The Abib Glutathiosome Serum is named after two things. Glutathiosome, and Vita Drop. Abib publishes a concentration for both, and both numbers are smaller than almost anyone would guess.

Glutathione is declared at 250 ppm. The vitamin C is three forms declared in parts per billion — 1,000 ppb, 500 ppb and 500 ppb, which comes to 2 ppm in total.

In a 50ml bottle that is roughly 12 milligrams of glutathione and 0.1 milligrams of vitamin C. A tenth of a milligram. In the whole bottle, not per use.

What the Abib Glutathiosome Serum actually runs on

Niacinamide, declared at 50,000 ppm — five percent — at position three of forty-two. That is a real, working concentration and it is the reason this serum does anything at all.

The arithmetic is worth sitting with. Niacinamide is 200 times the glutathione in this bottle and 25,000 times the total vitamin C. The two ingredients on the front of the box are rounding errors against the one that is not.

Abib Glutathiosome Serum bottle with dropper — Both name ingredients are declared. Neither is present in a meaningful amount.

Credit where the Abib Glutathiosome Serum earns it

Abib did not have to publish any of this. Concentration declarations are optional in Korea, and the overwhelming majority of brands write “glutathione complex” and leave you to imagine the rest.

Abib filed 250 ppm. They filed 1,000 ppb. Those are numbers that make their own product look weaker, published voluntarily in a document anyone can read. That is real transparency and it deserves saying before we take the marketing apart.

Our criticism of the Abib Glutathiosome Serum is aimed at the name on the bottle, not at the filing behind it. The filing is honest. The name is not doing the same job.

The full Abib Glutathiosome Serum ingredient list

Forty-two ingredients in legal descending order, with every declared concentration shown exactly as Abib filed it.

1 Water · 2 Butylene Glycol · 3 Niacinamide (50,000 ppm) · 4 1,2-Hexanediol · 5 Corn Starch · 6 Chondrus Crispus Extract · 7 Chlorella Vulgaris Extract · 8 Sugarcane Extract · 9 Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract · 10 Chitosan · 11 Apple Fruit Cell Culture Extract · 12 Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6 · 13 Betaine · 14 Glucose

15 Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer · 16 Tromethamine · 17 Acetyl Glucosamine (1,000 ppm) · 18 Fructooligosaccharides · 19 Fructose · 20 Glycerin · 21 Pentylene Glycol · 22 Ethylhexylglycerin · 23 Allantoin · 24 Dipropylene Glycol · 25 Adenosine · 26 Glutathione (250 ppm) · 27 Madecassoside · 28 Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose

29 Hydrogenated Lecithin · 30 Beta-Glucan · 31 Cholesterol · 32 Asiaticoside · 33 Ascorbic Acid (1,000 ppb) · 34 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid (500 ppb) · 35 Ascorbyl Glucoside (500 ppb) · 36 Ceramide NP · 37 Tocopherol (250 ppb) · 38 Ferulic Acid · 39 Lactic Acid · 40 Disodium EDTA · 41 Carbomer · 42 CI 77491

The Abib Glutathiosome Serum vitamin C, in plain terms

Parts per million is a thousandth of a percent. Parts per billion is a thousandth of that again.

One part per billion is roughly a single drop of water in an Olympic swimming pool. The ascorbic acid in the Abib Glutathiosome Serum is declared at 1,000 ppb, so a thousand drops in that pool. It is present. It is not doing anything you could measure on your face.

We have now read concentration filings across more than twenty products, and this is the lowest declared vitamin C we have found anywhere. The previous record was the Medicube toner at 1 ppm of PDRN, and even that was five times higher than this serum’s ascorbic acid.

The red in the Abib Glutathiosome Serum is a synthetic dye

CI 77491 sits last on the list at 42. That is red iron oxide, a synthetic colourant.

We point it out because the Medicube products we have read colour themselves with vitamin B12 and botanical root pigments, and we gave them credit for it. Abib uses a pigment. It is perfectly safe and extremely common. It just is not the “natural” story the rest of the packaging implies.

