Exclusive: Drunk Elephant Launches C-Firma Fresh Day Vitamin C Serum — Interview

Additionally, the brand removed some of the original formula’s thickeners to give it a lighter texture and made it vegan. The primary difference, though, is that this serum is designed to be mixed by its user. You might be picturing a complicated process involving various liquids in little glass vials, but I promise, it’s not difficult or inconvenient in the slightest. 

Each C-Firma Fresh serum comes with two components: a small plastic tube containing a liquid base and a rectangular pump bottle filled with powdered active ingredients. Grab the latter and pull of its bright-orange top to access the powder, which you can pour the liquid base into directly. Shake, shake, shake, and you’ve got yourself a freshly mixed brightening serum. You only need to do this once.

Why does it matter if the formula is mixed at home rather than in a manufacturing center somewhere? Good question. It all comes down to the active ingredients at play. I’ll let Masterson explain the rest. “The drawback is that ascorbic acid has a shorter shelf life than other actives — from the first use, it has a shelf life of about six months before it begins to lose its potency,” she says. “By separating the liquid serum phase from the vitamin C, the user is able to determine the time of ‘activation’ for their C-Firma Fresh, which is the moment they mix the two together.” 

In other words, you never have to question this serum’s exact shelf-life; it’s entirely in your control. “It appears that Drunk Elephant is delivering vitamin C in a way that helps keep it stable to allow the consumer to activate it when they are ready to use it,” confirms cosmetic chemist Ron Robinson. “As soon as it’s activated, the oxidation clock starts, and the consumer is cued to finish using their activated dose before it oxidizes.”

Once you decide to “activate” your C-Firma, you’ll know you have six months to use it all up. What’s more, as Masterson adds, you can buy multiple bottles at once and keep them stocked, unmixed, for up to three years without fear of expiration.