What is Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum?

A vitamin C day serum that comes as a liquid and a powder you mix together before first use, designed to deliver a freshly made antioxidant serum for the face.

Is Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum worth it?

The gurus are split. 9 of the 14 gurus give it their stamp of approval while 2 would skip it, which lands it in the middle at a Guru Score of 71%.

What is Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum's Guru Score?

Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum holds a Guru Score of 71%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 14 expert reviewers we have collected. At least one expert has named it a Top Pick in its category.

What is Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum good for, according to the experts?

In their reviews, experts say Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum is good for dull skin (3 experts) and skin barrier support (1 expert).

Is Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum good for dull skin?

3 experts who reviewed Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum say it is. Sincerely Miss Ash put it this way: “it does brighten up your skin”

Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum: a Guru Score of 71%

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored

Dr. Vanita Rattan

1.23M subs

~Mixed

"It's in an airless pump. The only downside is that it's 15% L-ascorbic acid. Out of all of the vitamin C acids, the L-ascorbic acid is my favorite one by far. And if they'd literally picked any other form of vitamin C, I would love this product, but they've gone for the gold standard for Caucasian skin, L-ascorbic acid. It's just not the best for skin of color. So, unfortunately, it's a no for me if you have skin of color, but if you have Caucasian skin, this is the best by far."

The Budget Dermatologist

725k subs

~Yay

"Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum, their vitamin C serum is a really, really good, even suitable level good swap for skin suiticles. It's expensive. It's $80, but that's going to still save you over $100 if you were thinking about getting skin suiticles. You can get this one instead. Very similar: vitamin E, ferulic acid, low pH, 15% L-ascorbic acid."

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"It also has vitamin E and ferulic acid, so all three of those together are a powerhouse to really stabilize this formula. So it's really good but it is pricey. The way that they keep this stable, I actually like this one more than SkinCeuticals because SkinCeuticals has the dropper bottle format that I really don't like, but you can see here you mix this yourself when you buy it. So it comes in this tube, you mix it. [...] I do give this one a thumbs up, but it is a little bit pricey."

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"For a vitamin C product, choose a product with the L ascorbic acid form and make sure it has a concentration of at least 10 percent and contains the antioxidants vitamin E and ferulic acid. You can try [...] a dupe such as the Drunk Elephant vitamin C serum."

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"This is [...] quite the unique packaging and I actually really love it. [...] This product [...] comes with the powder vitamin C separate from the base, which allows it to not become activated until you mix it, and this keeps it stable for longer because it minimizes its exposure to air compared to the commonly seen dropper bottle format like Skinceuticals. [...] For that reason, I give this packaging a nod over Skinceuticals."

No BS Beauty

89k subs

~Nay

"I had given her this Drunk Elephant C-Firma serum. She finished it. I didn't because it did not work well for me, but it seemed to work well for her."

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"I had the Drunk Elephant vitamin C serum which I reviewed finally. There's a little bit left. I just gave it to my friend to finish up because it didn't work well for my skin. [...] It was too acidic, too many different volatile ingredients. My skin really did not like it. It freaked out. It was just too irritating."

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"The Drunk Elephant C-Firma serum, I believe the reason why they changed the formula was probably due to consumer complaints about it being oxidized, but also because I heard Skin Ceuticals was coming after them for using their patented formula."

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"I will say Drunk Elephant is probably an example of that. If you got their first run of their C-Firma serum it was amazing, then after that it was like they did one run of it and that was it and it turned to just garbage. Now they've repackaged it and stuff and I'm still not a huge fan."

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"I've also currently been testing out the Drunk Elephant new vitamin C serum which in my opinion it's not super impressive. I don't know, some of their releases used to be special and they just don't seem like that anymore."

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"The first night I thought oh that's weird my skin's really dry maybe it's the weather cuz it's getting cold out then the second night same thing except worse. I'm starting to think it's a vitamin C. I take three days off use a vitamin C same thing so anyway so I deducted it was this, it was the new product I had in my routine. [...] If you look at reviews of this a lot of them have had the same issue: dryness, itchiness, redness, flakiness, irritation because of the formula of this."

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"They're reformulated C-Firma, this one it's got a low pH although the pH wasn't quite what they advertised it when I tested it. We have a low pH, we have 15% ascorbic acid, which is a combination of two things. Ascorbic acid to function needs a low pH, however the lower the pH the higher chance of irritation, and then you add an active antioxidant like ascorbic acid becomes questionable. But then on top of it, they add in all these exfoliant enzymes in here."

