According to the label, this is an “intense hydrating night cream.”
I will be applying this test.
There are no harmful chemicals present that I look for.
Q2) Are skin lightening ingredients present? (Q3) Strategy for skin lightening?
Whitening ingredients are: Niacinamide (7th ingredient), Alpha Arbutin (20th) Retinyl Palmitate (24th) , Morus Alba (Mulberry) root extract (25th), Tocopherol (27th) , Ascorbyl Palmitate (28th).
All of these ingredients will help the product lighten your skin. Ultimately, the responsibility for lightening skin lies with Niacinamide. Niacinamide is a very good skin lightener. It does not interfere directly with the synthesis of melanin, but instead reduces the amount of melanin being transferred to the epidermis (the topmost layer of our skin).
Less melanin in the epidermis results in the skin appearing visibly brighter/whiter or fairer.
*Melanin is a skin pigment that as Eumelanin (dark/brown pigment) is primarily responsible for giving skin its colour. (see What gives our skin its colour?)
Other skin lighteners
What I can say for certain is that these are present at less than 1%. Under Indian law, manufacturers can put quantities below 1% in any order they want. So what do these skin lighteners do?
- Retinyl palmitate is a poor distant cousin of retinol. I believe it increases cellular turnover, and anything that does that will make skin look lighter
- Alpha Arbutin is an extremely strong skin lightener. Its a tyrosinase inhibitor as is Morus Alba (Mulberry) extract. However in terms of effectiveness Alpha Arbutin is more like Usain Bolt and Mulberry extract is more like Donald Duck.
- Tocopherol and Ascorbyl Palmitate are both antioxidants. UV radiation generates free radicals, especially reactive oxygen species (or ROS) and both these will counter the effect of ROS. Antioxidant activity reduces the need for skin to react to UV exposure, by producing more melanin. Therefore, at best (and I am being generous here), anti-oxidant activity may indirectly contribute to skin lightening.
For further information, please see Niacinamide as a skin lightener.
Would I buy this product again?
This product is a skin lightener and all the ingredients I have identified above should work together to lighten skin colour. However, I would give this product at least 4 weeks before you positively see change in skin complexion.
If you do plan use to use this product, please absolutely use a separate sunscreen product with at least an SPF 30 and that protects your skin against both UVA and UVB.
See also Top 5 sunscreen recommendations
P.S. The container and why this is not a product for me.
I want to highlight to you the shoddy container that I received. I have never seen so many scratch marks on the cover or the base of a product.
This is enough reason for me to never purchase this product again…You might think I am being harsh, but I would argue I am not being harsh enough.
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