SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF: a Guru Score of 82% from 10 experts

What the experts use it for.

The concerns the experts tie this product to, in their own words. Paid and founder takes don't count.

Breakouts and acne5 experts

“It's very good for those with acne prone skin.”

Dr. Daniel Sugai, watch at 2:38

Excess oil and shine5 experts

“Better for regulating the sebum.”

Dr. Daniel Sugai, watch at 2:38

Clogged or visible pores2 experts

“The silymarin is less thick and oily compared to vitamin E, and it's meant to clog your pores less.”

Lab Muffin Beauty Science, watch at 21:25

Dark spots and post-acne marks2 experts

“It is quite powerful in lightening those dark spots.”

Dr. Daniel Sugai, watch at 3:22

Melasma1 expert

“There's a lot of evidence that it can be helpful for even melasma, compared it to hydroquinone in some studies.”

Doctorly, watch at 25:36

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.

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Dr. Daniel Sugai

723k subs

✓Yay

"SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF has been a standout. It's nice for those with acne prone skin, oilier skin types. It has the milk thistle extract, silymarin antioxidant that works well with your vitamin C and vitamin E in that serum to work on regulating sebum. You don't want to have more sebum to add to the acne causing bacteria. It will help regulate that while brightening your skin."

All 6 takes from Dr. Daniel Sugai

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"SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF has been a standout. It's nice for those with acne prone skin, oilier skin types. It has the milk thistle extract, silymarin antioxidant that works well with your vitamin C and vitamin E in that serum to work on regulating sebum. You don't want to have more sebum to add to the acne causing bacteria. It will help regulate that while brightening your skin."

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"If you have oilier skin, I really like SkinCeuticals CF, which is a powerful antioxidant that comes from milk thistle and you have the vitamin C and ferulic acid with that. Better for regulating the sebum. It's very good for those with acne prone skin."

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"If you have oilier skin types, I like this Silymarin CF antioxidant. Helps brighten the skin, reduce the dark spots on my face. I recently have been dealing with a new sun freckle that showed up on my nose and I've been using the Silymarin and [...] alternating every other day with other vitamin C serums. [...] It is quite powerful in lightening those dark spots. [...] I prefer vitamin C serums every day before your sunscreen."

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"If you want to have oilier skin types, I would have to say their Silymarin CF is the way to go. You still have the 15% L-ascorbic acid, you have ferulic acid, but you also have silymarin which is from milk thistle. And this is a powerful antioxidant which is specifically great for those who are acne prone or with oilier skin types because it reduces lipid peroxidation."

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"SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF is great for those with acne prone skin. If you have the money, go for 15% ascorbic acid in SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic, Florutin CF, and their Silymarin CF. [...] You're paying for the reputation, the studies backing it up, the science behind SkinCeuticals products. It's been out for a long time and a lot of dermatologists stand by it."

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"Silymarin CF is also great. Consider applying an antioxidant serum like vitamin C to your face, your neck, your chest. [...] Vitamin C is a very powerful antioxidant that will help prevent oxidative stress in our skin and oxidative stress from pollution and sunlight will lead to wrinkles and dark spots. We call it photoaging and so vitamin C will not replace sunscreen but it's a great thing to add into your morning routine."

Dr. Jenny Liu

324k subs

✓Yay

"In the summer I've been tolerating it fairly well. It's really designed for more oily and acne prone skin because of the formula. [...] You're getting the right formulation with vitamin C 15% active vitamin C, L-ascorbic acid, along with 0.5% ferulic acid that is an additional antioxidant, and 0.5% silymarin. Silymarin is derived from milk thistle and what it does is an antioxidant that helps to reduce oil oxidation."

Dr. Aleksandra Brown

153k subs

✓Yay

"SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF is specifically designed for oily acne prone skin. It has vitamin C with silymarin, which is the milk thistle extract to reduce the oiliness and prevent oxidation of the sebum, which is a key factor in breakouts. It also has a little bit of salicylic acid to help exfoliate and keep pores clean. The key ingredients are 15% [L-ascorbic] acid, the silymarin, and the salicylic acid."

