Product Recommendation: Garden of Wisdom Light N' Bright Serum

First post of the new year! Woo! =D

I think it's only fitting to begin with a product recommendation. I've been looking into this one for awhile, trying to see if it was worth noting and I think it's definitley a promising product. Garden of Wisdom's Light N' Bright Serum is an intensive skin lightener that corrects all pigmentation issues: general forms of hyperpigmentation, acne marks, brightening, and skin lightening.

It's ingredients are just loaded with actives, and very little inactive ingredients which are sometimes a good thing, and means that this product can be mixed with your everyday moisturizer, AHA product, regular skin lightener or retinoid. Garden of Wisdom recommends applying an AHA product (either a leave on one, or a peel/mask with some type of AHA in it before) before the Light N' Bright Serum for effective prepping. If you've been following this blog thus far, you know they basically mean applying some type of AHA, BHA or retinoid before will increase penetration into the skin. Skin lighteners + any type of exfoliation = better, faster results. That's a rule that is really vital in achieving results.

The Garden of Wisdom Light N' Bright Serum comes in two forms, a 'regular' version and one for very sensitive skin types (contains no seamollient). It's skin lightening actives are L-Alpha Arbutin (safe synthetic alternative to hydroquinone), Kojic Acid and Wildberry Extract (has minimal melanin inhibiting properties), Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate (usable form of Licorice Extract). The ingredient list is very small (I always post ingredients at the bottom of the post). The sensitive skin type version doesn't contain seamollient  (seaweed extract) which can be comedogenic on very sensitive, acne prone skin types. I should note that non-seamollient one (sensitive) is much more drying than the original so if you're skin is dry or normal, I would recommend the original.

The drying aspect is from the Organic Grape Alcohol (inactive ingredient) which is skin-friendly but can be drying to some. Especially now that is winter, dryness and flakiness can ensue. However, you can easily work around the problem by mixing this product or layering it on top of a moisturizer to offset any flakiness or dryness.

Light N'Bright comes in either 0.25oz or 1oz. pump bottle. It's texture is liquidy, and is pale green in color. It absorbs very quickly due to the organic grape alcohol content so don't expect so much 'slip' in terms of blending. That is why it's important to layer this on top of something else (namely an AHA product like M2 Refinish or a serum or skin lightener that has alpha hydroxy acids or BHA).

Garden of Wisdom recommends using this twice a day for the first 2 weeks. They claim 2 weeks is the average time span for seeing some sort of change in skin color or pigmentation. Once any improvement is seen, cut back down to 1 application a day. Senstivie, acne prone skin types should stick with 1 application per day. I personally would take GoW's claims with a grain of salt. We all know that skin lightening takes more than 2 weeks. Stick with a once a day application (you can choose whether you want to use it in the A.M. or P.M. depending on your skin routine and what is easiest and works best for you). Results should be seen in about 4-6 weeks if coupled with some AHA, BHA, retinoid or skin lightener.

The reviews I've read thus far have been mainly positive. Most would recommend this product, it seems to be great at fading dark spots, freckles and blotchy skin. As usual, people tend to see results by week 6. I wouldn't say the results are going to be outstanding, but since this product has so little inactive ingredients it can easily be just mixed or diluted with your favorite serum, regular skin lightener or AHA product BHA product, retinoid and you can see some skin lightening effect.

Garden of Wisdom's Light N Bright Serum has a pretty decent price tag - it's about $28.65 for the 1oz. bottle, and $8.60 for the .25oz sample bottle size. That's standard pricing for a skin lightener.

Official Link: http://www.gardenofwisdom.com/catalog/item/4013927/3784268.htm

Ingredients:
Garden of Wisdom Light N' Bright Serum
distilled water, seamollient, organic grape alcohol, wildberry extract, L-alpha arbutin, kojic acid, hyaluronic acid, dipotassium glycrrhizate

Garden of Wisdom Light N' Bright Serum with no seaweed:
Distilled water, organic grape alcohol, wildberry extract, L-alpha arbutin, kojic acid; hyaluronic acid, dipotassium glycrrhizate, optiphen, cellulose gum