How to Brighten Skin with These 3 Ingredients… and 3 to Avoid

How to lighten dark spots, brighten your face, and wake up dull skin? Here are 3 skin brightening ingredients that will help and 3 harmful ingredients to avoid.

Some days, you wake up with dark circles and dull, tired-looking skin. When you’re having one of those days, enlist the help of skin brightening ingredients. Other days, you find yourself wondering how that dark spot got there. That’s when you breakout of the skin lightening ingredients.

If you feel your skin could use a pick-me-up, try out some of these skin brightening ingredients.

Skin Brightening vs. Skin Lightening

First, what’s the difference between a skin brightening ingredient and a skin lightening agent?

Skin brighteners are skin care products that make skin brighter and more even throughout the entire face. Think of this as turning up the brightness on a photo. When you use skin brightening skin care products, you do so with the goal of making your entire complexion seem more lively and radiant overall.

Skin lighteners can be both over-the-counter products or skin care products that target brown spots, dark spots, age spots, freckles, etc. Instead of affecting the whole face, skin lightening agents seek to reduce the darkness in one area or spot on the face. These spots usually occur from sun damage, so it can take time to see results.

How to Brighten Skin With These 3 Ingredients

Whether you want to brighten your complexion or lighten pesky dark spots, one or more of these ingredients will help you achieve your skin brightening goals:

1. Vitamin C

In addition to being a potent antioxidant, Vitamin C decreases melanin formation and has antipigmentation properties. [1] [2] This explains why Vitamin C serums and oils are often touted for their skin brightening capabilities.

2. Niacinamide

Niacinamide goes by several other names: Niacin, Vitamin B3, etc. It’s an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. Like Vitamin C, Niacinamide decreases melanin and therefore acts as a skin brightening agent. [3] Niacinamide can also treat melasma and hyperpigmentation. [4]

3. Licorice Extract

Licorice Extract is a common skin brightening ingredient in natural skin care products. It can improve hyperpigmentation by inhibiting melanin and preventing UVB-induced pigmentation. It also has anti-inflammatory effects and decreases free radical production. [2]

3 Skin Brightening Ingredients to Avoid

If you search “how to brighten your face” or “skin brightening products,” these 3 ingredients will be at the top of your results. However, popularity doesn’t equal safety. We strongly suggest you avoid these three skin brightening ingredients:

1. Hydroquinone

Hydroquinone is to skin lightening as Hyaluronic Acid is to skin hydrating. Basically, Hydroquinone is a big deal in the skin brightening arena. It’s mainly used to treat small areas or spots on the face, but Hydroquinone can also be used in face creams designed to brighten skin.

However, that doesn’t make it safe. The Good Face Project gives Hydroquinone and all products containing Hydroquinone an F safety rating. This is due to the carcinogenic and mutagenic properties of Hydroquinone. [5] [2]

2. Arbutin

Arbutin is a naturally occurring ingredient used in many skin lightening products and prescriptions. However, there are concerns about its safety since it’s a derivative of Hydroquinone.

More research is needed on the safety of Arbutin, but current studies show that this questionable skin brightening ingredient may cause paradoxical hyperpigmentation. [6] This is when too much of a skin brightening ingredient is used, so skin darkening actually occurs.

3. Kojic Acid

Kojic Acid is an ingredient with depigmentation effects, which is exactly what you’d want to combat hyperpigmentation. However, Kojic Acid has high levels of toxicology, which is why The Good Face Project gives this skin brightening ingredient an F safety rating.

Some research suggest that esthers of Kojic Acid may be a safe alternative to pure Kojic Acid. [7] However, we suggest you rely on the three skin brightening ingredients above, which are proven to be safe.

The Bottom Line

We get it. No one wants to deal with dull skin that makes you look tired all the time. If you constantly feel like you have shadows on your skin or feel the dark, age spots creeping up on you, you may want to implement some safe skin brightening ingredients in your routine.

Good Face Tip: Dull, pigmented skin is often the result of excessive sun exposure and free radical damage. In addition to incorporating products that encourage skin brightening, be sure to wear a safe face SPF product every day.