The 11 Best Brightening Serums That Really Work
Nothing ages the skin quite like discoloration and dullness. While hyperpigmentation and brown spots may seem impossible to get rid of, it turns out that incorporating a brightening serum into the mix just may be the missing puzzle piece in your skincare routine. And even if you regularly cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize, and protect, if you’re not applying a serum that tackles discoloration, chances are that all the other products in your routine may not be able to give you the crystal-clear complexion you’re chasing.
That’s because a serum that brightens the skin works differently from other skincare products. No matter how potent it is, the best brightening serums all work to increase the skin’s glow factor while minimizing the formation of future discoloration, too. In other words, a brightening serum is a must-have for seriously glowy, dewy, fresh-looking skin.
Our Top Picks:
Best for Hyperpigmentation: Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster Best for Vitamin C: StriVectin Super-C Retinol Brighten & Correct Vitamin C Serum Best for Dark Spots: Allies of Skin Tranexamic & Arbutin Advanced Brightening Serum Best for Hydrating: IMAGE Skincare VITAL C Hydrating Anti-Aging Serum Best for Dry Skin: Murad Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum Best for Anti-Aging: Revision Skincare C+ Correcting Complex 30% Best for Mature Skin: Eminence Organic Skin Care Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum Best for Sensitive Skin: Ursa Major Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum Best for Overall Brightening: Sunday Riley CEO 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum Best for Oily Skin: Jan Marini C-ESTA Face Serum Best for Fast Results: NeoCutis BioSerum Firm
What is a Brightening Serum?
A brightening serum is a specially formulated skincare product that helps reduce the visibility of dark spots, hyperpigmentation, and discoloration, while imparting a healthy glow. Brightening serums can also improve skin radiance so that it doesn’t look ‘flat’ or dull. Packed with high-performance ingredients, a brightening serum can also improve the skin’s overall texture and quality.
Ingredients to Look for in Brightening Serums
Vitamin C: Antioxidant-rich vitamin C works to suppress the production of tyrosinase, the enzyme related to melanin production, which is responsible for causing discoloration in the skin. It also helps give the skin a bright, glowy appearance and prevents sun-related skin damage and discoloration. Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs): AHAs such as glycolic acid and lactic acid exfoliate the uppermost layers of the skin to remove discolored skin cells. With fewer discolored cells on the surface, the skin appears brighter, clearer, and more uniform in tone. Kojic acid: This naturally-derived ingredient helps to brighten the skin and reduce pigment in spots by slowing down the skin’s production of melanin. Retinol: Vitamin A-derived retinol packs a powerful punch, and its skin-improving capabilities aren’t limited just to smoothing lines and wrinkles and stimulating collagen. In fact, retinol works by speeding up skin cell turnover to shed discoloration and diminish the appearance of dark spots and hyperpigmentation. Niacinamide: Niacinamide is one of the best skin-brightening ingredients. A type of vitamin B3, niacinamide, works like other skin brighteners to halt the production of pigment-producing melanin. Plus, since niacinamide calms redness and irritations in the skin, it’s a good option for sensitive skin types.
How to Choose the Best Brightening Serum
When it comes to choosing an effective brightening serum, there are several key factors to consider. Always make sure to:
Take into consideration your skin type, since some brightening serums are more compatible with certain skin types than others. - Look for a brightening serum that specifically addresses the areas you wish to improve. For example, if you want to get rid of sunspots, use a serum that’s formulated just for that.
- Don’t discount a serum’s potency. Not all brightening serums are the same, and some may be stronger than others. Make sure to read the ingredient deck and understand the actives in a formula to find the best one for your skin.
- Find a brightening serum that works with your skincare routine. Rather than complicating things, opt for a brightening serum that you can easily incorporate into your existing routine. Make sure to look for one that doesn’t pill or roll on the skin or cause redness.
- Consider the packaging. Some ingredients used in brightening serums have the potential to oxidize or lose stability, so it’s important to use one in an airtight pump.
Shop the Best Brightening Serums
Best Brightening Serum for Hyperpigmentation: Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster
$55.00
Boasting 15% vitamin C to seriously banish stubborn discoloration, this gentle formula provides a visible boost to the skin sans any irritation. Thanks to its quick-to-absorb, non-sticky texture, it also helps improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles while imparting a healthy glow, all without the irritation that some vitamin C serums are known to cause.
Key Ingredients: Vitamin C, ferulic acid, ergothioneine
Skin Type: Normal, dry, combination, oily
Skin Benefits(s): Delivers vitamin C benefits without irritation, targets dullness and uneven skin tone, improves skin firmness, leaves the skin looking more radiant, smoothes the skin, and protects against future environmental damage
Beauty Insider Tip: Add the serum to your favorite moisturizer for an added boost.
