The Best Antioxidants for Skin

Ultraviolet (UV) exposure may be responsible for as much as 80% of visible facial aging, contributing to wrinkles, uneven pigmentation, and changes in skin texture.1 One way UV light causes this damage is by generating reactive oxygen species — unstable molecules that can damage collagen and other structures in your skin.

Antioxidants help neutralize these molecules, which has made them increasingly popular in both skin care products and supplements. But “antioxidant” covers a huge range of ingredients, and the evidence behind them varies considerably. So how do you know which antioxidants actually work, which ones make sense for your skin, or whether they're worth using at all?

In this guide, we examine which antioxidants have the strongest evidence for skin health and compare the best topical and oral options to help you find the right approach for your goals.

If you want the short version, here’s where our research led us:

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

For this guide, we reviewed nearly 100 clinical studies, medical reviews, and research papers examining how antioxidants may affect skin health, including their potential effects on photoaging, hydration, elasticity, and other signs of skin aging. We also explored both the skin care and supplement markets to identify products that align with the available research and meet high standards for quality and transparency.

Alongside our research, we purchased and personally used several of the most promising products to evaluate factors like ease of use, packaging, application, and the overall customer experience.

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy and will continue to be monitored for updates by our editorial team.

We evaluated the best antioxidants for skin based on four factors that matter most when choosing a product:

• Effectiveness
• Safety
• Cost
• Convenience

These criteria guided our analysis across the topical products and oral supplements included in this guide.

In the sections ahead, we explain how each of our top picks performed in these areas and where certain products stood out. All of our recommendations met a high standard overall; when we highlight an “advantage,” it doesn’t mean the other products performed poorly, only that a product demonstrated a distinct strength in that category.

Effectiveness

Advantage: SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic

Comparing antioxidants for skin isn't quite as simple as comparing five versions of the same ingredient. Our recommendations include both topical products and oral supplements, and studies have looked at everything from wrinkles and elasticity to pigmentation and protection against UV-related damage.

So, when evaluating effectiveness, we focused primarily on:

• Strength of the human evidence: We prioritized controlled human studies measuring actual changes in the skin.
• How closely each product matches what was studied: We looked for similar forms, concentrations, doses, and combinations.
• Relevance of the benefits: We prioritized outcomes people are likely to care about, including wrinkles, elasticity, pigmentation, and protection against UV-related damage.

SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic has an unusually strong case on all three fronts. Vitamin C is the key antioxidant in its formula, and it has a substantial base of clinical evidence for skin. A 2023 systematic review of seven clinical studies found that topical vitamin C improved wrinkling and pigmentation.2

Pairing vitamin C with other antioxidants may offer additional benefits. Research has found that adding ferulic acid to vitamins C and E can improve their stability and increase protection against UV-related skin damage.4 And SkinCeuticals has an advantage that similar serums like Maelove Glow Maker don't: C E Ferulic itself has been tested in humans. In a small clinical trial, the product's 15% L-ascorbic acid, 1% vitamin E, and 0.5% ferulic acid formula significantly reduced several measures of skin damage following simulated UV exposure.3 That direct product testing gives us more confidence in SkinCeuticals' effectiveness than we have for similar formulas that haven't undergone clinical testing.

There is an important caveat. That trial was supported by a grant from SkinCeuticals-L'Oréal, and one of its authors, SkinCeuticals founding scientist Sheldon Pinnell, was a consultant for the company. Industry funding doesn't invalidate the results, but it gives us reason to interpret them with some additional caution. Still, there's real value in having clinical evidence on the core antioxidant formula used in the product, rather than having to assume that research on similar ingredients will translate to a particular formula.

CocoaVia has good evidence behind it, too. In a 24-week randomized controlled trial, women consuming 320mg of cocoa flavanols daily experienced improvements in facial wrinkles and skin elasticity compared with placebo.5 That's strong evidence for an oral option, but SkinCeuticals' combination of broader vitamin C research and clinical testing of the three-antioxidant formula at the heart of C E Ferulic gives it the edge here.

Safety

Advantage: Vanicream Vitamin C Serum

All of our recommendations have relatively favorable safety profiles, but topical antioxidants have an advantage in one important respect: they're applied directly to the skin rather than taken orally. That generally limits systemic exposure and makes concerns such as drug interactions less relevant. With topicals, the more immediate concern is usually skin irritation.

