November 30, 2017
Skin care can be a hard gift to buy for others: For me to gift it to someone else, it has to be both luxurious and efficacious, and come across as equal parts indulgence and thoughtfulness. Like, I know LaMer is luxurious and indulgent, but I also don’t think that it works better than any other product with lactic acid, no matter how the lactic acid is sourced, so I don’t gift it to others. On the other hand, I also am not going to hand somebody I love a tube of Retin-A. It may be the gold standard of anti-aging, but there’s nothing uplifting or inspiring about getting a clinical-looking tube of cream for the holidays — just sayin’.
But MDSUN has long managed to walk that delicate line between A-list and A-game when it comes to skin care. The MDSUN Super Brightening Mask is one such example — with classy, upscale packaging, it comes across as high-end and luxurious enough to gift, but yet has amazing brightening ingredients like glabridin, arbutin, and hyaluronic acid to show it’s more than just a pretty face.
Glabridin is actually one of my favorite new skin care ingredients. Derived from licorice, glabridin is actually the reason why licorice has been making the rounds in skin care as a newfangled lightening agent. Preliminary studies show it may be even better than hydroquinone for skin lightening. Hydroquinone can cause white spots and irritation, and as a result is banned in Asian skin care products. But glabridin appears to have none of those effects. For those who are scientifically more curious, glabridin appears to work by interfering with the same enzyme responsible for melanin (skin pigment) formation, tyrosinase (Pigment Cell Research). However, unlike HQ, glabridin (and hence licorice) lightens without the disturbing DNA synthesis (Pigment Cell Research). So there is the potential for all of the benefits of HQ, without the potential discoloration or irritation associated with HQ.
Similarly, arbutin also works by inhibiting tyrosinase, the enzyme essential to melanin production in the skin (Journal of Cosmetic Science). Alpha arbutin is more potent than beta arbutin in lightening the skin; both 1% alpha arbutin and 1% beta arbutin are considered to be more potent than 4% kojic acid in lightening the skin. Together with glabridin, you’re getting a one-two wallop of a punch against age spots in combining glabridin with arbutin.
One thing I especially love about the MDSUN Super Brightening Mask is that it can be used in conjunction with your existing lightening, brightening skin care regimen against hyperpigmentation and sunspots. For instance, like some sort of religion, I use concentrated vitamin CE serums under SPF 50 sunscreen by day without fail, and either retinoids or AHAs at night under a peptide and antioxidant-rich moisturizer. However, unlike a lot of masks out there, there isn’t any redundancy or increased risk of sensitivity by adding in MDSUN Super Brightening Mask once or twice a week. Instead, I get additional lightening and brightening power (mainly me trying to keep melasma at bay while I’m entering my seventh month of pregnancy), and even more beautiful skin. Totally recommending this one!
Key Ingredients:
Glabridin, Deoxy-Arbutin, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Hyaluronic acid, Panthenol, Green Tea Extract, Vitamin K.