Vitamin C and sunscreen work effectively when they’re paired together, as they provide your skin with a double defence against UV damage and environmental aggressors. Layering a lightweight serum rich in vitamin C underneath your daily SPF can enhance your protection throughout the day, while helping to even your skin tone and illuminate your complexion. Vitamin C alone will not protect you against UV damage, always use SPF in addition.

While vitamin C works better throughout the day to protect skin against environmental aggressors, retinol repairs skin throughout the night. We recommend waking skin up in the morning with a vitamin C-infused moisturiser for a touch of extra radiance and applying your retinol in the evening as part of your wind-down routine.

Despite them both being antioxidants, vitamin C and niacinamide are best used separately – or at least 10 minutes apart – as their potency is significantly reduced when they’re applied simultaneously. We’d suggest using a vitamin C toner after your morning cleanse to brighten and minimising the appearance of pores, before applying a moisturiser rich in niacinamide as your regular night cream to help reinforce the skin’s natural moisture barrier.

If you want to have both these ingredients in your skincare routine, you could opt to alternate cleansers which include them in their formulations. Start your morning off with a vitamin C-rich option to buff away any excess oil that’s built up through the night, before washing your face with an AHA-based cleanser in the evening to lift daily pollutants and impurities from the skin.