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Product Comparison

Here's our complete breakdown comparing the ingredients, attributes, and more of Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum versus Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US .

Last updated on March 12, 2024. Published on December 01, 2021

Overview

What they are

These products are both cruelty-free and reef safe . They have a total of 9 ingredients in common

Cool Features

They both contain hyaluronic acid, peptides, Vitamin C and Vitamin E

Suited For

They're both likely to be good for anti aging, dry skin, brightening skin, sensitive skin, scar healing, dark spots and better texture

Free From

They both do not contain any harsh alcohols, common allergens, parabens, silicones or sulfates

What's Inside

They both contain oils

We independently verify ingredients, and our claims are backed by peer-reviewed research. Spot a product that need an update? Let us know.

Serum American Brand United States
Facial Treatment American Brand United States

Serum

Serums are highly concentrated with ingredients to provide skin with benefits. They should be used after cleansing and before moisturizing.

Facial Treatment

Facial treatments are specially designed to treat a skin concern. Acne treatments and anti-aging products are common examples of facial treatments.

Price

Shop

Buy Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum

Starts at $45.00
Shop

Buy C15 Super Booster

Starts at $55.00

Ingredient Info

Click any item below to learn more and view relevant ingredients.
alcohol-free
silicon-free
fragrance-free
sulfate-free
paraben-free
oil-free
fungal-acne safe
reef-safe
eu-allergen-free
vegan
cruelty-free
alcohol-free
silicon-free
fragrance-free
sulfate-free
paraben-free
oil-free
fungal-acne safe
reef-safe
eu-allergen-free
vegan
cruelty-free

At a glance

Click on any of the items below to learn more

Notable Ingredients

Vitamin C (5)
Vitamin E (2)
Hyaluronic Acid
Peptides

Benefits

Hydrating (3)
Redness Reducing (6)
Reduces Irritation
Skin Texture (5)
Anti-Aging (7)
Dark Spots (6)
Scar Healing (4)
Brightening (7)

Concerns

Irritating

Notable Ingredients

Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Hyaluronic Acid
Peptides

Benefits

Hydrating (2)
Redness Reducing
Reduces Irritation (2)
Skin Texture
Anti-Aging (3)
Dark Spots
Scar Healing (2)
Brightening (3)

Concerns

Irritating
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Ingredients Compared

Ingredients that are highlighted in purple are present in both products.

Ingredients Side-by-side

Ingredients that are highlighted in purple are present in both products.

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Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

1
What it does: Skin Conditioning, Solvent
Community Rating: Loved

Water. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.

So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.

You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. Talk about multi-purpose! If you see this, drink a glass of water. Stay hydrated!

Learn more about Water

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 1.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 1.

2
What it does: Antioxidant, Masking, Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Liked

Tocopherol (also known as Vitamin E) is a common antioxidant used to help protect the skin from free-radicals and strengthen the skin barrier. It's also fat soluble - this means our skin is great at absorbing it.

Vitamin E also helps keep your natural skin lipids healthy. Your lipid skin barrier naturally consists of lipids, ceramides, and fatty acids. Vitamin E offers extra protection for your skin’s lipid barrier, keeping your skin healthy and nourished.

Another benefit is a bit of UV protection. Vitamin E helps reduce the damage caused by UVB rays. (It should not replace your sunscreen). Combining it with Vitamin C can decrease sunburned cells and hyperpigmentation after UV exposure.

You might have noticed Vitamin E + C often paired together. This is because it is great at stabilizing Vitamin C. Using the two together helps increase the effectiveness of both ingredients.

There are often claims that Vitamin E can reduce/prevent scarring, but these claims haven't been confirmed by scientific research.

Learn more about Tocopherol

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 13.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 9.

3
What it does: Humectant, Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Loved

Sodium Hyaluronate is hyaluronic acid's salt form. It is commonly derived from the sodium salt of hyaluronic acid.

Like hyaluronic acid, it is great at holding water and acts as a humectant. This makes it a great skin hydrating ingredient.

Sodium Hyaluronate is naturally occurring in our bodies and is mostly found in eye fluid and joints.

These are some other common types of Hyaluronic Acid:

Learn more about Sodium Hyaluronate

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 15.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 10.

4
What it does: Antimicrobial, Antioxidant
Community Rating: Loved

Ferulic Acid is a plant based antioxidant. Antioxidants help fight free-radicals. Free-radicals are molecules that may damage your skin cells. Ferulic Acid can help reduce the formation of fine lines and hyperpigmentation.

