
Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster
Welcome to our explanation of everything that you need to know about Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster. Let’s get started!
Description
- cruelty-free facial treatment that contains hyaluronic acid, peptides, vitamin c and vitamin e.
- it doesn't contain any harsh alcohols, common allergens, parabens, silicones or sulfates.
- it does contain fragrances and oils.
- it is likely to be good for brightening skin and sensitive skin.
- it is fungal acne (malassezia) safe and reef safe.
Directions
Dispense 2-3 drops into the palm of your hand and then apply to your face. Add a couple more drops if you will also be applying to your neck and chest. During the day, finish with a moisturizer with SPF 30 or greater. Can be applied under the eye...
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area, avoiding the eye itself
Ingredient List (21)
Water • Ascorbic Acid • Butylene Glycol • Ethoxydiglycol • Glycerin • Ppg-26-Buteth-26 • Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil • Pentylene Glycol • Tocopherol • Sodium Hyaluronate • Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate • Lecithin • Ferulic Acid • Panthenol • Bisabolol • Oryza Sativa Bran Extract • Propyl Gallate • Sodium Gluconate • Sodium Hydroxide • Phenoxyethanol • Ethylhexylglycerin
Jump to Ingredients ExplainedProduct Info

Alcohol Free
This product is free of harsh alcohols 🎉

Silicon Free
This product is free of silicons 🎉

Contains Fragrance
Ingredients in this product that are forms of fragrance:

Sulfate Free
This product is free of sulfates 🎉

Paraben Free
This product is free of parabens 🎉

Contains Oils
Ingredients in this product that are types of oil:

Malassezia Safe
This product is free of malassezia feeding ingredients 🎉

Reef Safe
This product is free of ingredients that damage reefs 🎉

Eu Allergen Free
This product is free of EU allergens 🎉

Non Vegan
This product is not vegan 😥

Cruelty Free
This product is cruelty-free 🎉
Community Ingredient Ratings
Here's what our community thinks of the 21 ingredients in this product ✨
Ingredient Details
Here's a breakdown of the benefits, notable ingredients, and drawbacks that we found with Paula's Choice's C15 Super Booster.
Benefits (6)





Notable Ingredients (4)




Concerns (0)
Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster Ingredients Explained
This product contains 21 ingredients. Click on any ingredient to learn more about it
Water is the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. It often makes up the largest portion of a product, and is thus typically found at (or near) the top of an ingredients list.
In most cases, the purpose of water within an ingredient list is to act as a solvent - this means it's there to help dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.
Water also happens to be necessary for all life on Earth. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Stay hydrated!







Ascorbic Acid is is pure Vitamin C. Ascorbic Acid contains large amounts of antioxidants. It is the largest amount of vitamin C found naturally in our skin. Not only is Vitamin C great for your overall health and immune system, it also has plenty of benefits on your skin.
Vitamin C is best used for brightening skin, such as improving dark spots, acne scars, and hyperpigmentation. This is because Vitamin C has been shown to block the process of skin darkening.
Your skin uses Vitamin C to build collagen. Collagen production plays a role in having a strong skin barrier and having plump skin.
Vitamin C is also a key component in helping your skin regulate collagen, thus making it effective in improving wrinkles and fine lines. As an antioxidant, it helps fight free-radicals. Free-radicals are molecules that may damage your skin cells.
When used with Vitamin E, both ingredients help stabilize and provide a boost in benefits. It helps aid in UV protection but becomes unstable when exposed to UV and air. Vitamin C does not replace sunscreen.
Read more about other types of Vitamin C:
Foods rich with vitamin C include oranges, strawberries, broccoli, bell peppers, and more. When consuming Vitamin C, your skin receives a portion of the nutrients.
Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:
- It is a solvent, meaning that it helps to dissolve other ingredients. This also enhances the absorption of the product into one's skin.
- It is a humectant, which means that it helps attract moisture into the skin.
- It helps improve product application.
Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient. It is unlikely to irritate skin, and works well with pretty much all other ingredients.
Ethoxydiglycol is a synthetic solvent.
Solvents are used to keep ingredients together in a product. They can help dissolve ingredients to stable bases or help evenly distribute ingredients throughout the product.
Ethoxydiglycol also helps deliver other key ingredients into the skin.
Glycerin is already naturally found in your skin and helps moisturize and protect your skin. A study from 2016 found glycerin to be more effective as a humectant than AHAs and hyaluronic acid.
Glycerin is a humectant, helping the skin retain moisture by pulling moisture to your skin. The low molecular weight of glycerin allows it to pull moisture into the deeper layers of your skin. Having moisturized skin helps improve the skin barrier. Your skin barrier protects against skin 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, animal sources include tallow. It is organic, colorless, odorless, and non-toxic.
Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English while British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil is derived from castor oil and polyethylene glycol (PEG). It is used as a emollient and emulsifier.
As an emulsifier, it helps prevent ingredients from separating. It also helps make the other ingredients more soluble; it is often used to solubilize fragrances. This increases spreadability and elongates shelf life in a product.
Emollients help soothe and soften the skin. They do this by creating a protective film on your skin. This barrier helps trap moisture and keeps your skin hydrated. Emollients may be effective at treating dry or itchy skin.
This ingredient may or may not be vegan, depending on the source.
Pentylene glycol is typically used within a product to thicken it. It also adds a smooth, soft, and moisturizing feel to the product. It is naturally found in plants such as sugar beets.
The hydrophilic trait of Pentylene Glycol makes it a humectant. As a humectant, Pentylene Glycol helps draw moisture from the air to your skin. This can help keep your skin hydrated.
This property also makes Pentylene Glycol a great texture enhancer. It can help thicken or emulsify a product. Emulsifiers help stabilize a product. It does this by preventing certain ingredients from separating.
Pentylene Glycol also acts as a mild preservative and helps to keep a product microbe-free.
Some people may experience mild eye and skin irritation from Pentylene Glycol. We always recommend speaking with a professional about using this ingredient in your routine.
Pentylene Glycol has a low molecular weight and is part of the 1,2-glycol family.