That's where Vanicream stands out. SkinCeuticals and Maelove both use L-ascorbic acid, the best-studied form of topical vitamin C but one that generally needs an acidic formula to penetrate the skin effectively. These formulas can cause stinging, redness, or irritation, particularly if you have sensitive skin.6

Vanicream instead uses tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD ascorbate), a vitamin C derivative that doesn't require the same low-pH environment. It also avoids fragrance, dyes, essential oils, and botanical extracts, reducing some additional potential sources of irritation.

There is a tradeoff: THD ascorbate hasn't been studied nearly as extensively as L-ascorbic acid. That's one reason SkinCeuticals has our effectiveness advantage. But from a safety and tolerability standpoint, Vanicream combines the generally lower systemic exposure of a topical product with a formula specifically designed to be gentle on sensitive skin, giving it the edge here.

Cost

Advantage: Innerbody Labs Astaxanthin+

Comparing costs gets a little tricky; some of our recommendations are supplements with fixed serving sizes, and others are serums whose lifespan depends on how much you apply. To make the comparison more useful, we looked at both upfront prices and approximate costs per use.

Innerbody Labs Astaxanthin+ isn't the cheapest product in our guide, but it gives you a lot for your money. Each $28 bottle provides 30 one-capsule servings, with three antioxidants — astaxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin — at doses that align well with amounts used in human research.

Its subscription program makes the value even better. A monthly subscription lowers the price to about $24, while buying six months at a time brings it down to $21 per bottle, or about $0.70 per daily serving.

Maelove is also an excellent value if you're specifically looking for a topical antioxidant. Its formula uses the same concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E, and ferulic acid as SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, but at a fraction of the price. For readers focused on keeping the cost of their skin care routine down, it's an especially compelling alternative.

Convenience

Advantage: Innerbody Labs Astaxanthin+

Our oral recommendations have a natural convenience advantage over topical serums: you don't need to work them into a skin care routine, apply them evenly, or wait for one product to absorb before layering on the next. And between our two oral picks, Innerbody Labs Astaxanthin+ is especially easy to use.

Astaxanthin+ requires just one softgel per day, compared with two capsules for CocoaVia's 500mg daily serving. Innerbody Labs also offers subscriptions every one, three, or six months, giving you plenty of flexibility over how often you want supplements delivered.

CocoaVia comes very close, though. You can subscribe for deliveries every one or two months, and its return policy gives you considerably more time to decide whether the product works for you. CocoaVia gives you 100 days to return the unused portion for a refund, while Innerbody Labs accepts opened products but requires you to initiate your return within 30 days of receiving your order. With either company, you're responsible for return shipping.

For us, the simplicity of one softgel per day and the wider range of subscription intervals give Astaxanthin+ a slight convenience advantage. But if having plenty of time to try a product before committing matters more to you, CocoaVia's 100-day guarantee is a meaningful perk.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how our top picks compare in terms of cost, daily use, and other key factors.

Antioxidants are substances that help protect cells from oxidative stress. Your body produces some antioxidants on its own, while others — including vitamins C and E, carotenoids, and various plant compounds — come from your diet or products you use on your skin.7

To understand why that matters for skin, it helps to know about reactive oxygen species (ROS). These unstable molecules are produced naturally in the body, but their levels can also rise in response to things your skin encounters every day, particularly UV radiation and air pollution.8 ROS aren't inherently bad — they play roles in normal cellular processes — but too many can overwhelm your body's antioxidant defenses. That imbalance is known as oxidative stress.7

In the skin, oxidative stress can damage proteins, fats, and DNA, contributing to inflammation. It can also affect collagen and activate enzymes that break it down, providing one of the links between UV exposure, oxidative stress, and visible signs of skin aging such as wrinkles and loss of elasticity.8 9

Your skin already has its own antioxidant defense system, including enzymes and compounds such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and glutathione.7 But environmental exposures can put additional pressure on those defenses. That's where antioxidants from outside the body become interesting. Through your diet, supplements, or products applied directly to your skin, certain antioxidants may help reinforce these defenses and provide additional protection against oxidative damage.10 How well they work — and what benefits they provide — depends considerably on the specific antioxidant and how it reaches your skin.

