L’Oréal Paris Bright Reveal Spot Fading Serum-In-Cleanser Review
By Maychiri's Thoughts - July 14, 2024
Let’s start this week's reviews with something truly
innovative: this is the L’Oréal Paris Bright Reveal Spot Fading Serum-In-Cleanser!
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The Bright Reveal range was fresh out the oven (so to speak)
when I bought this cleanser; and, as part of a welcome deal, BIPA had all
Bright Reveal products 30% off! Talk about amazing! Fresh, new product and I
already got it for a cheaper price! Now, out of all the products that are part
of this range, this cleanser interested me the most. Partly because I am still
tweaking my cleansing routine, so I am still looking for good cleansers, but
also partly because it claims to reduce spots acne marks. And I have never had
a “Serum-In-Cleanser”! So, like, a cleanser that, at the same time is infused
with a serum? Sounds very interesting, although I do have some questions about
this. I first checked this cleanser out, and then didn’t buy it. I wanted to
first research it, to see if it even has any place in my current skincare
routine; then, after researching it and concluding that it is worth trying out,
I went back (while the promo was still active) and bought it. Hey, I got it at
a fantastic price! And I’m stoked to see how good it actually is! Let’s finally
check it out!
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However, one thing really, really annoys me: it doesn’t
come with a cap! That’s legit insane, tbh. I though that the one that was on
display was missing its cap for some reason but nope, they all come without a
cap. Now, there is a twisting mechanism inside, so it’s not like it’s being
exposed to air he whole time but still, who knows how many people touched it...
it’s very unhygienic. And it’s baffling how L’Oréal would allow this... but
overall, I really love the design of the bottle!
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Ingredients: glycerine, salicylic acid (as pure salicylic
acid and capryloyl salicylic acid), niacinamide/vitamin B3, zinc (as zinc PCA)
for nourishment. No parabens. The active ingredients aren’t too far down the
list, which suggests that there isn’t a tiny amount of them, but it also isn’t
listed what the percentage of salicylic acid or niacinamide is, and that is
quite important. The combination of salicylic acid and zinc is targeted towards
reducing acne, while niacinamide should even out the skintone and fade
post-acne marks. In theory, this sounds wonderful! The scent is incredible!
Although, it doesn’t come from salicylic acid, it’s perfume. Still, it smells
medicinal, and kinda herbal, .maybe slightly salty floral. It kinda smells like
expensive skincare tbh, I love it! Although it is fairly intense, so if you’ve
got a very sensitive nose, beware! The expiration date is 12 months after
opening, although, since it doesn’t have a cap... how relevant is this, then?
The gel is dispensed from a pump. As I already mentioned,
there is no cap, so who knows how many people already touched it. The pump is
quite tricky to use: it has a rotating mechanism that opens/closes the
mechanism inside. This is where things become very tricky. See, it doesn’t
rotate easily, and when I want to close it, it kind of becomes stuck? Like, I
really have to finesse it just to close it. And that’s easier said than done
when your hands are damp from using the gel! That aside, the pump is easy to
press – too easy, even, because it’s entirely too easy to dispense gel when you
were just trying to close the pump. But it also dispenses a very good amount of
gel, more than enough for my chin, probably enough for my entire face, even! So
yeah, this pump had a lot of potential, but it’s just too tricky to use
properly. And causes unwanted product waste, which is never good.
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| What it looks like at first |
Colour: it might look green, but that’s just the bottle! The
gel is actually colourless and clear. It just looks like regular gel.
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| What it looks like after "foaming" |
According to L’Oréal, this is a foamy gel... only it isn’t,
at least not in my case. My experience is that it is like any other cleansing
gel. The formula is lightweight and feels soapy. It doesn’t feel occlusive and
it is easy to spread it across the skin, which is when it was supposed to start
foaming. I tried, believe me, I did! I tried it on moist skin and on wet skin,
and it just doesn’t create any foam. While I don’t really mind that at all, I
do think it would penetrate more deeply into the skin of it did foam. Still, it
feels like a quality formula, as it isn’t too soapy or greasy, it’s just the
right amount of soapy.
This gel is extremely easy to rinse off! Even without any
cosmetic pad or konjac sponge or anything, it is still super easy to remove.
Just some water and it will be removed in no time! And it doesn’t leave a soapy
or slimy residue on my skin.
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| The rest of the Bright Reveal range |
Despite having salicylic acid, this cleanser does not sting.
However, this may very well be my skin not caring about it anymore because I’ve
been using copious amounts of salicylic acid for years now. In fact, it barely
feels like anything on my skin. It feels lightweight and not at all occlusive.
It’s pretty comfortable on the skin. It feels very gentle, which is great, as
that means it is appropriate for sensitive skin as well. And boy is my skin
sensitive these days! But, best thing, it doesn’t feel like it is stripping my
skin of its natural oils! Salicylic acid, especially when combined with the
likes of zinc, is known to cause that, but this serum just feels like it is
soothing my skin instead! And balancing it at the same time! It really feels
like a deep cleanse... perhaps that was the point of calling it a
“serum-in-cleanser”? Anyways, I love how light and soothing it feels on my
skin, even when I’m in the middle of atrocious cystic breakouts!
