Vanicream built this serum for people who cannot tolerate vitamin C. Five ceramides, a milky texture, no fragrance and an airless pump - all of that checks out. The carton also prints Non-comedogenic, and one emollient sitting third in the list is flagged as comedogenic in a published test. Both things are true at once, which is what makes this product worth reading closely.
Amazon US · captured with a New York 10001 delivery address · snapshot 31 October 2026 · all prices native USD · no reviewer identities reproduced
| Live price | Rating | Ratings | Ingredients | Claims held |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $17.69 | 4.5 / 5 | 3,712 | 20 | 10 / 12 |
Rating and price read from the listing on 31 October 2026. Of the twelve claim badges, ten hold and two fail - the pore-clogger and fungal-acne badges.
Part 01
The product, and the shelf it belongs on
A 35 ml / 1.2 fl oz milky serum in a squeeze tube with a clear airless pump head. The category path is Beauty & Personal Care > Skin Care > Face > Treatments & Masks > Serums, the same shelf as every other vitamin C serum, but the packaging tells a different story: DERMATOLOGIST TESTED at the top, WITH CERAMIDES across the middle, a free-of line listing dyes, fragrance, masking fragrance, lanolin, parabens and formaldehyde releasers, and a FOR SENSITIVE SKIN badge at the bottom.
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Three listing frames, in carousel order. No buyer-uploaded photograph rendered for this ASIN and the listing exposed no review-media gallery, so there is no real-photo layer in this report. The second and third frames are lifestyle composites rather than product photography, which is worth noting because they carry most of the brand's claims in overlay type rather than on the pack.
Declared specifications
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Brand | Vanicream |
| Title | Vanicream Vitamin C Serum, Milky and Lightweight, Boosts Glow, 1.2 Fl Oz |
| Size | 35 ml / 1.2 fl oz |
| Item form | Milky serum in an airless pump tube |
| Skin type (declared) | Sensitive |
| Declared benefits | Dark spot correction, even toning, glow, non-comedogenic, pH balanced, smoothening |
| Scent | Unscented |
| Special ingredients (declared) | Ceramides, glycerin, vitamin C |
| Item model number | FETEGT2901 |
| UPC | 345334304012 |
| Dimensions | 1.75 x 1.75 x 6.5 in; 2.12 oz |
| Availability | In stock |
| Sold by | Amazon.com |
| Category rank | #1,194 in Beauty & Personal Care; #39 in Facial Serums |
Five bullets, and the one that matters
- Designed for sensitive skin. Cites the #1 dermatologist-recommended brand claim for sensitive skin and describes the serum as absorbing quickly to enhance glow.
- Gentle vitamin C derivative. A derivative in an airless pump, less likely to oxidise or change colour, delivering benefits without sting or redness - the brand's own explanation of what it traded away.
- No common irritants. Free of gluten, fragrance, dye, lanolin, parabens, formaldehyde releasers, botanical extracts, essential oils and other common irritants.
- Won't clog pores. Explicitly non-comedogenic, layers with other serums and make-up, applied once or twice daily.
- Trust as the ingredient. Fifty years of formulating for sensitive skin, with a footnote to an IQVIA ProVoice survey for the dermatologist-recommendation claim.
The first three bullets are unusually concrete for a beauty listing - a named derivative, a named package format, and a free-of list that can actually be checked against an INCI table. The fourth is a claim of absence, and absence claims are the easiest kind to falsify. It is tested later in this report, and it does not survive intact.
Part 02
4.5 stars, with a heavier tail than the average suggests
The listing carries 4.5 out of 5 from 3,712 ratings. That number reads as near-universal approval, and the distribution behind it is more interesting than the average.
Share of ratings by star, as published on the listing histogram.
78% five-star, 11% four-star, 5% three-star, 2% two-star, 4% one-star. Eighty-nine percent sit at four stars or above, which is what the 4.5 average reflects. But look at the bottom: 4% one-star against 2% two-star is an inverted tail, and on 3,712 ratings that is roughly 148 one-star ratings and 74 two-star. More people hated it than merely disliked it. An inverted tail almost always means two distinct populations using the same product for different reasons - here, almost certainly people whose skin tolerated it and people whose skin did not.