Doctorly

3.59M subs

✓Yay

"I actually like the Silymarin CF so it's also a 10% but it has the additional benefit of a little bit of salicylic acid and silymarin and silymarin has actually been shown in studies to be equivalent to hydroquinone in its ability to fade dark spots and so 1% silymarin is very similar in efficacy to 4% I believe of hydroquinone and that's the reason why we put silymarin in our remedy for dark spots product as well"

All 2 takes from Doctorly

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"It's got a 0.5% salicylic acid, it's still got that ferulic acid in it, and for me silymarin is an incredible ingredient. [...] There's a lot of evidence that it can be helpful for even melasma, compared it to hydroquinone in some studies. So silymarin is an incredible ingredient to me. My skin just tolerates this formula a lot better. I don't know if it's the pH, I don't know what's in it overall, but my skin just does a lot better than it does with the other vitamin C."

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"I actually like the Silymarin CF so it's also a 10% but it has the additional benefit of a little bit of salicylic acid and silymarin and silymarin has actually been shown in studies to be equivalent to hydroquinone in its ability to fade dark spots and so 1% silymarin is very similar in efficacy to 4% I believe of hydroquinone and that's the reason why we put silymarin in our remedy for dark spots product as well"

Dr Dray

2.69M subs

✓Nay

"It's just a pretty expensive acne serum. Yeah, it has salicylic acid, but you need to be spending that kind of coin on a salicylic acid serum for your acne? I don't think that the research really supports that at this point. It seems like a pretty steep price point to pay for the potential benefit of the antioxidants in the serum."

All 2 takes from Dr Dray

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"It's just a pretty expensive acne serum. Yeah, it has salicylic acid, but you need to be spending that kind of coin on a salicylic acid serum for your acne? I don't think that the research really supports that at this point. It seems like a pretty steep price point to pay for the potential benefit of the antioxidants in the serum."

SKINCEUTICALS SILYMARIN CF 🤔 WORTH IT? DERMATOLOGIST @DrDrayzday

"It doesn't make it a bad product, but does it make it worth a hundred and sixty nine dollars for somebody who's dealing with acne? I don't think so, because you can go to the drugstore [...] and get a salicylic acid treatment for a fraction of the price. I do think silymarin has potential for improving acne because of its anti-inflammatory effects, but the research just isn't there yet, and there's really no data showing it helps with oiliness or sebum specifically."

Dr. Shereene Idriss

1.73M subs

✓Yay

"I like the Silymarin CF by SkinCeuticals because it has salicylic acid in it which is oil loving so it's going to help regulate that for you."

All 5 takes from Dr. Shereene Idriss

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"SkinCeuticals has their Silymarin CF which is 0.5% salicylic acid, it's much lighter than a two percent salicylic acid and it's combined with ascorbic acid and ferulic acids. You can use this underneath your sunscreen if you are somebody who wears a lot of makeup and you don't want your makeup swimming over your face because you get so oily during the day."

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"I like the Silymarin CF by SkinCeuticals because it has salicylic acid in it which is oil loving so it's going to help regulate that for you."

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"If you're somebody who is very oily or acne prone, there is a vitamin C by SkinCeuticals, the Silymarin CF, which is ascorbic acid plus salicylic acid. So the salicylic acid is going to go in deeper into your pores to help declog them and allow for the vitamin C to work."

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"They have their Silimarin CF which is the newest one of the bunch. It does not have hyaluronic acid in it whereas the C Ferulic does and it is better suited for oily skin especially also their Floretus and CF if you have acne I would try that one."

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"This is a combination of 15 percent ascorbic acid as well as 0.5 percent silimarin and 0.5 percent salicylic acid, so it's great if you have oily skin or acne-prone skin. I will say if you're sensitive, it might still be too much because ascorbic acid, the pure form of vitamin C, can be a little bit irritating."