Let’s first get this out of the way: what does a
“serum-in-cleanser” mean? Apparently, that’s L’Oréal’s way of saying that this
cleanser has dermoactive ingredients (aka, salicylic acid, zinc, niacinamide),
but, that doesn’t make it into a serum?? And if it is a serum, surely washing
it off would be the last thing you want to do because you want the active
ingredients to actually, you know, absorb into the skin?? It’s all quite
puzzling, hmm. Perhaps I’m just overthinking it. Anyways, this cleanser should
be used twice a day, in the morning and evening. That is exactly how I used it.
In the morning, this was the first product I used, before following it with a
salicylic acid/niacinamide serum and moisturiser. In the evening, again the
first product I used, as part of my double cleanse method, before cleansing my
face with micellar water and then applying a toner and night cream. At first, I
was worried that it would be too much to use salicylic acid so often, but I use
it a bunch anyways, so my skin is already accustomed to it. The exact
percentage of salicylic acid is not listed anywhere, but I do believe that it’s
gentle enough even for skin that has never used BHAs before. It certainly feels
gentle on the skin! Just don’t skimp on SPF – you’ll need it with constant use
of salicylic acid!
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Alright, I’ve been using this cleanser for quite some
time... a few weeks, actually! So now I can judge what its effect on the skin
are. The easiest way to do this is to go claim by claim. “-51% pimples”. Hmm,
not really?? Like, I know I’ve been using it mostly during the luteal phase,
which is when my acne become the worst, but if it cannot help then... see, I
have been using this cleanser every day, twice a day, but I don’t really see
much of a difference in my acne. I still get painful cystic acne that,
eventually, pop. And my chin is still littered in acne all over. However, by
the time I was phasing this cleanser out for adapalene, my chin looked like it
was becoming clearer and more balanced. Acne appeared to slowly fade, so I
guess it is kinda true?
But it’s not as good as I hoped it would be... perhaps
I just wasn’t using it for long enough. “-57% post-acne marks”. Alright, this
one I really cannot tell because I don’t have major issues with post-acne marks
anyways, it’s more that acne won’t ever heal completely that’s bugging me. But
given that it has niacinamide, I am inclined to believe this claim. And
finally, “-41% excess oil”. Right, I almost forgot to mention, my skin is
naturally very oily and very acne-prone, so I should be the ideal candidate for
this cleanser. But my chin isn’t as horribly oily as my forehead, so I didn’t
notice a big reduction in the amount of sebum in my chin. Although, cystic acne
took a shorter amount of time to mature and pop (on their own! I never pop
acne!), so this suggests to me that there is actually less sebum present inside
the skin. Honestly, the results aren’t quite what I thought they’d be, they’re
not nearly as impressive as it was advertised, but I am still happy with them.
I am literally the ideal patient for this cleanser, but perhaps my acne is just
too severe? It seems like this cleanser
is a slow burner, it takes its time to actually show results, and I simply have
not been using it long enough I think. If nothing else, I like how clean my
skin feels from it!
All in all, although I haven’t been able to use this gel for
as long as I would have liked to (because I was prescribed Belupo Sona Duo
Gel), I still really like how it affects my skin! As all products containing
actives, it needs time for results to be visible, and even in these 3 weeks
that I’ve been using it, I am already starting to see some improvements! For
the first 2 weeks, I thought that it didn’t do anything, but the following
week, acne had started to subside, and my chin looked clearer. I really believe
that I would see even greater results if I had continued to use it. But alas! I
will have to continue where I left off once I’m done with adapalene. So, this gel
smells really nice! It smells fresh and medicinal, with an almost salty floral
note. The scent is a bit strong but it doesn’t irritate my nose. The gel feels
soapy, but not heavy or occlusive. However, despite being called a foamy gel,
it actually does not create any foam at all. That’s alright, even though it is
kind of false advertising. The gel is super easy to clean and doesn’t feel like
it’s stripping my skin of its natural oils, it just balances the skin, or at
least, that’s what it feels like! It doesn’t feel prickly, but my skin is
already very used to salicylic acid, so I probably don’t feel anything. Now,
L’Oréal’s claims that it reduces pimples, post-acne marks and excess oil are...
well, true and not true at the same time. The effects aren’t as visible as you
might think. Like I said, I noticed that my skin looks slightly clearer and
more balanced, but I still got cystic acne. It didn’t really prevent new acne
from forming, especially not that painful large cystic acne. However, they did
seem to heal slightly faster. As for post-acne marks? I really did not see much
of a difference, but I don’t have severe acne scars anyways. And oil? Well, I
don’t know, my chin is not extremely oily anyways, unlike my forehead, but the
fact that new acne formed anyways might suggest that it’s not actually
regulating sebum quite right. Still, even though it did not reduce acne quite
as well as I had hoped it would, I still like it. I feel like it actually is
helping my skin! It definitely feels like it was formulated for oily,
acne-prone skin, as it suits my skin really nicely. Yep, I will recommend it,
but only to those with oily/acne-prone skin, it will for sure be too drying for
other skin types.
Rating: 7/10
Would buy again? YES
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