Best Vitamin C Brightening Serum: StriVectin Super-C Retinol Brighten & Correct Vitamin C Serum
$72.00
This supercharged vitamin C serum incorporates retinol alongside the antioxidant so that you can get the brightest, glowiest, plumpest skin ever. By pairing the two dark spot reducers together, the lightweight serum helps restore clarity to the skin, giving it a new lease on life.
Key Ingredients: Vitamin C, retinol, acerola cherry extract
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Brightens dull, tired skin, smoothes out rough skin and fine lines, neutralizes free radical damage, strengthens the skin barrier, leaves the skin glowing, improves skin elasticity
Beauty Insider Tip: Since the formula contains retinol and vitamin C, it may increase sun sensitivity or cause mild skin irritations when acclimating to the product.
Best Brightening Serum for Dark Spots: Allies of Skin Tranexamic & Arbutin Advanced Brightening Serum
$101.00
In just one week, this advanced serum starts to brighten the skin and fade the look of dark spots. Ideal for all skin types, the non-exfoliating formula fades unsightly dark spots while evening out dullness and increasing skin radiance for stronger, well-supported skin.
Key Ingredients: Tranexamic acid, alpha arbutin, peptides, licorice complex, red algae, pea extract
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Brightens the skin, fades dark spots, reduces dullness, strengthens the skin barrier, evens out irregular skin tone, improves skin barrier function, provides antioxidant protection, improves skin firmness
Beauty Insider Tip: Apply a few pumps of the serum to clean skin in the morning and at night and always follow with sunscreen during the day.
Best Hydrating Brightening Serum: IMAGE Skincare VITAL C Hydrating Anti-Aging Serum
$91.00
This cult-classic serum features a variety of different forms of vitamin C to help brighten discoloration while hydrating the skin. It also provides a layer of defense to protect the skin from environmental and sun damage while improving the look of dullness.
Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, multi-vitamin C complex, green tea
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Imparts a noticeable glow, locks in hydration, brightens the skin, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, fights the look of dark spots, discoloration, and uneven tone, provides antioxidant benefits
Beauty Insider Tip: In clinical trials, 89% of users agreed that the serum brightens the skin
Best Brightening Serum for Dry Skin: Murad Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum
$89.00
Free radical damage can wreak havoc on the skin, leading to dark spots and hard-to-combat discoloration. This vitamin C-packed serum sends hyperpigmentation and uneven skin tone packing by removing discoloration-containing dead skin cells for a more even-looking complexion without irritating the skin.
Key Ingredients: Vitamin C, glycolic acid, phyto-luminescent extrac
Skin Type: All, especially dry
Skin Benefits(s): Brightens skin, exfoliates dead and dulling skin cells, supports healthier skin
Beauty Insider Tip: Since the serum contains glycolic acid, you may experience a mild tingling effect at first
Best Brightening Serum for Anti-Aging: Revision Skincare C+ Correcting Complex 30%
$185.00
Offering 30% vitamin C to dramatically transform the skin, this skin-rejuvenating serum seriously brightens pigment issues while improving the skin's overall health. Unlike many other brightening serums, we appreciate that this non-comedogenic one also defends against and corrects the effects of blue light, in addition to environmentally generated free radicals.
Key Ingredients: MelaPATH technology, beta-glucan, gallic acid, vitamin C
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Visibly brightens skin, improves skin tone evenness, protects skin from free radical damage, increases collagen production, helps conserve elastin
Beauty Insider Tip: Apply the serum both morning and night to clean skin, but before moisturizing
Best Brightening Serum for Mature Skin: Eminence Organic Skin Care Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum
$65.00
If you’re on the quest for youthful-looking skin with nary a drop of discoloration, then add this serum to your daily skincare routine. Loaded with a unique botanical hyaluronic acid complex and rhubarb and strawberry for a mild exfoliating effect, this skin-smoothing serum helps to improve the overall look, tone, and texture of the skin while delivering a dose of intense hydration to support the skin and its moisture barrier.
Key Ingredients: Botanical hyaluronic acid complex, cica, strawberry, rhubarb, Biocomplex2
Skin Type: All, especially dry and dehydrated
Skin Benefits(s): Hydrates and visibly plumps the skin, softens and smooths, minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, delivers intense hydration deep into the skin, and helps to support the skin’s moisture barrier to hydrate and lock in moisture
Beauty Insider Tip: A little goes a long way—apply one to two drops of the serum to the skin morning and night to see a visible difference.
Best Brightening Serum for Sensitive Skin: Ursa Major Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum
$56.00
Not all brightening serums are created equally, and some can cause redness, sensitivities, and irritation in the skin. Luckily, this one doesn’t and does the opposite. Thanks to a unique blend of natural BHAs, aloe, and rose, the skin is left soothed, calm, and with far less redness, while boasting a healthy, even radiance that will have everyone asking what your skincare secrets are.
Key Ingredients: Vitamin C, edelweiss, organic rose hip, aspen bark, aloe, rose
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Lightens and brightens the skin to reduce the look of stubborn dark spots and dullness, gently renews the skin to soothe it and improve redness, leaves skin smooth, even, and radiant.
