The problem with being a total beauty nut is that I find myself noticing flaws in my appearance that I’m sure wouldn’t really bother the average woman my age.
My mother has always suffered with hyperpigmentation and dark spots but she’s also about 3/4 foundation shades darker than me, so I’ve always assumed that it’s not something I would have to worry about as a paler skinned lady.
Well, maybe it’s NOT something I should worry about, heaven knows there’s enough “stuff” queueing up ready to be worried about in our day to day lives anyway… but regardless, I have noticed in recent months that my skin tone is looking less even. I’ve always suffered from broken capilliaries on my cheeks and nose… but I’m also noticing a couple of little patches that I initially dismissed as new freckles.
Freckles all of a sudden? At 28? What… I think I’m Lindsay Lohan or something? I guess it just sounds better than sun damage right?
Anyway, I’ve read lots about the Paul and Joe Whitening Serum that seems to get decent reviews for it’s ability to fade dark spots and even out skin tone… but my interest has been piqued by this new release from Clinique.
Clinique’s Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector claims to hold the power to even skin tone with results equal to a leading prescription ingredient. Not only that but…
…this “damage eraser” is gentle and non-irritating and ideal for skins that cannot tolerate other skin brightening treatments.
It goes on to baffle me with science but regardless, if you’ve got skin that’s prone to a little bit of redness… you’ll know that the last thing you wanna do is slap product on that’s gonna accentuate that… a false economy right?
At £37.50 for 30ml, it’s not an inexpensive solution… but in general, these type of whitening/brightening products seem to offer good visible results when you compare them to anti-wrinkle creams. The Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector is available from today on counters nationwide. I’m interested, but I’ll be keeping my eyes open for some reviews before putting my hands in my pocket.
Have you tried whitening creams before? What do you think?
I do not know if this one’s the same product as the Derma White Clinical Brightening Essence but if it is, it really really works! I tried it and it took about 4 weeks used once a day but my skin is noticably brighter 🙂 I’ve got a review in the link if that’s ok with you 🙂
I’ve been reading a blog where somebody with pretty bad dark spots has been using that Clinique product and it’s not changed a thiing other than made her skin a little softer. I’ll DM you the link.
How funny that you posted this today, the day after I was looking at Clinique tone correctors online..
I don’t even know why I’m looking at them, I’m just like you, finding problems where I doubt there are any..I think it’s something inside me that just thinks that maybe I could look a BIT better and that this product might be the one that does it..
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that I think it may be dangerous for skin (I’m no scientist as you know) because when I read the instructions they said something like you NEED spf after using it so maybe it weakens the natural skin? I do have a Garnier prodcut that says you NEED spf on your skin after using it and it DOES make my skin feel a bit “weaker” after using it.
Plus, they said they take about 6 weeks to work which is a bit too long for me, especially coupled with the SPF factor I mentioned above.
In closing, I’m going on a comment spree on your blog tonight as I’m finally allowed to comment again!
My skin is looking much improved after only two days of using ‘Duac’ which is a prescription cream to banish my stupid ‘not a teenager anymore’ acne. It’s having a remarkable effect on my pores too though which are looking smaller and less ‘IN YO FACE’ than they ever have before. I’ve never really worried about skintone before as thanks to spots I’ve had to slap on layers of makeup with a trowel but now I’m being released from my acne prison it’s something I will start to think about more….
I think I’m definitely going to need a whitening/lightening cream or treatment once my acne finally goes away, because I probably have a tonne of scarring that I’ve just dismissed as more acne 😐
Yes – after my skin broke out in the fall I was left with a lot of discolouration from acne scars, and it made me sad as previously my skintone had been pretty even (I never wore more than tinted moisturizer) and generally breakout free.
I have the regular Even Better corrector and am currently using the Even Better moisturizer with SPF20 and while it helped my pigmentation a little bit I think my regimen of masks/serums/exfoliation helped the process along.
I have heard great things about the derma white line though!
Up until having my daughter 9 years ago, I had completely blemish free skin. Utterly flawless, and I’m not ashamed to brag! But pregnancy brought out really dark pigmentation marks (chloasma) on my cheeks and forehead, and they’ve never really disappeared. I always make sure now that I use an SPF in either my face cream or foundation or both, because the sun definitely makes it worse. I’ve tried all sorts of creams, none of which have helped. The only solution I have is to slap on the SPF.
I would wonder what other effects these whitening creams are having on my skin as well as supposedly getting rid of the dark marks. I’ll stick with the SPF I think.
Hello,
Alpha-h is really good at lightening dark pigmentation – I have used the white gold by them and its fab, take a look at my blog for a post on it http://happy1234make-up-blog.blogspot.com
I’ve been experimenting with whitening/ brightening treatments for a while now.
I started using the Remede Super C Serum which worked really well, but unfortunately it’s been discontinued, and the replacement product from Remede is not very good.
I switched to the Ph Advantage Vit C Serum, but didn’t see much of a change in anything, but I’m waiting to try another bottle as mine may have been affected by our blistering Australian summer.
I’m currently useing SkinCeuticals Retinol 0.5 Night Cream, which has worked really well to fade sunspots and improve the general qualities of my skin. It does have some of the side effects of Retinol (a little peeling and sensitivity), but I find that they are much less of a problem with this product as it’s quite stable and releases the retinol more slowly than the ‘generic tube’ retinol.
I have many other whitening/ brightening products on my list, such as Shiseido’s White Lucent Brightening Cream, SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic, NARS Brightening Serum, and anything else that catches my attention in the mean time.
Even though I’ve worn SPF 15+ on a daily basis since my teens, I have still had two IPL treatments to get rid of hyperpigmentation (I have never been/am not a sunbather). Like AlicatAHL, my hyperpigmentation was significantly worsened by hormones, birth control pills, in my instance. After IPL and quitting BCPs, I have minimal freckling.
I am really conscious about using whitening products and SPF 100 sunscreen to maintain the results!
Good post on a subject that has been on my mind lately.
My (official) stand is that I hate whitening products as well as the anti-age stuff, but the more I read on the matter and the more I see on other blogs, the more I start to re-think my own standpoint.
I don’t think aging is bad, but if everybody else is trying to freeze aging at 23, do I really want to look my age?
But then again, I am starting to think that maybe this is all about the placebo-effect? It doesn’t do much but we think that if we didn’t use it, we’d be worse off?
i haven’t tried whitening creams per sé, but i have tried the clinique concentrate visible skin renewer which i thought would help with my uneven skin tone, but it didn’t.
maybe i’ll try this one out but at $53.00 CAD, i’ll be looking for reviews first (like you). if you ever do try it, please let us know how you like it!
-dani
http://onemustbe.blogspot.com/
i’m 27 and after having a baby 2 years ago i seem to break out a lot with the hormone change. i had a little hyper-pigmentation by my chin. i got the clinique product about 1 and half weeks ago. although i don’t see improvement on the spots i wanted yet.. its improved acne marks considerably. i know they say to wait for 4 weeks but i’m seeing results already. i’ll def buy again. i love it. it does make my skin really soft too.
I’m only 16, and I have hyperpigmentation from picking at my acne, stupid I know.What’s worse is my acne wasn’t even that bad, but because of me picking, the scars look so much more noticeable than the acne ever did. I am about to try this and I really hope it works. I’v been hearing mixed reviews, but generally positive. I’m going to cross my fingers!