What is genuinely good in the Abib Glutathiosome Serum

Strip the name off and there is a competent brightening serum here. Niacinamide at 5% is the headline. Behind it sits a coherent supporting cast that most reviews never mention.

Acetyl glucosamine at 1,000 ppm is the one worth knowing about. It is declared, it sits at position 17, and it has published evidence for working alongside niacinamide on uneven tone — the two are studied together specifically because they act on different steps of pigment transfer.

There is also a proper centella group: leaf extract at 9, madecassoside at 27, asiaticoside at 32. And a small barrier set with hydrogenated lecithin at 29, cholesterol at 31 and ceramide NP at 36.

The Abib Glutathiosome Serum texture and the capsule warning

This is a light, watery serum with visible red beads suspended in it. Abib’s own packaging carries an unusual instruction: take care that the capsules do not get into your eyes.

That is worth repeating because most people ignore it. The beads are not soft. Applied carelessly near the eye they can scratch, and the Abib Glutathiosome Serum is bought largely by people treating marks around the eye area and cheekbones.

Abib Glutathiosome Serum 50ml bottle and carton — Red beads suspended in a watery base. Keep them away from your eyes.

How to use the Abib Glutathiosome Serum

Cleanse, then apply to slightly damp skin.
A few drops for the whole face. Shake first so the beads distribute.
Pat in gently. Avoid the immediate eye area.
Follow with moisturiser, and sunscreen every morning.
Twice daily, or once at night if 5% niacinamide is new to you.

Give it eight to twelve weeks before judging. Niacinamide works slowly on pigmentation, and no brightening serum shows its real result inside a fortnight regardless of what the box promises.

Sunscreen decides whether the Abib Glutathiosome Serum works

Every brightening ingredient in this bottle reduces new pigment production. None of them stops the sun that triggers it.

Using the Abib Glutathiosome Serum without daily sunscreen is emptying a bucket with a hole in the bottom. In Dhaka’s UV that is not a figure of speech, and if your budget only covers one product this month, it should be the sunscreen.

Who the Abib Glutathiosome Serum suits

Buy it if you want a 5% niacinamide serum with a light texture and you are comfortable paying for a name that oversells. On the niacinamide alone it is a reasonable product.

Skip it if you are buying it for the glutathione or the vitamin C, because those are 250 ppm and 2 ppm. Skip it if you want a real vitamin C serum, because 0.1mg in a bottle is not one.

If your goal is genuinely dark spots, the stronger buy in our range is the Medicube TXA serum, where niacinamide is declared at 10% and tranexamic acid at 5% — both at percentage strength rather than parts per million.

Abib Glutathiosome Serum product facts

Volume: 50ml
Country of manufacture: Republic of Korea
Declared: niacinamide 50,000 ppm, acetyl glucosamine 1,000 ppm, glutathione 250 ppm
Declared vitamin C: ascorbic acid 1,000 ppb, 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid 500 ppb, ascorbyl glucoside 500 ppb
Colourant: CI 77491, red iron oxide
Total ingredients: 42
Texture: watery serum with suspended capsules

The Abib Glutathiosome Serum against the alternatives

Medicube TXA Niacinamide 15% Serum — niacinamide at 10%, tranexamic acid at 5%, arbutin at 6. The stronger brightening buy.
Medicube Kojic Acid Turmeric Niacinamide Serum — niacinamide 2nd, turmeric 6th, kojic acid 9th of 32.
Medicube Deep Vita C Cream — if you want the vitamin C story told honestly, this one at least declares a 50% sea buckthorn base.
Abib Quick Sunstick SPF50+ PA++++ — the sunscreen that decides whether any of the above does anything.

Abib Glutathiosome Serum FAQ

How much glutathione is really in it?

250 ppm, which is 0.025 percent, or about 12mg in the 50ml bottle. That figure is Abib’s own published declaration.

Is there real vitamin C in the Abib Glutathiosome Serum?

Three forms, declared at 1,000 ppb, 500 ppb and 500 ppb. That is 2 ppm in total, roughly 0.1mg in the bottle.

Will it fade dark spots?

Slowly, on the strength of the 5% niacinamide and the acetyl glucosamine, with daily sunscreen and about three months of patience. Not on the glutathione.

