Show me something supposed to brighten and even out, and I’ll be all over it. In this case, it’s the Good Molecules Brightening Serum and here’s my review.
I’ve written about the brand Good Molecules elsewhere, before: it’s the brainchild of beauty retailer Beautylish, was founded as a reaction to the appearance of The Ordinary and its products are manufactured in Korea. Since my first review, it’s become clear to me that they’re not going to become my favourite brand: they promise a result-driven approach to skincare (as opposed to, for example, a pampering one), but for me, the results are just not there. But hey, there’re still two products in my stash I haven’t reviewed yet, so let’s see.
What it is
Maintain a bright, even-toned complexion with this Daily Brightening Serum from Good Molecules. Beta arbutin and hyaluronic acid go to work to gently brighten and promote a healthy, youthful complexion without irritation.
Good Molecules
The word ‘brighten’ (The Cambridge Dictionary says: to (cause to) become lighter) is such an ambiguous one in skincare. Will the product make your skintone lighter? Will it even out all those imperfections, making it APPEAR lighter? What WILL it do? And how will it do it?
Hyperpigmentation
…comes from outside sources like sun damage, picked spots, etc.: it’s a pigmentary disorder that makes skin look patchy. The whole process is rather complex, and the skincare ingredients targeting the blanket term hyperpigmentation all do, in fact, target different steps in that process. Ingredients generally try to slow down melanin production. The important step:
An enzyme called tyrosinase is needed to create melanin (the pigment that causes the brown spots) and while several other skin lightening agents work to inhibit the synthesis of tyrosinase itself (like vitamin C or licorice), arbutin lets tyrosinase be and rather hinders the melanin-forming activity of the enzyme.
Incidecoder
The outliers like retinol and AHAs/BHAs promote cell turnover to disperse pigments. (More on Labmuffin.)
My take on this is that Arbutin isn’t the ingredient of choice if you want to fade old marks, but is rather for a user who’s conscious of their sensitivity towards hyperpigmentation and wants to keep that in check.
Ingredients
The other notable ingredients are hyaluronic acid, and Licorice Root Extract. I’m rather confused about GM’s wording here: ‘formulated with beta arbutin & hyaluronic acid to gently brighten skintone’ – I’ve never heard about HA being able to brighten skintone and find that kind of marketing a bit shady. HA is great for hydrating and does bind water for your skin to look nice and plump, but brighten?!
Licorice Root Extract also slows down melanin production, and also protects the skin from UVB-related pigmentation. It has some anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant properties, too.
Application
While this comes in a dropper bottle, the texture is astonishingly viscous and nearly gel-like. (Think The Ordinary’s Buffet+Peptides without the blue colour.) I use one full dropper. I find the texture rather appealing and pleasant. It’s also a nice base for moisturiser/sunscreen and foundation, and doesn’t pill or ball up.
I usually use it about three times a week, mostly in my evening routine.
Effect
There’s no doubt that this has a nicely hydrating formula that’s pleasant to use. When it comes to its brightening claim, I haven’t in all honesty seen any effect. All brightening skincare products need some time to properly work, but still, I can’t help being slightly disappointed after using half a bottle.
But maybe it’s high time to overthink my own approach to brightening products and my own hyperpigmentation issues: From what I learned above, I think a well-rounded approach with different active ingredients might be the road to success if you’re battling hyperpigmentation.
Arbutin might be a good choice to include into your regime to prevent hyperpigmentation further.
Worth it?
Depends: this isn’t a product to reach for if you want to see quick results. (That one would still be Eucerin’s pen I was rather enthusiastic about.) As a preventing measure it’s a good formula that I enjoy.
I was initially surprised that the Daily Brightening Serum has a very basic formula with only three notable ingredients: Hyaluronic Acid, Licorice Root Extract and Arbutin. Their Niacinamide Brightening Toner, though, includes Vitamin C and Niacinamide and those three. I found that more potent in a sense that it didn’t gave me notable brightening results, but slightly irritated skin when I used it twice daily. I find the Daily Brightening Serum more pleasant to use, and would use it as a hydrating serum with extra benefits in the future.
30ml/ 1 fl/oz is $9 at Beautylish.
Please note that this post is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods or money for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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