3% flower acids, HA, and honey extracts, for soft & dewy skin!
Paula's Choice is cruelty-free and backed by an industry leading 60-day money back guarantee.
My Verdict: Smooth your skin with Paula's Choice Advanced Smoothing Treatment 10% AHA featuring an amazing ingredient list of 10% AHAs, peptides, ceramides, and antioxidants, for fresher, firmer, and fabulously-looking skin!
All Civant Skin Care products are vegan, cruelty-free, made in the USA, and come with an industry leading 30-day money back guarantee.
My Verdict: Brighter, clearer, and smoother skin is possible if you have hyperpigmentation like dark spots, melasma, age spots, and uneven skin tone. Use AHA Exfoliating Serum along with a natural and plant-based skin lightening cream like Meladerm for best results.
For the best deal, check out Advanced Brightening Kit which includes 2 full sizes of Meladerm.
My Verdict: Keep your body clear of blemishes, acne, and KP for stunning & smooth skin with Ren Clean Skincare AHA Smart Renewal Serum featuring lactic acid, probiotics, and xylitol.