When used with Vitamin C, Ferulic Acid has shown to prevent Vitamin C from breaking down. In other words, it acts as a stabilizer.

Ferulic Acid is sometimes used to preserve food. Foods containing Ferulic Acid include: oats, rice, eggplant, citrus.

In medicine, Ferulic Acid is being studied for helping with diabetes, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular diseases.

Learn more about Ferulic Acid

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 16.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 13.

5
What it does: Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Loved

Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate is a peptide.

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 27.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 11.

6
What it does: Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting, Solvent
Community Rating: Loved

Glycerin is already naturally found in your skin. It helps moisturize and protect your skin.

A study from 2016 found glycerin to be more effective as a humectant than AHAs and hyaluronic acid.

As a humectant, it helps the skin stay hydrated by pulling moisture to your skin. The low molecular weight of glycerin allows it to pull moisture into the deeper layers of your skin.

Hydrated skin improves your skin barrier; Your skin barrier helps protect against irritants and bacteria.

Glycerin has also been found to have antimicrobial and antiviral properties. Due to these properties, glycerin is often used in wound and burn treatments.

In cosmetics, glycerin is usually derived from plants such as soybean or palm. However, it can also be sourced from animals, such as tallow or animal fat.

This ingredient is organic, colorless, odorless, and non-toxic.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Learn more about Glycerin

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 29.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 5.

7
What it does: Emollient, Emulsifying, Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Disliked

Lecithin is a term for a group of substances found in plants, animals, and humans. They are made up of mixture of fatty acids. These fatty acids usually are a mixture of phosphoric acid's choline ester connected to stearic, oleic, and palmitic acids. Most lecithins are created from plant ingredients scuh as sunflower.

Lecithin is an emollient. Emollients help soften the skin and creates a barrier to keep moisture in.

As an emulsifier, it also helps prevent water and oil ingredients from separating. Lecithin can help ingredients be better absorbed by the skin. The phospholipids in Lecithin can produce liposomes. Liposomes help other ingredients get through the skin barrier.

Learn more about Lecithin

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 37.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 12.

8
What it does: Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Mixed

Ethylhexylglycerin (we can't pronounce this either) is commonly used as a preservative and skin softener. It is derived from glyceryl.

You might see Ethylhexylglycerin often paired with other preservatives such as phenoxyethanol. Ethylhexylglycerin has been found to increase the effectiveness of these other preservatives.

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 44.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 21.

9
What it does: Preservative
Community Rating: Very Disliked

Phenoxyethanol is a preservative that has germicide, antimicrobial, and aromatic properties. Studies show that phenoxyethanol can prevent germ and microbial growth. By itself, it has a scent that is similar to that of a rose.

It's often used in formulations along with Caprylyl Glycol to preserve the shelf life of products.

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum contains this as ingredient number 47.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US contains this as ingredient number 20.

Here's what our community thinks of the ingredients in these two products.

51% are loved or liked
17% have mixed ratings
13% are disliked or very disliked
19% have no rating yet
48% are loved or liked
24% have mixed ratings
24% are disliked or very disliked
5% have no rating yet

Usage

Here's some more info on how this product is used by our community.

When to use

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Reviews

Here's what our community thinks

Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum 47 ingredients

4.0 /5
from 6 ratings
Works Well (2) Absorbs Well (1) Expensive (1) Light (1) Light Scent (1)
Butter's avatar

Butter

4 months ago · Sensitive Skin
Review

Good but expensive. I got this as a "free gift" during a promotion and probably wouldn't have tried it without the promotion. It's definitely...

Good but expensive. I got this as a "free gift" during a promotion and probably wouldn't have tried it without the promotion. It's definitely effective at brightening and making my skin tone more even. Nice texture, not sticky and sinks in well. Although I seen good results I won't purchase as it's extremely expensive and there's cheaper alternatives.

Daniel.Chin's avatar

Daniel.Chin

4 months ago · Combination Skin
Review

Full of amazing ingredients; has totally reduced the need for me to cocktail and upset my ph balance.

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster 21 ingredients

4.5 /5
from 3 ratings

Alternatives

Our Dupe Finder has found 28 potential alternatives that have similar ingredients to Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Treatment Serum.

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Our Dupe Finder has found 23 potential alternatives that have similar ingredients to Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster US.

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