Eight themes, and one that breaks the pattern
The aspect counters separate what buyers agree on from what they argue about. Read the shares, then read the volumes - they point in different directions.
Positive share per aspect, ordered by mention volume from the top.
| Aspect | Mentions | Positive | Negative | Positive share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| effectiveness | 511 | 428 | 83 | 84% |
| skin compatibility | 271 | 194 | 77 | 72% |
| brightening | 202 | 170 | 32 | 84% |
| moisturizing | 146 | 137 | 9 | 94% |
| non-greasy | 125 | 114 | 11 | 91% |
| value for money | 115 | 100 | 15 | 87% |
| texture | 105 | 95 | 10 | 90% |
| fragrance-free | 96 | 81 | 15 | 84% |
The highest-scoring theme is moisturizing at 94% on 146 mentions, followed by non-greasy at 91% and texture at 90%. That cluster is the ceramide system doing exactly what it was put there for, and it is consistent with the packaging story. The lowest is skin compatibility at 72%, on 271 mentions - the second-largest theme in the set, and the one that runs directly against the product's entire positioning. A serum sold explicitly for sensitive skin, on a brand whose identity is sensitive-skin safety, has 77 negative mentions about compatibility. Effectiveness sits at 84% on 511 mentions, which is respectable but not the near-unanimous figure a 4.5-star average implies.
The aggregate summary, and a caveat
Customers find this Vitamin C serum effective and appreciate its gentle formula that doesn't irritate sensitive skin. The product receives positive feedback for its brightening effects, particularly for dark spots, and its moisturizing properties, with one customer noting it's suitable for oily skin. They praise its silky texture, smooth application, and non-greasy feel, while also appreciating that it's fragrance-free and worth the price.
Amazon's synthesis says the formula doesn't irritate sensitive skin. The aspect counters record 77 negative mentions under skin compatibility. Both statements come from the same page, and only one of them is a tally. This report uses the counters and treats the prose summary as a narrative, not as data.
No review body rendered. The desktop page, the mobile fallback and the China-context retry returned zero review text across three timed retries with fresh sessions. Nothing in this document is presented as a buyer's words, and no review has been paraphrased into a quotation.
Part 03
Twenty ingredients, and the one that contradicts the carton
The declared list is short: 20 ingredients, captured in full. COSDNA was unreachable behind a Cloudflare challenge on this pass, so its acne, irritancy and safety columns do not exist for this SKU - the classes below are a functional-risk class derived from each row's job in this emulsion, with Skinsort's published comedogenic and irritancy values used as an override where the database publishes them. It is a class ranking, not a database safety score.
Rows per functional-risk class. Eleven of twenty sit in the lowest band; a single row reaches Level 4.
| Level | Meaning | Rows | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | carrier, humectant or barrier-lipid backbone | 11 | 55% |
| Level 2 | low-concern functional | 5 | 25% |
| Level 3 | emulsifier or pH row carrying a flag | 3 | 15% |
| Level 4 | rated concern row | 1 | 5% |
| Level 5 | high concern | 0 | 0% |
Eleven Level 1 rows is the striking number: water, glycerin, the vitamin C ester, pentylene glycol, carnosine, five ceramides and phytosterols. For a serum at this price, five distinct ceramide species plus phytosterols is a genuinely unusual amount of barrier machinery, and it explains the 94% moisturizing score. The problem area is concentrated and small: three Level 3 rows - two emulsifiers and the citric acid - and one Level 4 row, stearyl alcohol, rated 2 out of 5 on both comedogenicity and irritancy.
The same twenty rows by function
Ingredient count per functional group. Seven groups across 20 rows.
Six rows are barrier lipids and five are emollients and emulsifiers, against just two in the vitamin C and antioxidant group. Read that ratio against the marketing and the shape of the product becomes clear: this is a ceramide serum with a vitamin C ester in it, not a vitamin C serum with ceramides bolted on. Skinsort's own benefit table makes the same point - brightening, pore appearance and skin texture each rest on a single ingredient, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate.