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"I burned my face off with their C-Firma serum like big time, like this was a big time recuperation effort just after using this for several days. It's super strong, it's got a good amount of vitamin C in it, it's got supposedly a lower pH which doesn't really happen in my pH test strips, two different types, and then it's got these exfoliants in here as well."

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"I finally finished my Drunk Elephant thing so then I put the refill in and [...] I've just found better luck with other products now. So this, which I used to love and daydream about, I don't love as much. I'll just finish this one off and probably wouldn't repurchase it again at this point."

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"I had given her this Drunk Elephant C-Firma serum. She finished it. I didn't because it did not work well for me, but it seemed to work well for her."

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"I'm still annoyed with Drunk Elephant, what they did with their C-Firma serum, selling it oxidized for years. That leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I picked up the new bottle, which is similar to Clinique and requires mixing the two parts. I haven't mixed it and tested it yet, but I'm still annoyed with the whole thing. And it's still ridiculously expensive. So I just think there's better options if you're going to spend hundreds of dollars. There's just so many better options out there."

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"This stuff was really nice however I kind of moved on and [...] I moved on kind of from drunk elephant as a whole because of how expensive they are but overall it's still a good moisturizer"

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"The newest version was so irritating it had just too many actives in one product with a low pH and my skin did not appreciate at all. My skin got red, flaky, itchy, all that good stuff. It was just too many ingredients in a too low of a pH and a formula. I mean vitamin C or sorbic acid of itself can be potentially irritating, but when you combine with all these other ingredients like they did in this product, it's really irritating. So yeah, be careful about that one."

James Welsh

1.58M subs

~Mixed

"Their standout products like their C-Firma vitamin C serum [...] really helped fuel this growth and kind of helped cement the brand's status as a staple of the skincare world."

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"I don't use this daily. I use it like once a week."

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"Their standout products like their C-Firma vitamin C serum [...] really helped fuel this growth and kind of helped cement the brand's status as a staple of the skincare world."

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"Drunk Elephant launched a reformative version of the product called C-Firma Fresh in 2022. And this version requires consumers to mix the product themselves before use, which some believe may have been a way of sidestepping the patent infringement."

Dr. Jenny Liu

324k subs

~Yay

"It's got their C-Firma vitamin C serum that is a great antioxidant serum to use every morning. It's got 15% lactic acid along with ferulic acid and pumpkin seed extract for some added radiance."

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"They have their vitamin C antioxidant serum, the C-Firma Fresh Day Serum, and you guys know I am obsessed with vitamin C. It is a must have in my morning skincare routine."

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"It's got their C-Firma vitamin C serum that is a great antioxidant serum to use every morning. It's got 15% lactic acid along with ferulic acid and pumpkin seed extract for some added radiance."

Nipun Kapur

413k subs

~Yay

"This one is amazing because this formula has different types of hyaluronic acid with hyaluronic acid B concentrations and volume levels that improve hydration."

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"This one is amazing because this formula has different types of hyaluronic acid with hyaluronic acid B concentrations and volume levels that improve hydration."

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"Effective vitamin C Sunday Riley skin sules SE all sules minimalist 10% 16% I also like the Dr sha one"

AliceintheRabbitHole

59k subs

~Yay

"I absolutely bought the old formula, and honestly I think I might prefer the new one. I mixed the liquid into the powder [...] and it stayed completely clear, so good job to the formulators, because the problem with ascorbic acid is that it's just not that stable an ingredient. [...] Vitamin C really is a great ingredient, and unlike peptides this has a lot of evidence backing it."

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"I cracked this open [...] and used it up. The catch for me with this type of pure vitamin C serum is I have to have my barrier in a good place, when my skin is doing well I can handle vitamin C, when my skin isn't that's when I cannot, [...] because vitamin C needs that lower pH which can be irritating [...] on already irritated skin. [...] Otherwise it worked fine, I did watch it turn a little bit yellow but I used it up before it oxidized."

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Tea with MD

115k subs

~Yay

"What I think is interesting about this one is that you actually mix it fresh before use. It comes with a liquid serum and it has the vitamin C powder, and you put it together and shake it around, and then you have a freshly mixed and freshly made vitamin C serum. I like that because sometimes you buy a product and it just sits on your shelf for a really long time and you might forget about it or you don't know how long that product has already been sitting on the shelf."

