Dark spots, whether from sun damage or acne scarring — or even melasma after pregnancy — are such a pain and so hard to shift. But there are things you can do, and this week’s product is one of the most impressive ones I’ve come across.
First, some caveats. Nothing that you apply topically is going to zap your dark marks entirely, because no product is literal magic. “Hyperpigmentation” is a broad term, covering everything from a faint, spontaneously appearing freckle to severe sun damage. Just to be clear, what I am talking about today is the “hang on, what’s that on my cheek? Where’s that suddenly appeared from?” end of things. What I am not talking about are really dark sun-damage marks — I have a couple of examples on the side of my face — that have been there for ages.
But you know when you’re really peering at yourself, maybe in a magnifying mirror, and there are small but noticeable gradations in skin tone that seem to have appeared out of the blue? They are the ones I mean, ditto old acne scars that look slightly shadowed. These very much can be helped, in that certain products can even out the complexion so effectively that you wouldn’t know there had ever been an issue in the first place. You have to be patient and rigorous, though — it’s not good enough only putting on the product when you remember to.
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Dermalogica says of its Powerbright Dark Spot Peel (£79; dermalogica.co.uk) that it “visibly lifts dark spots in five uses”, which sounds outlandish, but again, it depends on the extent of the damage you’re trying to fix. When I tested it, I found that five uses was indeed enough to make a significant improvement to small areas of my face that were not quite the same shade as others. After I’d used it for the fifth time, my skin was noticeably evened out — and also incredibly soft (always a plus) — to the point where I had to deploy the dreaded magnifying mirror to see if I could still see the old dark marks. I could not.
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BUT! I don’t want to peddle false hope — these were not the dark mark equivalent of port stains. If my skin is the colour of a cup of tea, these marks were the colour of a cup of tea with not enough milk — not glaringly unrelated to my skin colour, but rather just a little bit off. They weren’t the colour of tea with no milk.
However, unless they’re of the vintage that’s old enough to have fried itself to leathery oblivion several decades ago, these tea-analogy discolourations are what most people are concerned about when they think of their skin as being annoyingly uneven and marked. I first came across this product because someone who was driven to despair by ancient acne marks raved to me about it, so it definitely works on those too. I found it did wonders for skin texture, though this isn’t something it promises to do.
The peel is a powerful mix of AHA and PHA acids and includes tranexamic acid. This is your guy when it comes to dark spots or any discolouration issue at all, and is the ingredient to look for if the Dermalogica peel is too expensive. But what I rate, and what I think makes it work, is the highly effective mixture of ingredients. It could not be easier to use: you apply a thin layer, leave it for 15 to 20 minutes and rinse it off, initially daily and then as per the instructions on the box. Cosmetic science is amazing — this sort of product simply didn’t exist when I was young.
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