Local skincare company gaslighting customers on vitamin C serum.
Having been a skincare enthusiast for more than 15 years, I've tried countless L-ascorbic acid serums (Skinceuticals, Maelove, Timeless, IOPE, Cosrx, etc.). I even dedicated a couple of years formulating a waterless LAA serum to prevent oxidation. Needless to say, I know what's normal and what to expect with this finicky ingredient.
Recently, I've been wanting to focus more on Pinoy brands so I purchased an LAA serum from Klued. When it arrived, I was disappointed to find that it was a deep yellow color. This is still usable (brown is what's not) but it's frustrating to know that a brand new serum came out of the box looking like #4 here. So I left a 1 star review on their Shopee page detailing why this is unacceptable. I even took note of all the other customer's photos, where their brand new serums ranged from clear to pale yellow to orange to amber. Obviously, it's a quality/storage issue, not an LAA issue per se.
The Klued team reached out to me, and while I appreciate their initiative, their response just rubbed me the wrong way. They basically said LAA is naturally yellow, it's not oxidized, don't worry about it. That's completely false. If you mix LAA powder in water, you'll get an entirely colorless liquid. Ferulic acid adds a very pale yellow tint. Vitamin E can also be clear or a pale yellow/brown, depending on type. But none of these make a fresh LAA serum a deep yellow color.
When I called them out on it, they quickly backtracked.
Now, I appreciate that the Klued team has taken the initiative to reach out and for taking the team to assure their customers. My only problem is that they're misinforming their customers to make their product higher quality than it really is. I imagine most of their customers might not be as well-versed in vitamin C serums, so Klued has probably reached out to the 1-star reviewers to tell them, "Yellow vitamin C serums are completely normal." They should do better.
I will still support their other products in the future (have never tried them) but gaslighting your customers is a big NO-NO.
Edit: The photos were all jumbled up. Please start at Photo #4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 5.