Topical vs. oral antioxidants

There are two main ways to get additional antioxidants to your skin: applying them directly or consuming them through food or supplements. Each route works a little differently and comes with its own advantages and limitations.

Antioxidants aren't a single class of nutrients or compounds. Vitamins, plant compounds, naturally occurring pigments, and even substances your body makes on its own can all have antioxidant activity. Several types have been studied for skin health, so here's a quick introduction to the ones you're most likely to encounter.

Antioxidants have been studied for a range of potential skin benefits, from helping protect against UV-related damage to improving visible signs of aging. But different antioxidants have different strengths, and the evidence is considerably better for some benefits than others.

For most healthy adults, the antioxidants covered in this guide appear to have relatively good safety profiles. The main thing to keep in mind is that topical products and oral supplements come with different considerations.

With topical antioxidants, irritation is usually the biggest concern. Vitamin C products are generally well tolerated, but L-ascorbic acid — the form used in SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic and Maelove Glow Maker — is typically formulated at a low pH to help it penetrate the skin. That acidity can cause stinging, burning, or irritation, particularly if you have sensitive skin.21 Starting gradually and testing a small area first can help you see how your skin responds.

Oral antioxidants require a little more consideration because they're absorbed and distributed throughout the body. Still, the ingredients in our recommendations have generally been well tolerated in human research. Astaxanthin has a particularly reassuring safety record: a review of 87 human studies found no safety concerns with natural astaxanthin, including 35 studies using doses of 12mg or more per day.22

That doesn't mean supplements are risk-free. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, take prescription medications, or have a medical condition, it's a good idea to check with your healthcare provider before adding a new supplement. And whether you're using a topical or oral antioxidant, stop using it and seek medical advice if you experience a significant or persistent reaction.

Antioxidants may be worth considering if you want to add another layer to a skin care routine that's already built around the basics, particularly sun protection. But whether a topical product or oral supplement makes more sense depends on what you're looking for.

• Topical antioxidants are likely the better fit if you want to target specific concerns, particularly visible signs of photoaging or uneven pigmentation. Because you apply them directly to the skin, you can also focus their use on the areas that concern you most.
• Oral antioxidants may be more appealing if you're interested in supporting skin across the body or simply prefer taking a supplement to adding another product to your skin care routine. Some, including cocoa flavanols and astaxanthin, have shown benefits for measures such as UV resilience, elasticity, and hydration.5 18 19 20

Neither approach is essential for healthy skin, and antioxidants shouldn't take priority over proven basics like sunscreen. But if you already have those fundamentals covered, certain antioxidants may offer some additional benefits.

Who are they not for?

Antioxidants are an option for many people, but certain products may not be a good fit depending on your skin, medications, or other circumstances. In some cases, choosing a different type of antioxidant may make more sense than avoiding them altogether.

Best overall oral supplement

If you’re looking for an oral antioxidant solely for skin, we consider CocoaVia to be the best under most circumstances, largely because of the evidence behind cocoa flavanols. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis of 40 randomized controlled trials found that flavanols were among the oral supplements showing benefits for skin photoaging.18 Researchers have studied them for several outcomes that matter here, including how skin responds to UV exposure, wrinkles, elasticity, hydration, and blood flow.5 18 25

Two cocoa studies in particular caught our attention:

• 320mg daily for 24 weeks: Women with moderately photoaged skin experienced improvements in facial wrinkles and skin elasticity compared with placebo.5 The study was supported by a South Korean government R&D program, and its authors reported no conflicts of interest.
• 326mg daily for 12 weeks: Women consuming high-flavanol cocoa developed less redness following UV exposure and also experienced improvements in measures including skin hydration and blood flow.25 This study received support from Mars, the company behind CocoaVia, which is worth keeping in mind when interpreting the results.

CocoaVia provides 500mg of cocoa flavanols per two-capsule serving, putting it in the same general range as the amounts used in these skin studies. The product also uses Cocoapro, Mars's proprietary cocoa extract. Cocoapro itself has been used in human research, including a clinical safety trial that used capsules containing 500mg of cocoa flavanols from Cocoapro extract.26

That's not the same as testing the finished CocoaVia capsules for skin benefits. But between the broader evidence for flavanols, multiple cocoa-specific skin trials, and a dose that lines up well with the research, CocoaVia makes a particularly strong case among the oral antioxidants we considered.

