How to Brighten Skin With These 5 Best Ingredients
Who wouldn’t want to enjoy bright and glowing skin every single day?
However, factors such as aging, exposure to harmful UV rays, and other environmental aggressors can stand in your way of achieving the radiance you desire.
While these challenges are common, they are not impossible to overcome. The answer lies in selecting the right skin-brightening ingredients and an effective, consistent routine.
Discover how to brighten skin and maintain a youthful, luminous complexion round-the-clock with these five powerful ingredients we’re about to unveil.
What is skin brightening?
Often, skin brightening is associated with lightening, fading, and addressing pigmentation problems.
However, the aim of skin brightening is to enhance your skin’s natural and overall radiance and give it a healthy, luminous appearance. Skin brightening products address discolouration from sun damage, acne, and inflammation. It does not change your skin’s natural colour; it lessens dark spots and enhances clarity to improve your skin’s overall appearance.
Furthermore, dead skin cell removal and addressing uneven skin texture are essential to achieving your goal of brightening the skin. To achieve a brighter appearance, exfoliation, moisturisation, hydration, and sun protection are essential.
How to brighten skin? Power up your skin-brightening routine with these 5 ingredients
Several key ingredients, such as vitamin C, retinol, niacinamide, licorice extract, and glycolic acid, are widely recognised for their skin-brightening properties. Explore the unique benefits of each one and understand how they improve your skin’s radiance.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C has been discovered to disrupt melanin production. Melanin is a naturally occurring pigment that gives colour to our skin, eyes and hair. By helping to impede the formation of melanin, this ingredient can help fade pigmentation, smooth the skin’s surface, and give the skin a luminous complexion.
Additionally, this skin-brightening ingredient helps boost collagen production. Collagen is a protein in the human body that decreases as we age. Reduced levels can result in fine lines, wrinkles, and diminished skin firmness and elasticity.
Ultimately, not only does vitamin C help with your skin’s glow, but it also helps achieve a youthful appearance.
Retinol
Retinol can make the skin look younger and plumper by smoothing out lines and wrinkles.
They are also believed to help enhance skin cell turnover and stimulate collagen growth. This ingredient helps to surface fresh and new skin cells by exfoliating older cells, resulting in smoother skin with a natural glow.
Here’s a retinol skin brightener we recommend:
ZO® Skin Health Retinol Skin Brightener 0.5% Retinol
A 0.5% retinol blend that promotes exfoliation, reduces uneven skin tone, and improves skin smoothness. It also has calming and soothing properties, supporting the skin’s resiliency against future discolouration triggers.
Niacinamide
Another ingredient to add to your ‘how to brighten skin’ toolkit is Niacinamide.
Niacinamide is known to help brighten skin tone, prevent signs of aging, reduce acne, and improve the appearance of redness–all while being safe for sensitive skin. Its antioxidant properties protect the skin from damaging factors such as UV damage and environmental stressors while also aiding its recovery.
Furthermore, a clinical study found that Niacinamide and other skin-brightening ingredients like retinol helped with skin radiance, fine lines, dark spots, and texture.
Our Niacinamide skin brightening serum recommendation:
PCA Skin Vitamin B3 Brightening Serum
PCA Skin can help you on your journey to brightness. The vitamin B3 serum reduces the appearance of dark spots and uneven skin tone–all while enhancing skin barrier function. Its advanced formulation can lessen redness and discolouration, leaving your complexion even and bright.
Licorice Extract
Licorice is a skin brightener that removes excess melanin, inhibits the production of an enzyme needed to produce melanin, and provides anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.
This ingredient is usually mixed with other skin brighteners and antioxidants like niacinamide and vitamin C.
One of the best brightening serums with Licorice derivative:
ZO® Skin Health Brightalive Skin Brightener
This serum increases skin luminosity and clarity and fades dark spots for a brighter, more even complexion. It contains niacinamide, tranexamic acid, papain, intelligent peptide drone, beta-glucan, and licorice derivative.
Glycolic Acid
Glycolic acid is a chemical exfoliant that assists in sloughing off dead skin cells, uncovering a younger, healthier complexion beneath. Its small molecular structure makes it easier for this ingredient to penetrate deeper into the skin for maximum effectiveness.
In addition to being an exfoliator, some of its properties include anti-aging, anti-bacterial, and a humectant (it attracts and binds water to skin cells).
With frequent and correct use, this ingredient can aid with hyperpigmentation and skin aging.
Achieve Glowing Skin with This Simple 5-Step Routine
While there are several steps that you can add or explore in taking care of your skin health, here are the five basic ones that you shouldn’t miss incorporating into your regimen for glowing skin.
1. Cleanse
Cleansing is the starting point of your routine. It prepares the skin to properly absorb skin-brightening products, ensuring they penetrate well into your skin layers.
Additionally, remember that over-cleansing may cause more damage than good, so you should avoid this unhealthy practice. Limit cleansing to twice daily, in the morning and at night.
Choosing a gentle cleanser that does not leave a stripping or drying feeling to your skin is also beneficial.
2. Exfoliate
Exfoliating removes dead skin cells, prevents acne, reduces oil, and improves skin tone. This skincare step reveals healthy skin underneath and encourages the development of new skin cells.
Depending on your skin type, it is ideal to exfoliate 1-3 times per week.
3. Treat/Correct
This step focuses on correcting imperfections, such as dark spots, dull skin, skin aging, and other issues that prevent you from achieving radiance.
Common active ingredients for correcting the skin are Vitamin C, retinoids, niacinamide, Alpha-Hydroxy Acids (AHAs), and Beta-Hydroxy Acids (BHAs). Applying these ingredients leads to a more refined and radiant complexion overall.
4. Moisturise
Apply a lightweight, non-comedogenic moisturiser that does not clog your pores to keep your skin nourished, plumped, and radiant all day.
A moisturiser maintains healthy, radiant skin by hydrating and strengthening the skin’s natural barrier. A strong barrier aids in protecting the skin against environmental stressors, preventing issues such as premature ageing and dryness, among others.
5. Sun Protection
Lastly, do not waste your efforts towards glowing skin by skipping sunscreen application daily.
Shield your skin from the harmful rays of the sun by applying at least SPF 30 in the morning as the final step in your regimen. With adequate sun protection, you can maintain a brighter skin, without compromising your skin’s health.
A brighter you awaits!
Zoe Nissi offers top-quality skin care products to help you establish and sustain your brightening regimen.
By partnering with trusted brands such as ZO Skin Health, PCA Skin, Colorescience, BIOJUVE, Kenkay, and Dermscar, we provide effective solutions to enhance and maintain your skin’s natural glow over time.
Find the perfect products for your skin brightening journey here.