With so many beauty terms popping up left-and-right, it’s a must to be constantly updating your beauty vocabulary to keep up with it all. Some may seem to be very similar to one another but actually have a totally different benefit, which is why we’ll be breaking down three of the most common terms that easily get mistaken as one and the same. Read up to find out the big difference between brightening, lightening, and whitening!
Brightening
Brighteners are more about increasing radiance and vibrancy to dull looking skin. They are not meant to alter your natural skin tone at all—they only work to reveal healthier and glowing skin by removing dull, dead skin cells.
Trivia: As we grow older, our skin cells regenerate at a slower rate. Cells that don’t shed fast enough end up sitting atop the skin’s surface that create that dull appearance. This is why brighteners are usually in the form of exfoliators, antioxidants, light-diffusers, or a combination of these key ingredients, that promote skin regeneration.
Ingredients you should look for in a brightener: Vitamin C, Retinol, Alpha and Beta Hydroxy Acids
Lightening
Lighteners reduce skin pigmentation and lighten specific areas with discoloration (such as sun spots and acne scars) to ultimately even out your skin tone. Skin lightening products work by reducing melanin production in a particular area on the skin and best used for a limited period of time only.
Ingredients you should look for in a lightener: Hydroquinone, Kojic Acid, Arbutin, Vitamin C, and Retinol
Whitening
In the family of pigment-manipulating products, skin whiteners are the harshest level in the tier of brightening and lightening products, as mentioned on Style Caster. It’s the most aggressive among the three, since whiteners generally contain a bleaching agent to strip pigment from the skin. Depending on the ingredients present, whiteners include a more potent combination of melanin blockers to significantly fade and lighten your skin color.
Ingredients you should look for: Kojic Acid (one of the best skin whitening ingredients and happens to be one of the safest as well!), Mulberry, Alpha Arbutin, Glutathione
P.S. Your skin would be very sensitive to the sun at this time, so it’s very important to use sunscreen for those who are actively using lightening and whitening products as part of their skin care routine!
Reference: Stylecaster, Makari
Written by:
Maan Fernandez
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Maan loves her a good brow pencil, mascara, tint, and anything pink! She has combination skin, so a trusty oil blotter is all she needs to keep her t-zone in check. She’ll never get too old for a trip to the amusement park, and a half-dozen basket of Garlic Parmesan wings is the key to her tummy!