We also like CocoaVia's attention to quality. Its capsules are certified by NSF Contents and the Clean Label Project, as well as Non-GMO Project Verified and certified vegan.

One small consideration is caffeine. Each serving contains about 25mg — relatively little compared with a cup of coffee, but something to keep in mind if you're particularly sensitive to it.

Pricing, subscriptions, and shipping

CocoaVia is relatively expensive for a daily supplement, although subscribing makes the cost a little more manageable.

A monthly subscription saves 10%, while receiving three bottles every 90 days saves 15% and brings the effective price down to $41.66 per bottle. Subscriptions can be modified or canceled at any time, and CocoaVia currently provides free U.S. shipping.

Refunds and guarantees

CocoaVia offers a generous 100-day money-back guarantee. That's considerably longer than the 30-day return window you get with Innerbody Labs Astaxanthin+, our other oral recommendation, and gives you more time to decide whether CocoaVia is worth the ongoing cost.

If it doesn't work out for you, you can return the unused portion within 100 days for a refund of the product cost. Shipping and handling aren't refundable, although CocoaVia currently provides free U.S. shipping on this product.

Best low-priced oral supplement

Innerbody Labs Astaxanthin+ is our best low-cost oral antioxidant because it gives you three carotenoids — astaxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin — for less than $1 per day. Carotenoids are particularly interesting for skin because, after you consume them, they can accumulate in the skin and help strengthen its antioxidant defenses.15

Astaxanthin is doing most of the heavy lifting here, but lutein and zeaxanthin make this a more comprehensive carotenoid formula than the typical standalone astaxanthin supplement.

There's a benefit beyond skin, too. Lutein and zeaxanthin are particularly well studied for eye health, and the 10mg/2mg combination is the same one used in the landmark AREDS2 trial. That large NIH-sponsored study helped establish lutein and zeaxanthin as important components of a supplement formula designed to slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration in people at high risk.29 We go much deeper into that research in our guide to the best lutein and zeaxanthin supplements.

Innerbody Labs uses AstaPure, a natural astaxanthin extract derived from Haematococcus pluvialis microalgae using supercritical CO₂ extraction. That's a plus in our book: the process avoids the solvents used in some conventional extraction methods, reducing concerns about residual solvents while helping preserve the astaxanthin. And because all three carotenoids are fat-soluble, the softgel includes MCT oil as a fat source to support their absorption.

We also like Innerbody Labs' approach to testing. Every batch undergoes third-party testing for identity, potency, heavy metals, pesticides, and microbial contaminants, with batch-specific Certificates of Analysis published online.

Pricing, subscriptions, and shipping

At $28 for a 30-day supply, Astaxanthin+ keeps the cost below $1 per day, and subscriptions can bring it down to just $0.70.

The six-month subscription offers the best value, lowering the cost to about $0.70 per daily serving. For comparison, we estimate that a daily application of SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic costs about $1.23-$1.54, making Astaxanthin+ roughly half the daily cost of our top topical pick.

The three- and six-month subscriptions also qualify for free shipping because their order totals exceed Innerbody Labs' $50 threshold. A one-time purchase or monthly subscription falls below that threshold and currently incurs a $6.99 shipping charge.

Refunds and guarantees

Innerbody Labs gives you 30 days from receiving your order to initiate a return, and opened or partially used products are eligible. We like that flexibility because it means you can actually try Astaxanthin+ without losing your ability to return it.

The 30-day window is considerably shorter than CocoaVia’s 100-day guarantee, however, and you’ll be responsible for return shipping.

Best topical

SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic is our top topical antioxidant — and, from an evidence standpoint, the strongest product in this guide. Its advantage isn't simply that it contains vitamin C. The form, concentration, and combination of antioxidants all line up unusually well with the clinical research.

L-Ascorbic acid is the best-studied form of topical vitamin C, but it's also notoriously difficult to formulate. It's unstable and doesn't readily penetrate the skin unless the conditions are right.11 In foundational research led by SkinCeuticals founding scientist Sheldon Pinnell, L-ascorbic acid only entered the skin when formulations had a pH below 3.5, while absorption increased with concentration up to about 20%.30 SkinCeuticals uses 15% L-ascorbic acid, putting it comfortably within that research-backed range.