Is it safe around the eyes?

Abib’s own instruction is to keep the capsules out of your eyes. Apply to the cheekbone rather than the orbital bone.

Can I use it with retinol or acids?

Yes, though not stacked in the same layer if your skin is sensitive. There is lactic acid at 39, but at that position it is a pH adjuster rather than an exfoliant.

Is the red colour natural?

No. CI 77491 is red iron oxide, a synthetic pigment, listed last at position 42.

Why we publish the Abib Glutathiosome Serum numbers

Korean law lets brands declare concentrations, and a few of them do. Abib is one. We read that document before writing anything and publish what it says, including when it undercuts the product we are trying to sell you.

On the Abib Glutathiosome Serum it said 250 ppm and 1,000 ppb. Those are real figures from a real filing, and glutathione is a molecule you can look up yourself. If we ever get a number wrong here, tell us and we will correct it in public.

What “glutathiosome” is supposed to mean

The word is a portmanteau: glutathione plus liposome. It implies the glutathione is encapsulated in a lipid carrier to help it travel further into skin than it otherwise would.

Encapsulation is a real technology and there is a real problem it solves. Glutathione is a tripeptide, it is unstable, and it does not cross the skin barrier well on its own. Wrapping it in a lipid vesicle is a sensible response to that.

But encapsulation changes delivery, not dose. Carrying 250 ppm more efficiently still leaves you with 250 ppm. The invented word does a lot of work in the Abib Glutathiosome Serum name that the filing does not support.

Abib Glutathiosome Serum 50ml bottle — Fifty millilitres. About 12mg of glutathione and 0.1mg of vitamin C inside it.

Why oral glutathione talk does not transfer

Glutathione has a reputation in this market that comes mostly from injections and oral supplements, not from serums. That reputation is why the word sells, and it is why a 250 ppm topical dose can be priced as though it were doing the same thing.

Topical glutathione has some published support for skin tone at concentrations well above what is in this bottle. Whatever you may have read about glutathione generally, none of it was measured at the level the Abib Glutathiosome Serum declares.

We are not saying glutathione does nothing. We are saying this is not the product to test the idea with, and the brand’s own number is what tells you that.

Acetyl glucosamine is the underrated ingredient here

If one thing on this list deserves more attention than it gets, it is the acetyl glucosamine at 1,000 ppm.

It is an amino sugar that works on the transfer of pigment between cells, and the published work on it was largely done in combination with niacinamide — which is exactly the pairing the Abib Glutathiosome Serum happens to contain. Niacinamide at 5% plus acetyl glucosamine at 0.1% is a combination with actual research behind it.

That is the honest reason to buy this bottle. Not the word on the front.

Storing the Abib Glutathiosome Serum

Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from heat. Ascorbic acid and glutathione both oxidise readily, and while there is very little of either in here, the apple cell culture extract and the botanical extracts will turn faster in a warm room.

If the serum browns noticeably or the red beads discolour, stop using it. Twelve months after opening is the sensible outside limit.

Buying the Abib Glutathiosome Serum in Bangladesh

Abib is widely counterfeited here because it moves fast and the packaging is straightforward to imitate. Two checks worth doing on any bottle from any seller: the printed ingredient list should match the forty-two above in the same order, and the Korean text on a genuine carton is crisp rather than doubled or blurred.

An Abib Glutathiosome Serum priced far below the market should make you ask where it came from. We import directly rather than through a chain of local resellers, and we review packaging, labelling and condition before anything is dispatched.

What we would change about the Abib Glutathiosome Serum

Two things.

The first is the name. Niacinamide at 5% and acetyl glucosamine at 0.1% is a defensible, research-backed pairing that Abib could put on the front of the box with a straight face. Instead the box leads with the two ingredients present in the smallest amounts.

The second is the vitamin C. Three forms at parts per billion is not a formula, it is a label. Two of them removed and the third raised to a real level would make the Abib Glutathiosome Serum a better product and a more honest one at the same time.

None of that makes this a bad serum. It makes it a decent niacinamide serum sold under a headline the ingredient list cannot carry, and Abib gave you the numbers to work that out yourself.

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