Remember how back in April I proved to you that you should NEVER buy and use Cetaphil cleanser ever again? (If you don’t, refresh your mind here). Well folks, I’m back for another battle and this time, one between L’Oreal Paris Youth Code Dark Spot Serum and Image’s Skincare Iluma Intense Brightening Serum, both which promise to brighten up skin’s complexion and rid your skin of that pesky hyper pigmentation, giving you that youthful, luminous glow.
The Nitty Gritty Test
As some of you will remember from our “buy this, not that” post, the key for any of these products to win this battle is to pass what I like to call “The Nitty Gritty Test.” This test simply requires that you look at the first five ingredients of both products to see if you can spot the “active ingredient(s),” or in other words, the ingredient(s) that will help you achieve what you’re looking to achieve by using said product. Whichever product can support its beauty claims with clear evidence of its active ingredient within its first five ingredients is the winner! With this in mind, let’s look at the first 5 ingredients of each of these products, starting with:
L’Oreal Paris Youth Code Dark Spot Serum, $24.99
INGREDIENTS:
1. Water
2. Bifida Ferment Lysate
3. Glycerin
4. Alcohol Denat
5. Dimethicone
– Ingredient #1, Water. That’s fine, we all love water- it’s hydrating, gentle, no problem there. But let’s continue down the list..
– Ingredient #2, Bifida Ferment Lysate is a type of gram-positive bacteria found in the digestive system. It’s not harmful, but it also has NO KNOWN EFFECT on skin when applied topically. In other words, it is merely an empty filler.
– Ingredient #3, Glycerin, is a humectant that absorbs water from the environment and from the lower layers of the skin in order to increase the amount of water in the surface layers of the skin. In that respect, Glycerin is one of the many substances in the skin that helps maintain the outer barrier and prevent dryness or scaling. On its own, at a 100% concentration, Glycerin is actually drying to the skin, so it is usually combined with other ingredients, such as Dimethicone (ingredient #5) to soften the skin. We’ll get to that.
– Ingredient #4, Alcohol Denat, is simply alcohol that has been denatured, meaning that a denaturant has been added to the alcohol in order to make it taste bad so that the manufacturer avoids having to pay the liquor tax in distributing their product. But can Alcohol EVER be good for skin? There is only two reasons manufacturers add alcohol to their cosmetics: (1) alcohol can make a thick skin-care product feel almost weightless, thereby creating a pleasant aesthetic; and (2) alcohol helps some ingredients penetrate into the skin more effectively, but it does so at the cost of breaking down the skin’s barrier, therefore destroying the very substances that keep your skin healthy over the long term! Long story short? Alcohol-based products are ALWAYS bad news for skin and it doesn’t make any sense to use it in a product when there are more advanced alternatives available.
– Ingredient #5, Dimethicone, is a fancy schmancy term for man-made silicone oil. It makes a product easy to spread and helps form a protective barrier on the skin. The FDA has found it as a safe ingredient to use, though this doesn’t mean that you should! Silicone oils can actually make dry skin worse over time because it just sits on top of your skin like a sort of plastic barrier instead of sinking in and nourishing skin from the inside out. This problem explains why L’oreal manufacturers chose to combine Dimethicone with denatured Alcohol in this serum- so that the alcohol can help the Dimethicone sink into the skin.
The verdict?
Out of the first 5 ingredients of L’oreal’s serum, there is no actual ingredient that addresses the product’s promise of “rested, smoother and youthfully luminous” skin. In fact, ingredient #2 is an empty filler. In addition, ingredients #3-5, while combined helps hold up the product’s promise of a “fast-absorbing” product that softens the skin to prevent dryness, its method of utilizing alcohol to achieve such results is antiquated in the industry. This not to mention that continuous use of cosmetics containing alcohol actually breaks down your skin’s barrier, so that skin becomes incapable of protecting itself from further damage and as a result, is NEVER the same again! Out of these five ingredients, NOT ONE acts to even out skin tone or brighten it in order to leave skin “luminous” as promised.
Now let’s compare L’oreal Paris Youth Code Dark Spot Serum to Image’s Iluma Intense Brightening Serum, $31.00
INGREDIENTS:
1. Water
2. Citrus Unshiu Peel Extract
3. Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract
4. Algae & Muguort Extract
5. Green Tea Leaf Extract
– Ingredient #1 is the same as in L’Oreal’s serum- water. We already decided we like water.
– Ingredients #2-#5 are a number of extracts that acts as botanical lighteners. Ingredient #2 revives dull skin by lightening dark spots and hyper pigmentation while also inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for skin hyper pigmentation.
– Ingredient #3 has been used by women in India for centuries due to its healing properties, including aiding in making and keeping skin supple and healthy, as well as containing powerful anti-aging and antiseptic properties, keeping skin clear and youthful.
– Ingredient #4 are both extracts rich in amino acids, proteins and cell membrane carbohydrates which makes these ingredients powerful anti-irritants and anti-inflammatory agents that reduce redness and irritation.
– Ingredient #5 is a potent antioxidant with anti-aging benefits, including prevention of collagen breakdown and reduction of UV damage to the skin. It is also excellent for reducing inflammation.
The verdict? Out of the first 5 ingredients in Iluma’s Intense Brightening Serum, a whopping FOUR are botanical extracts with anti-inflammatory properties that futher promote a clear and calm complexion. Ingredient #2 in particularly works to lighten dark spots, while further preventing future hyper pigmentation! While L’Oreal’s serum uses Glycerin in an attempt to provide skin with some hydration, Iluma’s serum uses Ingredient #3 for this purpose, a naturally derived ingredient that has been safely used to keep women young in India for centuries! It is plain to see by looking at Iluma’s Intense Brightening Serum first 5 ingredients alone that this serum does exactly what it claims to do: Effectively, safely, and gently lighten skin discolorations with natural lightening agents while calming inflamed skin, correcting pigmentation, and treating post-inflammatory hyper pigmentation. The results you’ll get with this serum is treatment for hyper pigmentation that is safe, natural, and most importantly, effective without any negative side effects of harsh ingredients like alcohol or empty fillers. Unlike L’Oreal’s Serum then, this serum will actually brighten up your skin and get rid of dark spots and hyper pigmentation issues!
So there you have it. If you’re looking for a non-irritating, brightening, light-weight serum, buy Iluma Intense Brightening serum, NOT L’Oreal Paris Code Dark Spot Serum. The ingredients speak for themselves.