First Impressions: Skin Brighteners and Correctors

For the past two weeks I've been playing with a variety of the most raved about brighteners and correctors from ultra premium brands both green and not green. Brighteners and Correctors are a very complicated category because it is easy to confuse what the products are supposed to do. Brighteners will enhance skin, making it appear more even and "lit", which is beneficial for those who have dull and uneven skin. A lot of brighteners fade color with acids or melanin suppressants. Correctors focus on the damaged skin that contributes to the flawed complexion so they work on turning over damaged skin and making it healthy and normal again. Results usually come more quickly with brighteners because they are meant for the more superficial surface level issues while correctors often work on deeper damage.. While it is too early to call out the performers, I thought I'd post a little about the first impressions.

Texture and scent:

Shiseido and La Prairie are very similar to each other. Their serums both promise brightening with Shiseido going a step further to offer correcting. They're both light and sink into skin easily thanks to alcohol and silicones which there is a lot of. The fragrance is as expected for a high-end brand. La Prairie has sparkle pigments that resemble a subtle glitter bomb which probably gives a temporary luminosity to skin until it is washed off.

Caudalie and Tatcha are very similar in that theirs are both very fluid, milky serums with nice fragrances. The fragrances Caudalie uses in their products are so good that they've been bottled into perfumes but unfortunately, similar to Shiseido and La Prairie, they're synthetic while Tatcha uses natural fragrance. 

Kahina is also milky but a little thicker than the others. The scent is very light compared to the others but there does seem to be a mint smell.

Yuli has a plant oil base but the texture is actually more of a clear gel because of the other ingredients. This gel texture enables some material to be suspended which supposedly gives off activity over time and is supposed to be massaged onto skin to penetrate and stimulate - smart! The scent is herbal and light.

Skin Response:

After initial tests and 2 week trial runs, if I were to pick the ones that I predict would deliver the most results with extended use, I would say Tatcha's Deep Brightening Serum and Yuli Cell Perfecto. These two felt like they did the most in this short amount of time so I think given a more extended run, the results will probably keep coming.

I'll post a full rundown on these products when I've had more time but for those of you looking for some direction now, I thought this might be helpful.