Lumixyl Topical Brightening System

$270 at select dermatologist offices in Canada.

What it is: a 4-step system formulated to rapidly diminish the appearance of hyper-pigmentation, brighten skin tone, and increase luminosity. The kit includes a non-foaming cleanser to prep the skin, a brightening cream, an exfoliation lotion, and a sunscreen with SPF 30.

Key ingredients: The brightening cream uses peptides; the exfoliation lotion uses 20% glycolic acid (that’s high compared to drugstore brands which go up to only 12%); and the sunscreen uses 8.40% titanium dioxide.

I wanted to love this, but I don’t.

Most asian women know that once sunspots hit your face, they’re tough to get out. Experts are always saying that treating hyper-pigmentation requires the use of multiple ingredients and multiple products for visible results, so I was excited to try this kit to fade my sun speckles. Like a new relationship, it started out well at the beginning of January  – my face felt supple in the mornings and the sunscreen was rich enough to be my daytime moisturizer. I ditched my usual daytime gel moisturizer, which never did me wrong. I liked the idea of using a medical-grade exfoliation lotion to turbo-charge the speed of cellular turnover, which, in theory, would slough off dull skin and the bits of pigment that lie on the top layer of skin faster than OTC brands.

After a week of using the line, I did notice brighter skin tone but also drier skin, but I didn’t want to put the blame entirely on the products because we were in the dead of a cold winter. My crocodile skin could’ve been caused by Mother Nature.

By week three, however, I noticed that my skin was getting oilier, especially around my cheeks. I also noticed a spots of milia around my eyes, which prompted me to stop using a certain anti-aging eye cream. For the sake of research, I continued with the Lumixyl line, until week four when I went to go see my facialist for help with my eye milia.

Facialist Beatta told me to stop using whatever I was using because she had never seen so much milia ALL over my face! According to her, the Lumixyl products dried my face out to the point where my skin reacted by over-producing sebum. Some of the oils got trapped underneath my skin and developed into the tiny hard white bumps known as milia. And the only way to remove them was to poke them out with a needle. I blogged about my painful but necessary extraction session here.

When I went home I tossed this line into my pit of reject products, with a heavy heart. I had high hopes for this line but I would rather have spots over bumps on my face.

NOTE: What may not work for me may work wonders for you. For example, Henna at Canadian Beauty.com had great results with Lumixyl.