What is inside: ten holds and two failures
| Claim | Result | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol-free | Holds | no alcohol denat.; stearyl alcohol is a solid fatty alcohol, not a drying one |
| EU allergen free | Holds | no ingredient from the EU 1223/2009 declarable-allergen list |
| Fragrance-free | Holds | no Fragrance or Parfum row; no masking fragrance either |
| Oil-free | Holds | no plant, mineral or synthetic oil; emollients are esters and fatty alcohols |
| Paraben-free | Holds | no paraben at any position |
| Silicone-free | Holds | no siloxane; texture comes from esters and a polyacrylate |
| Sulfate-free | Holds | no sulfate surfactant |
| Cruelty-free | Holds | brand self-reported rather than independently certified |
| Reef-safe | Holds | no UV filter of any kind, so none of the restricted ones |
| Vegan | Holds | no animal-derived row; brand self-reported |
| Fungal acne safe | Fails | glyceryl stearate, polyglyceryl-2 stearate and stearyl alcohol are all flagged |
| Pore-clogger-free | Fails | diisooctyl succinate at position 3 - comedogenic in a published test |
The contradiction, stated plainly
The carton prints Non-comedogenic in the same visual block as its free-of list. The listing's fourth bullet says Won't Clog Pores and calls the serum non-comedogenic again. And at position 3 of 20 - behind only water and glycerin - sits diisooctyl succinate, an emollient that Skinsort flags as comedogenic on the strength of a published test (Draelos and DiNardo, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2006).
This is not a database quirk, and it is not a formulation error either. Diisooctyl succinate is a light, dry emollient, and at position 3 it is doing real work in a milky emulsion that has to feel non-greasy - which is exactly what the aspect counters say it achieves, at 91%. The honest reading is that the brand optimised for texture and tolerance and accepted a comedogenicity flag on one emollient, then printed a badge that the ingredient list does not support. Both facts can be true. A buyer deciding whether to trust the pack deserves to see them side by side rather than one at a time.
The complete ingredient list
| # | Ingredient | Function | Role here | Comedo. | Irrit. | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Water | Skin conditioning, solvent | Solvent base | - | - | 1 |
| 2 | Glycerin | Humectant, skin conditioning, skin protecting | Primary humectant | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Diisooctyl Succinate | Emollient, skin conditioning | Emollient, flagged in one comedogenic test | flagged | - | 2 |
| 4 | Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate | Antioxidant, skin conditioning | Oil-soluble vitamin C ester, the only active | - | - | 1 |
| 5 | Pentylene Glycol | Skin conditioning, solvent | Humectant and preservative booster | - | - | 1 |
| 6 | Polyglyceryl-2 Stearate | Emulsifying | Emulsifier, fungal-acne potential trigger | - | - | 3 |
| 7 | Carnosine | Skin conditioning | Anti-glycation dipeptide | - | - | 1 |
| 8 | Ceramide NP | Skin conditioning | Barrier lipid, the dominant ceramide | - | - | 1 |
| 9 | Ceramide EOP | Skin conditioning | Barrier lipid, ultra-long chain | - | - | 1 |
| 10 | Ceramide AP | Skin conditioning | Barrier lipid | - | - | 1 |
| 11 | Ceramide Ng | Skin conditioning | Barrier lipid | - | - | 1 |
| 12 | Ceramide As | Skin conditioning | Barrier lipid | - | - | 1 |
| 13 | Phytosterols | Skin conditioning | Plant sterols, barrier support | - | - | 1 |
| 14 | Glyceryl Stearate | Emollient, emulsifying | Emulsifier, fungal-acne potential trigger | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 | Stearyl Alcohol | Emollient, emulsifying, emulsion stabilising | Fatty alcohol, highest rated row on both scales | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 16 | Hydrogenated Lecithin | Emulsifying, skin conditioning | Phospholipid emulsifier and barrier helper | - | - | 2 |
| 17 | 1,2-Hexanediol | Skin conditioning, solvent | Solvent and mild preservative adjunct | - | - | 2 |
| 18 | Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6 | Emulsion stabilising | Synthetic rheology modifier | - | - | 2 |
| 19 | Citric Acid | Buffering, chelating, masking | pH trim, rosacea caution at exfoliant strength | - | - | 3 |
| 20 | Caprylyl Glycol | Emollient, humectant, skin conditioning | Emollient and preservative booster | - | - | 2 |
Declared INCI order, unbroken
Water, Glycerin, Diisooctyl Succinate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Pentylene Glycol, Polyglyceryl-2 Stearate, Carnosine, Ceramide NP, Ceramide EOP, Ceramide AP, Ceramide Ng, Ceramide As, Phytosterols, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Lecithin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Citric Acid, Caprylyl Glycol.
