As we age, the sun, hormonal changes, stress and environmental pollutants can cause skin to lose its youthful lustre, increasing age spots, hyper-pigmentation and open pores.
Luckily for us then, a new breed of use-at-home unifying and lightening skincare products promise to banish the appearance of brown spots and uneven skin tone, offering an altogether clearer, brighter outlook, facially speaking.
Our top picks include:
The ChromaWhite TRx system by Dermalogica.
Longstanding fans of celebrity skincare darling Dermalogica, we were excited about this new range, purported to reduce the appearance of hyper-pigmentation in as little as four weeks. Six products, including Tri-Active Cleanse (RRP £31), a triple-active concentrated cleanser, which improves surface clarity, lifts dulling skin cells and prepares skin for maximum penetration of subsequent products, C-12 Concentrate (RRP £65), a silky serum that minimises discolouration and improves skin clarity and Pure Light SPF30 (RRP £48), a medium-weight member of the new breed of daytime treatment moisturisers (a powerful, protecting potion that does more than simply hydrate). Safer than surgical treatments, and using smart ingredients such as enzymes, peptides, Vitamin C and white tea, this range is all about visible results. There’s no fancy scent to speak of, and the packing is typical scientific, but we’ve found in the past that offerings from Dermalogica normally do what they say on the tin. We love the C-12 concentrate in particular. The Pure light is great, but perhaps a little heavy for our normal-combination skin. For drier skin types it’d be an absolute must.
The Clear White range by Darphin Paris.
Promising a clearer, brighter, uniformly even-toned complexion through exfoliation, protection and repair, this new range includes the complementary Clear White Brightening and Soothing Serum (approx. £65/30ml) and Clear White Brightening and Hydrating Cream (approx £60/50ml). Both offer the same nurturing and luxurious feel we’ve come to expect from Darphin, meaning you get a real feeling of ‘being pampered’ each time you use them. We’ve been using the light gel-cream Clear White Brightening and Hydrating Cream composed of high quality ingredients include Vitamin C, Mulberry and Liquorice extract (known for their skin-brightening properties) and Gentian extract. Pure white with a delicate, subtle scent, we find it provides just the right level of hydration for this time of year.
Call 0870 034 2318 for your nearest Darphin stockist.
The Skin Brightening products by Origins.
Smelling good enough to eat and wonderfully natural with fruit extracts, ‘Never A Dull Moment’ skin-brightening face cleanser (£15/150ml), ‘Modern Friction’ gentle facial scrub (RRP £28/125ml) and ‘Brighter by Nature’ Skin tone correcting serum (RRP £30/30ml) work in harmony to gently exfoliate away dark spots and discolourations. All Origins products incorporate potent plants, organic ingredients and 100% natural essential oils. Find them online at www.origins.co.uk or in stores such as John Lewis.
Other brightening, lightening products worth a mention: the Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing range by Elemis (from about £30.
www.timetospa.co.uk), Lumecin Overnight Gluco-Brightening Treatment (RRP £30.99 available from Boots) and Clinique Even Better Skin Tone Correcting series (from about £30.
www.clinique.co.uk).
