(Our reviewer tested this product for weeks on end. This is what he concluded. Photo by Josh Perkins/Very Good Light)

I can remember the first time I ever tried Vitamin C.

To be completely frank, I was at a hookup’s place. Away from all of my normal products, I needed to improvise a quick skincare routine from whatever he had in his cabinet. I reached for the Cetaphil, a gentle, reliable, no-nonsense cleanser that’s best in these kinds of situations.

SEE ALSO: The men I’ve hooked up with hated my makeup

Using these encounters as a chance to try new beauty products has been well documented on Very Good Light. So, when I saw said hookup owned the Ordinary’s (problematic, I know) Vitamin C 23% with 2% HA Spheres I jumped on the opportunity to try it.
If more direct forms of Vitamin C are the emotionally distant men you meet on dating apps who eventually ghost you, Bright On is the quiet guy with a steady income you’ll want to propose to.
I smeared a lot on, my first mistake. If Vitamin C was such a miracle product, why not apply a liberal amount? But after a couple of seconds I noticed it coming on—a hot, stinging sensation. It felt like I just applied bee venom on my face, not that I know what that’s like, but I can imagine it’s not pleasant. I could feel the blood vessels in my face start to puff up and my face turn red. I should’ve expected it from something that has “acid” in its chemical name, but that’s the inescapable hubris of man for ya.I tried to pretend like my face wasn’t burning for the next 30-minutes, tried to keep my composure around this guy, but in reality, I wanted to dunk my face in ice water.
“The Vitamin C that treats you right, so pleasant and easy going you’ll want to introduce it to your parents.”
After that, I thought Vitamin C might not be for me. That was before I met Farmacy’s new Bright On mask, $38. It’s the Vitamin C that treats you right, so pleasant and easy going you’ll want to introduce it to your parents. If more direct forms of Vitamin C are the emotionally distant men you meet on dating apps who eventually ghost you, Bright On is the quiet guy with a steady income you’ll want to propose to.Farmacy, the all-natural brand behind the Honey Potion, just released its version of Vitamin C in stores and it’s virtually unlike anything else on the market. It’s a clay mask meets serum and like the mood rings from elementary school, it’s color changing. I’ve been testing it for the past month to see if it lives up to the Vitamin C hype.
Hype is the appropriate word here. If there was an award for the most discussed skincare of the past year, Vitamin C would be on the shortlist. It’s touted as a miracle worker that will reduce inflammation, even out skin tone, promote collagen production, and maybe even protect the skin from skin cancer by fighting free radicals. But what even is Vitamin C? Well, it’s an antioxidant (cool) and its chemical name is ascorbic acid (which means it’s also an exfoliant, hence the burning sensation).  I started my trial at a relative skincare low. One too many nights falling asleep in my makeup left me with a couple of large cystic acne spots and overall unevenness. I used Bright On the recommended 2-3 times a week, sometimes 4 because minimalism isn’t my thing.The mask starts a deep lavender color but as you rub it in it transforms into a pale seafoam green. Either could replace millennial pink as the “it” color of the moment. It’s a bit magical. It applies smoothly, gliding on with ease. When it dries it doesn’t feel tight like other clay masks and it doesn’t take harsh scrubbing to take off, water is quite enough.After about a week, I noticed improvement in my acne and skin texture. My large pimples died down faster than they would’ve normally and the pores around my nose look smaller.After a month of use, my face does look brighter. Which surprised the natural skeptic in me. “Bright” has always been a bit of a chimera to me, just a marketing buzzword. If I’m not radiating light from within, how am I supposed to know If I’m brighter? Seems like a hard thing to pin down and an even harder thing to describe in writing.All I can say is that my skin looks good, – great actually! It’s a bit more dewy, a bit more even, a bit less pimpley and dare I say brighter. This might be a bit rushed, but Bright On, whenever you’re ready to commit I am!

BUY Farmacy’s Bright On Mask, $38, here

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