Five readings that matter more than the list
- Five ceramides is the differentiator. NP, EOP, AP, Ng and As occupy positions 8 to 12 as one contiguous block. Ceramide EOP is the species that bridges the barrier lipid layer and is depleted in eczema-prone skin - which is consistent with a brand whose core market is dermatologist-recommended sensitive skin, and is the part of this product that most deserves the pack claim.
- THD is a real active, but unquantified. Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate at position 4 is the only vitamin C and the only brightening mechanism. The site's own note says 2% and under is soothing while 5% and above is needed for pigmentation, and no concentration is declared - so the product cannot be placed on that spectrum from what is published.
- The preservative system is deliberately thin. No phenoxyethanol, no paraben, no formaldehyde releaser. The antimicrobial load rests on pentylene glycol, 1,2-hexanediol and caprylyl glycol. That is why the free-of list can be printed honestly, and why the airless pump matters: a formula this lightly preserved leans on the package to stay clean.
- Stearyl alcohol deserves its own line. It is a solid fatty alcohol and the alcohol-free badge is technically true - but at 2/2 it is the highest-rated row in the formula, and it is also one of the three fungal-acne flags. Three separate reasons for one ingredient to appear in a formula discussion.
- Two declared versions exist. Skinsort documents a February 2023 list and the current February 2024 one; this report covers the 2024 version. A formula change inside a two-year window is exactly the kind of event that produces two populations of buyers reviewing the same ASIN differently - and this ASIN has an inverted one-star tail.
Part 04
A price that is almost exactly its own average
The record starts on 5 November 2022 and runs to this snapshot. Everything is native USD, transcribed from the all-time summary and cross-checked against the live listing on the collection date.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| List price | $19.99 |
| Live price, 31 Oct 2026 | $17.69 - 12.0% off list |
| Subscribe & Save | $15.04 - 25.0% off list |
| Amazon all-time low | $12.23, 06 Jul 2025 |
| Amazon all-time high | $23.49, 23 Feb 2023 |
| Amazon all-time average | $17.29 |
| 3rd Party New all-time low | $15.00, 14 Apr 2025 |
| 3rd Party New all-time high | $38.65, 20 Feb 2024 |
| 3rd Party New average | $22.65 |
| 3rd Party Used | no data for this price type |
| Monitoring start | 05 Nov 2022 |
The price history table, as published
| Price type | Lowest ever | Highest ever | Current | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | $12.23 (06 Jul 2025) | $23.49 (23 Feb 2023) | $17.69 (30 Oct 2026) | $17.29 |
| 3rd Party New | $15.00 (14 Apr 2025) | $38.65 (20 Feb 2024) | $16.90 (29 Oct 2026) | $22.65 |
| 3rd Party Used | - | - | - | - |
The four measures, channel against channel. The 2024 marketplace high of $38.65 compresses everything else - the same figures appear again in the next chart without it.
The 3rd Party New all-time high of $38.65, dated 20 February 2024, is roughly double the list price and reads like a stranded reseller offer or a multi-pack listing rather than a market. It distorts the 3rd Party New average badly: $22.65 against Amazon's $17.29 is a gap that the current figures - $16.90 versus $17.69 - completely reverse. That is why the average column is reported and then set aside.
