There’s a difference between skin brightening and lightening. Brightening skincare works on making your overall complexion more luminous, translucent and even-toned. Lightening skincare, on the other hand, refers to targeted dark-spot treatments whose function is, well, to fade the darkened patches.
When it comes to tackling dark spots, there is no need to be politically correct: You need to lighten them to regain a clear complexion. “Lightening is the term used when a product’s effect is clearly to lighten darkened patches such those that might appear on the underarms, for example, or to lighten other areas with hyperpigmentation,” says Dr Low Chai Ling, medical director of SW1 Clinic.
Take its SW1 Super White, a 15-minute treatment mask that uses cysteamine, a new lightening ingredient that is found in human cells…