No BS Beauty

89k subs

✓Nay

"I didn't end up loving this one. If you're going to spend the money on SkinCeuticals get the main one. But what I've heard lately is people have been ordering it from the SkinCeuticals website and it's arriving oxidized, and you're spending 180 dollars on something that arrives oxidized. I would be really irritated spending that much."

Dr. Sam Ellis

902k subs

✓Yay

"Like the original C E Ferulic, this does have 15% ferulic acid, but it also has 0.5% carnosine, which is a plant-derived antioxidant that helps with something called lipid oxidation. When you have oils sitting on your skin, they can oxidize which can lead to inflammation, so it has carnosine to counteract that. It also has ferulic acid as well as 0.5% salicylic acid. [...] When I did that Instagram poll of products that people love who have oily skin, this is another one that came up."

Lab Muffin Beauty Science

865k subs

✓Yay

"The Skinceuticals Silymarin CF is the one I like the most. [...] This is like the classic C-Ferulic formula but it was designed for oily skin, so the vitamin E has been replaced with silymarin. The silymarin is less thick and oily compared to vitamin E, and it's meant to clog your pores less. [...] One thing I really like about this is that it actually smells sort of like Caprico coffee lollies with a caramel coffee scent, which is a lot nicer than that classic hot dog water scent."

Top Pick: vitamin c serum

The Budget Dermatologist

725k subs

✓Yay

"I am specifically recommending the SkinCeuticals product in this routine because it is an ideal combination of three main components. It has 15 percent pure L ascorbic acid vitamin C and ferulic acid just like what is found in the industry gold standard vitamin C serums. The C, E, and ferulic in this product is what is going to be your powerhouse anti-aging ingredient to rebuild the collagen in your skin, fade dark spots, and serve as an antioxidant."

Top Pick: silymarin vitamin c serum

All 2 takes from The Budget Dermatologist

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"I am specifically recommending the SkinCeuticals product in this routine because it is an ideal combination of three main components. It has 15 percent pure L ascorbic acid vitamin C and ferulic acid just like what is found in the industry gold standard vitamin C serums. The C, E, and ferulic in this product is what is going to be your powerhouse anti-aging ingredient to rebuild the collagen in your skin, fade dark spots, and serve as an antioxidant."

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"In addition to the 15 percent pure vitamin C and ferulic acid found in the C E Ferulic, the Silymarin CF also has 0.5 percent silymarin extract and 0.5 percent salicylic acid. Because salicylic acid is a powerhouse ingredient for preventing and treating acne, this serum is one of the most complete all-in-one options that I have come across. For that reason, I find this product very unique and hard to match with a lower price option."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Vitamin C

Topical vitamin C is an antioxidant with reasonable evidence for dullness and uneven tone. It breaks down in light and air, so how a product is formulated and packaged matters as much as the percentage on the front.

Source: DermNet

Salicylic acid

Salicylic acid dissolves in oil, so it can get into a pore rather than just working on the surface. That is why it has long-standing evidence for blackheads and milder acne.

Source: DermNet

Frequently asked.

What is SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF?

A lightweight vitamin C serum with 15% L-ascorbic acid, ferulic acid, silymarin, and 0.5% salicylic acid, formulated for oily and acne-prone skin.

Is SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF worth it?

Mostly yes. 8 of the 10 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 82%.

What is SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF's Guru Score?

SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF holds a Guru Score of 82%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 10 expert reviewers we have collected. At least one expert has named it a Top Pick in its category.

Who is SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF best for?

SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF is generally suited to oily skin and acne-prone skin.

What is SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF good for, according to the experts?

In their reviews, experts say SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF is good for breakouts and acne (5 experts), excess oil and shine (5 experts), clogged or visible pores (2 experts), dark spots and post-acne marks (2 experts) and melasma (1 expert).