Six dated observations
The free page exposes five values per channel, so six dated observations is the entire record for this product. They are plotted as points because that is what they are - there is no continuous series behind them.
Every dated observation, in chronological order. Six points, two channels, no interpolation.
What six points support: the product was cheaper in 2025 than it is now, and dearer in 2023 than it is now. The Amazon high of $23.49 is dated February 2023 - not a launch artefact, but two years into the record - and the low of $12.23 is July 2025. Today's $17.69 sits almost exactly between them, and within 2.3% of the six-year average. The 3rd Party line tells a different story: its current $16.90 is the lowest reading on that channel outside the 2025 floor, and it undercuts Amazon.
Where $17.69 sits, and what it is not
This is not a discount, it is the normal price. $17.69 is 2.3% above the Amazon all-time average of $17.29 and 11.5% below the $19.99 list. A 12% saving sounds like a promotion, but the average says this is what the product costs most of the time. Anyone waiting for a sale is waiting for something that has already happened and ended.
The historical band is unusually wide. $12.23 to $23.49 on one 35 ml tube is a spread of $11.26, or 92.1% of the low. Buyers at the 2023 peak paid close to double what buyers at the 2025 floor paid, for the same product in the same size. That is the strongest argument in this report for watching the price rather than buying on impulse.
The marketplace is beating the buy box. 3rd Party New reads $16.90 against Amazon's $17.69 - a $0.79 gap, 4.5%. It is small and easily eaten by shipping, but it is a real inversion of the usual Amazon pattern and the only such inversion in this batch.
Subscribe & Save is a good price, not the best price. $15.04 is 25% off list and 15.0% below the one-time price - but it is still $2.81 above the all-time low of $12.23. The subscription smooths the price; it does not beat the floor.
Freshness is the best in this batch. The Amazon current is one day old, the last automated scan one day old, the last tracked fifteen hours. This price needs no staleness caveat beyond the general snapshot warning.
Part 05
Method, confidence, and what the report cannot settle
A snapshot, not a quote. Everything here is one reading taken on 31 October 2026 with a New York 10001 delivery address so that all pricing is native USD.
| Element | Confidence | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Live price of $17.69 | High | Listing read on the collection date; consistent with a one-day-old tracker value |
| Rating 4.5 from 3,712 | High | Read from the listing rating block |
| Star distribution | High | Listing histogram, five buckets summing to 100% |
| Aspect counters | Medium | Amazon's own grouping; themes overlap and counts are not exclusive |
| Ingredient list (20 rows) | High | Declared list, count matches the database total |
| The non-comedogenic conflict | Medium | The flag is documented; individual breakout outcomes are not predictable |
| Level classification | Medium | Functional-risk class by role, not a database score |
| COSDNA acne / irritancy / safety | Not available | Channel blocked by Cloudflare |
| Individual review text | Not available | Zero review bodies rendered on three attempts |
| Buyer photographs | Not available | Listing rendered no review-media gallery |
| Price series between observations | Not available | Five values per channel is the whole record |
Six things this report cannot settle
- Whether this serum will clog a given person's pores. The database flags one ingredient; the finished product's behaviour depends on concentration, the rest of the formula and the user.
- What percentage of THD the formula contains. Without it, the product cannot be placed against the site's own 2%-soothing and 5%-pigmentation thresholds.
- Which formula version a specific tube contains. Two declared versions exist and only the current one is documented here.
- What buyers actually wrote. No review body rendered, so the aspect counters are the only buyer-voice evidence.
- Whether the price will stay at $17.69. It is one day old and sits on the six-year average, which is the most likely place for it to remain - but a $12.23 floor exists and has been reached before.
- Whether COSDNA has an entry for this SKU. The channel was blocked, so absence of a grade is not evidence of a clean formula.
Snapshot, 31 October 2026. Where two sources disagreed - the pack against the ingredient list, the review summary against the aspect counters - the disagreement is reported rather than resolved by preference.
Collected and compiled 31 October 2026. Prices in USD. No reviewer names, handles, profile links or identifiers appear in this document.