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 provides some UV protection by reducing the damage caused by UVB rays. Combining it with Vitamin C can decrease sunburned cells and hyperpigmentation after UV exposure.
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.
Vitamin E aids in 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.

Sodium Hyaluronate is hyaluronic acid's salt form.
Sodium Hyaluronate is great at holding water and acts as a humectant. It plays a role in hydrating and soothing skin.
It is naturally occurring in our bodies and is mostly found in eye fluid and joints; it is commonly derived from sodium salt of hyaluronic acid.
These are some other common types of Hyaluronic Acid:

Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate is a peptide.
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.

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.

Panthenol (also referred to as pro-vitamin B5) is a common ingredient that helps hydrate and soothe the skin.
Panthenol is a humectant, meaning that it helps the skin attract and retain moisture. It's also known to have anti-inflammatory abilities. This means that it's great for sensitive, irritation-prone skin.

Bisabolol is pimarily used to add fragrance to a product. However, it is also famous for helping soothe skin.
Bisabolol comes from German chamomile essential oil. Synthetic Bisabolol has been shown to be less effective.
Bisabolol helps soothe skin. It does this by blocking the inflammatory signals, helping to reduce your body's reaction to irritation.
Bisabolol also interferes with the process of hyperpigmentation. This can help with reducing dark spots and uneven tone.
Bisabolol is an antioxidant. Antioxidants help fight free-radicals. Free-radicals are molecules that may damage your skin cells. By fighting these free-radicals, Bisabolol may slow down signs of aging.
Studies have shown Bisabolol to have antimicrobial properties and may be a fungicide. These properties help preserve a product's shelf life.
Bisabolol also helps the absorption of other ingredients.
Oryza Sativa Bran Extract comes from the outer layer of a rice kernel. It is a byproduct of milling rice, or the operation to produce a whole grain rice product.
Oryza Sativa Bran Extract is moisturizing. This is due to its components of polysaccharides and omega-3 fatty acids. It also contains calcium, selenium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc.
Oryza Sativa Bran Extract contains numerous antioxidants such as ferulic acid. Antioxidants help fight free-radical molecules. Free-radical molecules are capable of damaging our cells and other genetic material.


Propyl Gallate is an antioxidant and is a fragrance.
Sodium Hydroxide is also known as lye or caustic soda. It is used to adjust the pH of products; many ingredients require a specific pH to be effective.
In small amounts, sodium hydroxide is considered safe to use. However, large amounts may cause chemical burns due to its high alkaline.
Your skin has a natural pH and acid mantle. This acid mantle helps prevent harmful bacteria from breaking through. The acid mantle also helps keep your skin hydrated.
"Alkaline" refers to a high pH level. A low pH level would be considered acidic.

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.
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.
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