Doctorly

3.59M subs

~Mixed

"This is not an inexpensive product, probably still in that 60 to 80 dollar range. What's kind of nice about this is that you're getting exactly what you need and you know that it's stable from the time that you get it, which is actually pretty cool because you don't know how long the other products have been sitting on the shelf with the cap on. [...] The value is that you have these unstable ingredients that can break down and so this may stay stable longer."

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"I like Drunk Elephant a lot. I think they have a lot of good products, but they're just expensive. They use pretty high quality actives, fragrance-free, useful products. Their moisturizers are really good, though they're expensive."

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"Drunk Elephant came out with a vitamin C product that duped SkinCeuticals' formulation at the same pH with the same ingredients. They got sued by L'Oreal, who held the patent, [...] and lost the lawsuit, but continued to sell the product."

Dr. Somji Skin

361k subs

~Yay

"One of my favorite ones is the Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum because it's stabilized in a good formulation. There's good packaging that doesn't damage it, that doesn't allow the environment to damage it, and it stays stable for a longer period of time."

Sincerely Miss Ash

196k subs

~Yay

"The last vitamin C that I really love is the Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum. I've been using their vitamin C on and off for several years and I actually started using this over four years ago and I've always recommended this. I like this formulation a lot it does brighten up your skin but I also feel like this formula really helps to firm the skin as well."

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"It is very rich and very moisturizing. I feel like this is more moisturizing than the Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream. This one is definitely thicker and it's also great for everyday twice a day. I do like this for nighttime but I will use this in my morning routine and my makeup and sunscreen also sit nicely on top of this. There are six different oils in here so again if you don't like oils in your formulation then you're not going to like this."

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Dr. Shereene Idriss

1.73M subs

~Yay

"Drunk Elephant also has a C-Firma Fresh serum. It's an oldie but a goodie and has 15 percent pure L ascorbic acid. They recently switched up their product where you click it in and mix it together."

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"I love this serum, it is one of my most prized possessions. I actually cannot live without it. [...] It is loaded in a couple of things at really effective levels. There is alpha arbutin in here, kojic acid in here, there is licorice root in here, and just the right amount of niacinamide, just in this particular product not over burying, just the right amount."

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"Drunk Elephant also has a C-Firma Fresh serum. It's an oldie but a goodie and has 15 percent pure L ascorbic acid. They recently switched up their product where you click it in and mix it together."

Cassandra Bankson

2.46M subs

~Yay

"This is expensive, but this is probably my favorite product out of all of these for my skin. I would actually say it's an elevated cruelty-free version of the Skinceuticals. Now it is not identical because the Skinceuticals vitamin C smells like hot dog water and it is like a clear liquidy serum. This one is actually the Triple C Plus Ferrulic Brightening Complex at 20%, and boy, this is potent. This works. It is cruelty-free. It absorbs without irritating."

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"When my skin was horrible during the middle of the pandemic, my forehead was breaking out and it was super annoying - someone told me to look into Drunk Elephant and I started using this night serum and I swear it changed my skin. [...] But this stuff is pretty strong, especially if it's your first time using it - it will burn a little bit. However, I do not like nor support Drunk Elephant. There's a whole debacle about the founder."

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"It's like a next generation retinol and this stuff, oh, is it expensive? Yes. But does it work? Oh yeah. [...] If you're not going for the prescription, this is going to be the fastest working product as far as the retinoids go for retexturizing the skin. I would recommend this for someone who maybe has more mature skin. [...] She is so silky and she's really brightening to the skin overall. She just makes my face look and feel amazing."

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"I do not recommend the La La Retro Whipped Moisturizer. [...] There's not much in here that would be really helpful for someone who's breaking out. [...] When it comes to acne it's not just about a cleanser, it's about what ingredients are in my routine [...] and what's actually going to stay on the skin to support it."

Beyond50Skin

32k subs

~Nay

"I tried a small sample of the vitamin C from Drunk Elephant. This is their C-Firma Fresh and this is the one that you mix the two products together to get a fresh vitamin C. I have to say this was definitely a fail for me because the products never mixed very well. It was always slightly granular and gritty, so definitely not a fave for me. This has to go in the fail category."