More importantly, researchers have tested this three-antioxidant combination in human skin. In a small clinical trial, the 15% vitamin C, 1% vitamin E, and 0.5% ferulic acid formula significantly reduced several signs of damage following simulated UV exposure, including redness, sunburn cells, inflammatory responses, and markers of DNA damage.3

There are some caveats. The study was supported by SkinCeuticals-L'Oréal, and Pinnell was a consultant for the company. The product has also changed since that research was published. Today's C E Ferulic retains the studied three-antioxidant core but adds 0.3% carnosine and 1% Endophytol, a dandelion-root-derived ingredient. That makes the study highly relevant to the current product, but not a clinical trial of the exact formula being sold today.

There's another tradeoff inherent to L-ascorbic acid: it can oxidize over time, reducing the amount of active vitamin C in the serum and potentially making it less effective. Ferulic acid improves the formula's stability, but it doesn't eliminate the problem.4 C E Ferulic can also darken after opening, although SkinCeuticals says that color change isn't necessarily a sign that the serum has lost its effectiveness. The company recommends using the product within three to six months after opening.

Taken together, that evidence is enough to earn C E Ferulic our top topical spot. It's expensive, but few topical antioxidants we evaluated have this level of research behind both their key ingredient and core formula.

Texture and scent

C E Ferulic is a thin serum with a somewhat oily feel as you spread it across the skin. It also has a noticeable yellow color, making it visually quite different from the nearly clear Maelove serum and white Vanicream lotion. We found its scent more noticeable than either of those products, although it wasn't particularly strong or easy to identify. If you're sensitive to how skin care products smell, this is the one you're most likely to notice during application, but we didn't find the scent overwhelming.

Pricing, subscriptions, and shipping

There's no getting around C E Ferulic's biggest drawback: a 30mL bottle costs $185. That's more than five times the upfront price of Maelove Glow Maker, our budget topical pick.

SkinCeuticals recommends using 4-5 drops once each morning on the face, neck, and chest. Based on the amount dispensed per application, we estimate a bottle provides roughly 120-150 uses, putting the cost at approximately $1.23-$1.54 per application. Actual mileage will depend on how much you use and how large an area you cover.

A subscription saves 5%, bringing the price to about $175.75 per bottle, and you can schedule deliveries every one to six months. Subscription orders also ship free, which makes subscribing more worthwhile than the modest 5% discount alone might suggest.

If you buy C E Ferulic as a one-time purchase, standard shipping costs $8 unless your order reaches $250 — a notably high free-shipping threshold that the serum doesn't meet on its own.

Refunds and guarantees

SkinCeuticals accepts returns of products purchased directly from its website within 30 days of purchase, with no stated requirement that products be unopened or unused. The company provides a complimentary prepaid return label and refunds the full product price to your original payment method.

That's a much shorter window than Maelove's 100-day guarantee, but free return shipping is a nice perk given C E Ferulic's $185 price. Products purchased from a dermatologist, spa, or another retailer have to be returned through the original seller.

Best low-priced topical

Maelove Glow Maker is about as close as we found to getting the core appeal of SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic without paying $185. Like SkinCeuticals, it uses 15% L-ascorbic acid alongside vitamin E and ferulic acid, and Maelove formulates the serum at a pH of 3.1-3.4. That's important because research suggests L-ascorbic acid needs a pH below 3.5 to penetrate the skin effectively.30

That doesn't mean you're getting C E Ferulic in a cheaper bottle. Even when two serums use the same key antioxidants, differences in the overall formula, manufacturing, and stability can affect how well those ingredients work. Most importantly, Glow Maker itself doesn't have the peer-reviewed clinical evidence that gives SkinCeuticals our effectiveness advantage.

But there's good reason to think Glow Maker gets the important parts right. Its concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E, and ferulic acid closely match those used in clinical research.3 4 It also adds hyaluronic acid to support hydration, along with aloe, grape seed extract, and magnolia bark extract.

