How one DABBA serum tells the whole story of a radically pure brand

Inside the bottle.

At Farmatuur, we believe that the most honest stories are not written in slogans, but in ingredient lists.

So instead of telling you, once again, that DABBA is pure, organic and close to nature, we decided to do something more revealing. We chose one of their most loved products, the Super C Recovery Serum (also available as Super C Recovery Cream), and opened it together, slowly, like you would open a book.

Because if one formula already carries the philosophy, then the entire range follows the same logic. One bottle can tell the story of a whole brand.

A serum as a mirror of a mindset

We chose this serum because people come back to it. They use it in winter and in summer. Men approve it. Women keep it. It survives changing routines and changing seasons.

This is not a serum built around a single fashionable molecule. It is built around balance. Around continuity. Around the idea that skin is not a battlefield, but a living system that prefers cooperation over force.

And you see that immediately in the first line of the ingredient list.

When water is no longer just water

Most serums begin with water as a neutral carrier, a blank page.

This one begins with peppermint floral water, sea buckthorn fruit water and Japanese quince fruit water. Before any active ingredient appears, the skin is already meeting plants.

This is a small decision with big consequences. Plant waters bring minerals, organic acids and water-soluble antioxidants. They carry a natural aroma and a pH that feels closer to skin than tap water ever will. They do not rush in with a mission. They arrive with context.

Hydrated skin cells are more flexible and receptive. Ingredients spread more evenly on moist skin than on dry, tense surfaces. So before this serum even “acts”, it prepares. It creates a place where something can happen.

Hydration as architecture, not decoration

Glycerin, betaine, xylitylglucoside, anhydroxylitol, xylitol, sodium PCA and sodium hyaluronate form what we would call a hydration architecture.

These are not there to impress. They are there to mimic what healthy skin already does. Dermatological research has long shown that glycerin and components of the natural moisturizing factor, like sodium PCA, help restore barrier function and improve comfort. Hyaluronic acid binds water and softens the surface, but here it is not alone. It is supported by sugars and amino-acid-like compounds that hold moisture without heaviness.

This explains why people describe the serum as light, fast-absorbing and non-sticky. It hydrates without occupying the skin. It leaves space.

Good hydration does not announce itself. It allows other things to work.

Vitamin C without the cult of aggression

Yes, this is a Vitamin C serum. The form used is ascorbyl palmitate, a lipid-compatible and more stable derivative of Vitamin C. It still acts as an antioxidant and supports collagen synthesis, but it does so without the drama of pure ascorbic acid.

Vitamin C is one of the most studied cosmetic actives for skin tone, photoprotection and collagen support. But high concentrations are often irritating, especially when used daily. DABBA does not chase maximum impact in one night. It chooses continuity.

Barrier care, spoken in a quiet language

Hidden a little further down the list are phospholipids, glycosphingolipids and lysolecithin. They do not scream their function, but skin recognizes them immediately.

These molecules resemble the lipids that form the skin barrier itself. In dermatology, barrier lipids are associated with reduced water loss, improved resilience and better recovery from stress. Instead of covering the skin with heavy occlusive layers, this serum feeds the barrier with materials it already understands.

Which is why people say they change their creams with the seasons, but keep this serum.

A Northern answer to oxidative stress

Then the story turns unmistakably DABBA.

Fireweed. Birch. Rhubarb.

Not tropical superfoods flown across the world, but Northern plants shaped by cold, short summers and intense light. These plants have learned to survive oxidative stress in their own way, and their chemistry reflects that.

Fireweed has been studied for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential. Birch leaf for its polyphenols and enzyme-modulating activity. Rhubarb root for its phenolic compounds.

Together, they form a botanical network rather than a single hero extract.

Collagen without pretending to be magic

Yes, the serum contains hydrolyzed collagen. No, it will not turn into your own collagen. But it will smooth the surface, support hydration and create a light film that improves skin feel. Combined with Vitamin C, which supports collagen synthesis inside the skin, this becomes a functional partnership: surface comfort paired with deeper biological support.

Preservation without betrayal

Even the way this serum is preserved follows the same logic. Instead of harsh, broad-spectrum preservatives, DABBA uses radish root ferment, sodium levulinate, sodium anisate and sodium phytate.

These are modern natural preservation systems that protect the formula without attacking the skin. They respect organic standards and the microbiological reality of a water-based product.

What one formula tells us about a whole brand

When we read this ingredient list, we see a brand that chooses plant waters over empty water, hydration before stimulation, barrier before brightness, networks over lone heroes, and daily usability over spectacle.

This is why the serum works for women and men, for summer and winter, for minimal routines and layered rituals. It does not dominate. It integrates.

And that is perhaps the highest form of effectiveness.

How we use it at Farmatuur

Always on moist skin, after floral water. Hydrated skin spreads ingredients more evenly, feels more comfortable and supports the enzymes that maintain the barrier. After the serum, we seal with a cream in winter, an oil when skin feels dry, and lighter textures in summer.

The serum is the intelligence layer. The cream is the climate layer.

Final proofpoint: the Farmatuur Purity Matrix

At the very end, when the story is told, we like to look at it once more from above. We created a simple way to read formulas, inspired by scoring apps, but focused on coherence instead of fear.

Here is how the Super C Recovery Serum reads through that lens:

Final Farmatuur score:
🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿 4.8 out of 5 Botanical Crowns

Not because it is perfect.
But because it is legible.
Because it makes sense.
Because it does not contradict itself.

The Dabba formulation philosophy 

>>> Check out the Dabba Collection

After reading not one ingredient list, but many, something quietly began to repeat itself.

Chamomile water appears again and again. So does fireweed. Sea buckthorn. Wild raspberry leaf. Birch. Aspen bark. Heather. Wild carrot. Japanese quince.

What we started to see was not a collection of products, but a landscape.
A Northern one.

Again and again, DABBA replaces plain water with floral waters and fruit waters. Again and again, they choose plants that grow in climates of light, cold and short summers. Plants that know how to protect themselves. Plants that have learned to survive oxidative stress, dryness, and exposure.

And the same structure repeats itself:

Hydration always comes first. Barrier support always follows. Antioxidants are never alone. Preservation is gentle and intelligent. Perfume never shouts. And nothing unnecessary sneaks in.

This is what made us stop reading them as product formulas and start reading them as a philosophy.

It is a style of formulation that wants to stay with you.

Across all these INCI lists, the same decisions appear again and again.

Plant waters replace empty water, not because it sounds poetic, but because it changes how a formula behaves. They hydrate, soften, and prepare the skin before any active tries to “do something”.

Sugars, amino-acid-like compounds and hyaluronic acid form a hydration system that mimics what healthy skin already produces.

Barrier lipids appear quietly, not as a marketing headline, but as structural support.

Vitamin C, when present, is chosen in a form that can live in harmony with the rest of the formula, not dominate it.

Antioxidants are never isolated heroes. They come as groups: fireweed with birch, raspberry leaf with aspen bark, rhubarb with sea buckthorn. A network, not a miracle.

And even preservation follows the same ethics: fermentation, organic acids, and salts instead of harsh synthetic guardians.

Why this matters to us at Farmatuur

At Farmatuur, we don’t partner with brands because they sound natural. We partner with them when their formulas behave like nature. DABBA doesn’t formulate like a laboratory chasing trends. They formulate like a farmer who understands cycles.

They think in seasons.
In plants that belong together.

That is why their serums work with their creams.
Why their boosters work with their floral waters.
Why men like them.
Why sensitive skin trusts them.
Why people keep the same serum when they change everything else.

Not because the products are loud.
But because they are coherent.