Pale and Interesting
Where women lead, men often follow within the beauty industry. Skin brightening has become a major new trend. This isn’t skin bleaching like before but a gentle lightening of the dark pigmented or scarred areas of the skin leaving you with a luminous complexion. People are thinking about the damaging effects of the sun rays now more than ever. Rather than go darker with a tan, this is being rejected in favour of being a flawless and natural version of yourself.
The tan has fallen out of fashion. A deep WAG-like tan says timeshare in Benidorm and looks chavvy cheap. Those wrinkly, Ronseal dipped pensioners you see all over the beaches of Europe should be enough to put you off tanning altogether and above all too much sun is unhealthy.
Lots of grooming brands have launched new products with skin brightening properties. These products deal with the skin’s hyperpigmentation, which is an increase in the skin’s normal pigmentation in a particular area. The main causes of hyperpigmentation are stress, over exposure to UV rays and acne scarring. The dark spots are lightened with these products thus making them invisible.
Grooming Guru Lee Kynaston, online grooming editor for Men’s Health says “Evening out skin tone has been big business in the women's market for years and it was inevitable that skin brightening would emerge as a trend in the men's market too eventually, particularly as men are understanding that that annoying pigmentation/patchiness/unevenness can be treated. It's more than that though - I think men's grooming is increasingly focussing on 'perfection' as the ultimate grooming aim, Nickel have a skin brightening product already but have just launched the Perfector too - a product which helps disguise those annoying little imperfections. Why now? Well, possibly because we're all so paranoid about jobs etc. It's the well groomed who get going!”
Brands such as Nickel, Clinique and Aveda have all recently launched skin brightening products. ‘Even Better’ from Clinique is a range of products which evens skin tone. They have a new Even Better Skin Tone Correcting Moisturizer SPF20 and a new Skin Tone Corrector which can be used anywhere on the face hands and chest. Dr. Tom Mammone, Executive Director of Clinique Research and Development says “Even Better products work like an “eraser”. Our core ingredients help reduce the look of discolourations and disperse the appearance of dark spot “dust” on the skin’s surface and exfoliate them away to show clarity in the skin. Additional active ingredients help protect and shield the skin from harmful UVA and UVB rays - both leading causes of hyperpigmentation.
Nickel have a Bonne Gueule Skin Brightening Treatment which evens out skin tone, reduces oiliness and reduces patches. Shiseido has a range called ‘White Lucency’. By utilising groundbreaking skincare technology the creams effectively prevent the appearance of spots and keeps them from spreading, White Lucency delivers lustrous skin that's full of vitality, they have a new Clarifying Cleansing Foam and new Protective Day Emulsion.
If people thought skin brightening treatments would be harsh need only look at the new range from tree-hugging Aveda called ‘Enbrightment’. A four-step daily regime plus twice weekly mask which aims to diminish the look of dark spots and discolourations on the skin. 'Enbrightenment' is a skin brightening range which will even your skin tone and reduce over pigmentation leaving the skin luminous with a translucent appearance.
Expect to see many more products with skin brightening properties, just as many brands are adding SPFs to their products they will also look at ways to reduce any visible signs of skin damage.