Beauty Insider Tip: Use the lightweight serum under sunscreen in the morning and layer it under a heavy moisturizer at night.
Best Overall Brightening Serum: Sunday Riley CEO 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum
$85.00
So much more than the average anti-discoloration serum, this vitamin C-rich formula works to improve the appearance of dark spots and dullness, while promoting firmer, plumper skin with a natural bounce. But that’s not all this brightening serum does. It also hydrates the skin, instantly illuminates it, and reduces any trace of sensitivity, so the skin looks healthy and radiant.
Key Ingredients: Vitamin C, soybean sterols, jojoba esters, squalane, glycerin, glycolic acid, tocopherol
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Improves the look of aging skin, firms and plumps, restores a youthful bounce to the skin, decreases uneven skin tone, discoloration, and dark spots, smooths out the look of lines and wrinkles, leaves skin with a healthy glow, reduces signs of skin sensitivity
Beauty Insider Tip: Perfect for dry and oily skin, the serum pulls in hydration while also balancing excess oil so there’s no need to worry about feeling tight, dry, or greasy with the product.
Best Brightening Serum for Oily Skin: Jan Marini C-ESTA Face Serum
$133.00
Oily and acne-prone skin types are often hesitant to add something new to their routine. However, rest assured, this antioxidant-rich skin brightening serum helps to diminish patches of excess pigment while maintaining even skin texture and tone.
Key Ingredients: Vitamins B5, C, and E, DMAE, hyaluronic acid
Skin Type: All
Skin Benefits(s): Reduces the appearance of lines and wrinkles, creates smoother, softer skin texture, protects against free radical damage, gives the skin a tighter, firmer, more lifted look, and helps improve discoloration
Beauty Insider Tip: In a split-face study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology comparing C-ESTA to a leading vitamin C, the C-ESTA serum was shown to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles while offering superior benefits to traditional vitamin C.
Best Brightening Serum for Fast Results: NeoCutis BioSerum Firm
$290.00
In just six days, this human growth factor and peptide-powered serum works wonders to brighten the skin’s tone, improve skin elasticity, and boost hydration. The non-comedogenic dark spot serum also helps to downplay the common signs of aging, such as lines and wrinkles, while supporting healthy collagen and elastin production.
Key Ingredients: Peptides, human growth factors
Skin Type: Dry, oily, normal, combination
Skin Benefits(s): Brightens the skin and improves skin texture, supports collagen and elastin production, improves firmness, elasticity, tone, and texture, diminishes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, hydrates the skin for skin smoothness and luminosity, plumps up the skin’s appearance
Beauty Insider Tip: Make sure to apply the serum to the neck and chest for a more uniform-looking skin tone
FAQs
Do brightening serums really work?
Yes, brightening serums work if you are consistent with them. While each serum has a unique mode of action—some exfoliate dead skin cells packed with excess pigment, while others rely on brightening ingredients to limit pigment production—the effectiveness of a brightening product depends heavily on its formulation and the depth of the discoloration within the skin. To maximize the benefits of a brightening serum, consider complementary professional treatments to effectively eliminate any unwanted pigment.
Which serum is best for brightening?
There’s no one best brightening serum, and many on the market can do the job. The real answer to finding the best brightening serum for you is to look for one that targets your specific concerns, contains proven skin-brightening ingredients, and can be easily incorporated into your routine. Remember, consistency is key, as is sun protection to prevent more discoloration from forming.
Who should use brightening serums?
Can brightening serums help with melasma or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation?
Brightening serums can help improve the look of melasma and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, but the results are largely dependent on using products with the right ingredients. Consistency aside, melasma tends to respond well to brightening serums that suppress melanin production, while post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation usually responds well to exfoliating agents that accelerate skin cell turnover to slough away dead skin cells. Regardless of the type of discoloration you are trying to treat, sun protection is crucial in preventing it from worsening.
The Bottom Line
If dark spots and stubborn discoloration have you Googling the best brightening serum to regain skin clarity, know that there are many options to choose from, based on your specific skin concerns. Always consider your skin type, the ingredients that your skin responds well to, and the type of discoloration in your skin to determine which brightening serum will benefit you the most. And no matter what you ultimately settle on, one non-negotiable in the fight against stubborn dark spots is the use of sunscreen to make sure new discoloration doesn’t form.
Elise Minton Tabin is an award-winning beauty journalist, editor, and beauty expert with more than 16 years of experience. She previously held the title of Executive Beauty Editor at NewBeauty magazine, where she reported on beauty, plastic surgery, anti-aging, health and wellness. She was also instrumental in the launch of the beauty supplement brand Hush & Hush. A self-professed beauty junkie and retinol and sunscreen pusher, Elise knows what’s new, what works and who’s the best to go for every procedure under the sun. Follow Elise on Facebook, Instagram, and on her beauty blog, elisetabin.com
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