If you know your way around beauty products you've probably heard of, or used, serums. For those who are beginners in the beauty world, serums are skincare products you apply before your moisturizer to prepare the skin for moisturizing, therefore enhancing the effect of the moisturizer, or for added benefits serum has and your normal face cream doesn't. Those of you who are regular readers will guess the direction in which my story about serums is going. At first I hesitated trying them and when I did I loved them (like almost every new thing I try, hence the pattern spoiler). Yes, for the longest while I thought they were unnecessary. Although I did like the idea of Asian skincare which includes piling on all kinds of products at once, I didn't jump right in and tried all of them. After a while I had a feeling I was missing out and decided to dip one toe in, and you guessed, that toe was the serum. 
First one I tried wasn't so good. I decided to try all natural oil serum. Its ingredients were amazing and people with oily skin were raving about it, still my skin didn't like it at all. I just couldn't make it work. It was Alchemy Truth serum. This serum is designed for oily skin, but it made my skin more oily and I was breaking out like crazy. I have to say I did use and love other Alchemy products, their day and night creme were my favourites for the longest time, but I can't find them anywhere, maybe they are discontinued. Anyways, first attempt of using a serum was a bust. Next time I went with the more conventional version and got Vichy Idealia Life serum. This was back when Vichy launched the Idealia line and, of course, heavy marketing was included, so I saw a commercial in some magazine. Description sounded divine especially the part where it said this serum fights all modern living factors that are harming the skin, like smog and stress. And indeed, this serum didn't disappoint. It made my skin look glowy and fresh, didn't break me out and my skin wasn't more oily. I used it only at night and I always do that with serums, otherwise it would be too much for my skin. After a long and successful relationship I had with this serum it run out. Although repurchasing sounded like a good idea, at the end I thought it is the best to go out of the comfort zone and try something new. Well, I didn't go that far out, I bought Vichy Aqualia Thermal serum. It was featured in my night skincare routine post and like I wrote there, I liked it maybe even more than Idealia. It's less heavy than Idealia, more hydrating, absorbs quicker and is cheaper. Currently I am using my third bottle and I am really happy with it. In my book serum is always a good idea, if you have a spare place in your skincare routine, give it a go, chances are you will love it.

Ako se snalazite među kozmetičkim preparatima verovatno ste čuli za serume za lice, ili ih koristili. Za one koji su početnici u svetu lepote, evo objašnjena. Serumi su proizvodi za negu kože lica koji se koriste pre kreme da bi pripremili kožu za nanošenje kreme i samim tim pojačali njeno dejstvo. Takođe neki su bogati raznim sastojcima koji deluju bolje i temeljnije od kreme. Oni koji redovno čitaju ovaj blog će pogoditi u kom pravcu ide moja priča o serumima. Prvo sam oklevala da ih probam, a kada sam ih konačno probala shvatila sam da ne mogu bez njih (kao i svaki novi tip proizvoda koji sam probala, odatle i napomena o pravcu priče). Jako dugo sam mislila da su potpuno nepotrebni. Iako mi se svidjala azijska filozofija o nezi kože koja uključuje korišćenje velikog broja proizvoda odjednom, nisam baš potrčala da sve to i probam na svojoj koži. Posle određenog vremena imala sam osećaj da nešto propuštam i odlučila sam da pređem nekoliko koraka i probam jedan od tih silnih proizvoda, i odluka je pala da to bude serum. Prvi koji sam koristila nije bio baš najbolji. Htela sam da prvo probam skroz prirodam serum bogat hranjivim uljima. Sastav mu je bio fantastičan i ljudi sa masnom kožom su bili oduševljeni njime, ipak mojoj koži uošte nije prijao. Nikako nisam mogla da se prilagodim ovom proizvodu. To je bio Alchemy Thruth serum. On je specijalno napravljen za masnu kožu, ali moja koža je od njega bila još masnija i bubuljice su mi izlazile kao lude. Moram da kažem da su svi drugi Alchemy proizvodi koje sam probala bili odlični. Ako niste čuli za Alchemy, oni proizvode skroz prirodnu i vrlo kvalitetnu kozmetiku. Njihova dnevna krema Bonjour, Jolie i noćna krema Bonsoir, Beaute su mi dugo bile omiljene, a sada ne mogu nigde da ih nađem, ne znam da li ih i dalje proizvode. Da se vratimo na temu, prvi pokušaj korišćenja seruma završio se razočarenjem. Sledećeg puta sam se odlučila za malo konvencionalniju verziju i kupila Vichy Idealia Life serum. Ovo je bilo u vreme kada su tek izbacili Idealia liniju i naravno jak marketing je bio na delu, pa sam reklamu za ovaj serum videla u nekom časopisu. Opis je divno zvučao, posebno deo koji kaže kako se serum bori protiv svih štetnih faktora modernog života, kao što su smog i stres. I zaista, ovaj serum me nije razočarao. Koža mi je bila sjajna i sveža, nisu mi izlazile bubuljice i koža nije bila masna više nego inače. Koristila sam ga samo noću, tako radim sa svim serumima jer je to za moju kožu sasvim dovoljno. Posle duge i uspešne saradnje potrošila sam serum. Iako sam htela ponovo da ga kupim, rešila sam da je bolje da nastavim da istražujem i probam nešto novo. Nisam otišla toliko daleko, kupila sam Vichy Aqualia Thermal serum.Već se pojavio u mom postu o nezi kože pred spavanje, i kao što sam tamo napisala možda mi se svidja i više od Idealia seruma. Manje je težak, više hidrira, brže se upija i jeftiniji je. Trenutno koristim treću bočicu ovog seruma i vrlo sam zadovoljna. Po mom mišljenju korišćenje seruma je uvek dobra ideja, ako imate mesta da ga dodate u svoju rutinu za negu kože, probajte serum, velike su šanse da će vam se svideti.