Lightenex is a very interesting product – designed mainly to lighten the skin. Containing no bleach or harsh chemicals, the company that produces it claims that, when used with the exfoliate, cleanser, toner, and serum, it will lighten the skin significantly, reduce age and liver spots, eliminate freckles, reduce age lines, lighten dark circles around the eyes, and basically meet all your skin needs.

Product Details:

The active ingredients listed were Kojic dipalmitate, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Extract, Imperata Cylindrica Extract, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi L, Sprengel, Daucus Carota Sativa (carrot) root extract Mitracarpus Scaber Extract, and Octocrylene. These ingredients ineffective at best, mostly unproven extracts. A few are melanin blockers, which keeps the skin from darkeners. However, these just contain a small amount of arbutin, and research shows that arbutin in its pure form is more effective at blocking melanin and lightening the skin. Glycyrrhiza Glabra Extract is just licorice, which does not have any proven external benefit. Daucus Carota Sativa (carrot) root extract is lauded for its herbal qualities, but none of those have been tested or show to be effective as a skin lightening or anti-aging cream. Octocrylene has been show to penetrate into the skin where it acts as a photosensitizer. When this happens, there is an increased production of free radicals. Free radicals are known to induce DNA damage and there is also a greater risk of malignant melanoma (skin cancer).

Overall Impression

This product is relatively inexpensive, but it is still a total waste of money. It cannot possibly deliver the results it promises. It contains no active ingredients that would enable it to lighten the skin or reduce age lines. Do not be fooled by all the fancy scientific names – plant extracts generally can’t penetrate the epidermal layer of the face and therefore it can’t make a lasting difference in terms of pigment, moisture, or anti-aging.