Like SkinCeuticals, Glow Maker also has to contend with vitamin C's tendency to oxidize, which can reduce its potency over time. Maelove recommends using the serum soon after receiving it and refrigerating unopened backup bottles to help keep them fresh.

Texture and scent

Glow Maker is a thin, nearly clear serum that felt somewhat oily as we spread it across the skin. In that respect, it's much closer to SkinCeuticals than Vanicream, which has a creamier, lotion-like consistency. Maelove was less distinctive when it came to scent: we noticed very little overall, perhaps with a faint citrus-like note. Between its subtle smell and nearly clear appearance, there's relatively little about Glow Maker's sensory experience that we'd expect to be a dealbreaker.

Pricing, subscriptions, and shipping

Glow Maker costs $32.95 for a 30mL bottle, compared with $185 for the same amount of SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic.

That price difference is ultimately why Glow Maker earns our budget recommendation. You give up the product-specific peer-reviewed research behind SkinCeuticals, but Maelove gets many of the important formulation details right for less than one-fifth of the price.

You can also subscribe, though there's currently no subscription discount — the price remains $32.95. The main benefits are free shipping and convenience, with deliveries available every one to four months and the option to skip, pause, reschedule, or cancel as needed.

For one-time purchases, Maelove offers free U.S. shipping on orders of $50 or more. Since a single bottle of Glow Maker falls below that threshold, you'll pay $6.95 for shipping unless you add something else to your order.

Refunds and guarantees

Maelove backs Glow Maker with a 100-day money-back guarantee, giving you considerably more time than SkinCeuticals' 30-day return policy. If you're unhappy with the serum, you can return it within 100 days for a full refund, and Maelove covers return shipping.

That combination of a low upfront price and generous return policy makes Glow Maker particularly easy to try if you're interested in a C E Ferulic-style formula but aren't ready to spend $185.

Best topical for sensitive skin

Vanicream takes a different approach to vitamin C than SkinCeuticals and Maelove. Instead of L-ascorbic acid, it uses 5% tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD ascorbate), a fat-soluble vitamin C derivative. That difference comes with a tradeoff, but it's also the main reason Vanicream makes sense for sensitive skin.

L-Ascorbic acid has by far the stronger clinical track record.2 6 But it's a challenging ingredient to formulate. It oxidizes readily, which can reduce its potency over time, and it generally needs a pH below 3.5 to penetrate the skin effectively.11 30 That acidity can also cause stinging and irritation, particularly for sensitive skin.21

THD ascorbate takes a different route. Its fat-soluble structure is intended to help it move through the skin's lipid-rich outer layer, and unlike L-ascorbic acid, it doesn't require the same low-pH environment. Once in the skin, THD ascorbate can be converted to active vitamin C.31 In theory, that makes it an appealing way to deliver vitamin C without relying on a highly acidic formula.

The tradeoff is evidence. THD ascorbate hasn't been studied nearly as extensively as L-ascorbic acid. A small clinical trial found improvements in photoaged skin from a formula containing THD ascorbate, but that product also contained 10% L-ascorbic acid, so we can't tell how much THD contributed.32 And in a 2024 trial, 5% THD ascorbate alone — the same concentration Vanicream uses — produced little improvement in pigmentation and didn't improve wrinkles or redness over eight weeks.31

That's why we see Vanicream as an alternative rather than a replacement for SkinCeuticals or Maelove. If your skin tolerates L-ascorbic acid well, we'd favor one of those formulas because the evidence is considerably stronger. But if acidic vitamin C serums leave your skin stinging, red, or irritated, Vanicream offers a potentially gentler way to incorporate topical vitamin C.

The rest of the serum follows the same sensitive-skin logic. Vanicream includes five ceramides to help support the skin barrier, plus glycerin and phytosterols for additional moisturizing support. It also skips fragrance, essential oils, botanical extracts, and dyes, reducing some potential sources of irritation.

The packaging is another plus. An airless pump limits how much air reaches the serum each time you use it, helping protect the formula from unnecessary exposure between applications.

Texture and scent

Vanicream looks and feels quite different from the other two topical antioxidants we tested. Rather than a thin serum, it's white and creamy, with a lotion-like consistency that reminded us somewhat of sunscreen. That makes it feel more like a conventional moisturizing skin care product than the somewhat oily SkinCeuticals and Maelove serums. We also noticed very little scent, making Vanicream the most neutral of the three in that respect — another small advantage if strong-smelling skin care products tend to bother you.

Pricing, subscriptions, and shipping

Vanicream doesn't sell the serum directly, so pricing and shipping depend on where you buy it. At the time of writing, Amazon sells the 1.2oz (35mL) bottle for $17.97, making it the least expensive topical antioxidant in our lineup.

Retailer subscriptions may also be available. Amazon, for example, offers Subscribe & Save for this product, though the savings can vary. Since Vanicream doesn't sell directly, subscription discounts, shipping costs, and delivery options ultimately depend on the retailer you choose.

Refunds and guarantees

Because Vanicream doesn't sell the serum directly, there's no company-wide return policy or money-back guarantee. Instead, your return window — including whether you can return an opened bottle — depends on the retailer where you buy it.

That's less predictable than our other topical picks. Maelove offers a 100-day money-back guarantee with free return shipping, while SkinCeuticals accepts returns within 30 days and provides a prepaid return label. Vanicream's much lower price makes the lack of a standardized guarantee less consequential, but it's still worth checking your retailer's policy before buying.

Antioxidants don't need to make your skin care routine complicated. If you're using a topical antioxidant such as vitamin C:

• Apply it after cleansing and before moisturizer. This gives a serum a chance to absorb before you layer on heavier products.
• Morning is a particularly good time to use it. Topical antioxidants can complement sunscreen by helping protect against UV-related oxidative damage.3 4
• Ease into it if your skin is sensitive. If daily vitamin C causes irritation, starting every other day can give your skin time to adjust.

Sunscreen should still be the final step in your morning routine. Antioxidants can add another layer of protection against UV-related damage, but they don't replace it.

Oral antioxidants are simpler: take the recommended dose consistently. Most of the clinical research we've discussed involved daily supplementation over several weeks or months, so these aren't products we'd expect to produce meaningful skin changes overnight.5 19 20

You can also use topical and oral antioxidants together. They reach the skin in different ways, so taking cocoa flavanols or astaxanthin doesn't prevent you from using a vitamin C serum as well. But you don't need both — either approach can be reasonable depending on your goals and the kind of routine you prefer.

Antioxidants aren't the only supplements with evidence for supporting skin health. If your main goal is improving wrinkles, hydration, or elasticity rather than increasing antioxidant protection specifically, some alternatives may make as much — or more — sense.

Diet

Supplements can provide concentrated doses of individual antioxidants, but you can get many of the same compounds through food. Vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, and polyphenols are all found naturally in the diet, and research shows that some of these antioxidants are absorbed and ultimately make their way into the skin.12

You don't need to follow a specialized “anti-aging diet” to take advantage of them. A varied diet rich in plant foods can provide a broad mix of antioxidants along with fats, protein, and other nutrients your skin needs to function normally.10 12

Some particularly useful foods include:

• Fruits and vegetables: Citrus fruits, berries, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and leafy greens provide vitamin C, carotenoids, polyphenols, and other plant compounds. Eating a variety of colors is an easy way to get a broader mix.
• Nuts and seeds: These provide vitamin E along with unsaturated fats that contribute to healthy skin and its protective barrier.
• Cocoa and tea: Both are rich in polyphenols. Cocoa is particularly relevant here: human trials have linked cocoa flavanols with improvements in UV-related redness, wrinkles, elasticity, and skin blood flow.5 25
• Healthy sources of fat: Olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish provide unsaturated fatty acids, which can support skin health in ways that go beyond their antioxidant content.

We also have some evidence connecting what people eat with how their skin ages. In a study of more than 4,000 middle-aged American women, higher dietary vitamin C intake was associated with a lower likelihood of wrinkles and age-related dryness, while higher intake of linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid, was associated with less dryness and skin thinning.35 This was an observational study, so it can't tell us that either nutrient caused those differences, but it does suggest that overall diet matters.

And we don't have to rely entirely on associations. In a randomized controlled feeding trial, researchers changed participants' carotenoid intake using different amounts of fruits and vegetables and found corresponding changes in carotenoid levels measured in their skin.36 In other words, at least some of the antioxidants you eat really do reach your skin.