Botanical Ingredients to Brighten Skin Tone in Skincare Products

Air pollution, skin inflammation, hormonal changes, sun exposure, and inadequate skincare routine are primary causes of dull and uneven skin tone. Accumulated dead cells on the epidermis can lead to paleness, darkness, and lackluster. Sometimes, these dead cells make your skin feel bumpy.

Skin pigmentation disorders can negatively affect your skin's color. Melanocytes are specialized cells that produce a pigment called melanin, giving color to your skin. However, unhealthy melanocytes affect melanin production, causing dullness, unevenness, and dark skin tone.

Most men and women use commercial products with chemicals and compounds to brighten their skin. Although such products brighten the skin, they have long-term side effects.

Research shows that vegan skincare products with botanical extracts can increase skin radiance and restore vibrancy. These products remove dead and dull cells and reveal your radiant and glowing skin. Today's article will discuss botanical ingredients in skin care products to brighten/whiten your skin tone. Read on!

Botanical Ingredients in Vegan Skincare Products

Skin brightening agents, such as corticosteroids, hydroquinone, retinoids, mercury, and steroids, can cause safety concerns, causing skin toxicity, lost radiance/vibrance, and disrupted melatonin production. Some of these ingredients also contain carcinogenic substances, increasing the risk of skin cancer.

In contrast, botanical ingredients in products, including vegan bath and body products, scrubs, serums, lotions, etc., are more effective and safer because they don't cause short or long-term side effects.

Likewise, vegan or plant-based ingredients improve skin texture and tone by sloughing away bacteria, viruses, and dead skin cells. So, if you want radiant, luminous, smooth, and glowing skin, we recommend looking for the following botanical ingredients in skincare products.

Rosehip Seed Oil

There are numerous rosehip seed oil skin benefits. Rosehip seed oil is an excellent source of fatty acids, including vitamin F, made of linoleic acid. It contains palmitic acid, oleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, and gamma-linolenic acid, improving skin texture, tone, and radiance.

Rosehip seed oil is a plant-based ingredient found in skincare products, including vegan bath and skincare products, featuring anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties that keep your skin calm and balanced. In addition, rosehip seed oil helps repair skin and protect it from:

• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Rosacea

Oleic acid in rosehip seed oil reinforces skin cell membrane integrity and triggers intracellular mechanisms to strengthen the epidermis. Thus, it protects your skin from dirt, dust, bacteria, and other environmental allergens.

The rosehip seed oil also contains beta-carotene and lycopene. These two ingredients are powerful skin-lightening agents. For instance, lycopene prevents or reserve damage to skin cells' collagen proteins, eliminating discoloration, texture changes, wrinkles, and fine lines.

You can find this wonderful oil in Hebe Botanica Restorative Omega Body Oil. High concentration of organic rosehip seed oil combined with Macadamia Seed oil, Passionfruit Seed Oil and Abyssinian oil create a light-weight, fast absorbing texture to revitalize your skin barrier dullness and uneven skin tone. 

Turmeric Root Extract

Turmeric root extract is a powerful skin-brightening ingredient that prevents clogging the pores and clumping skin cells. Because turmeric root extract has potent antibacterial and antiseptic properties, it stops bacterial growth on the epidermis and reduces acne risk.

A research study published by the National Library of Medicine shows that turmeric compounds act against melanocytes and stop melanin production, reducing dark spots and other forms of hyperpigmentation.

So, we recommend looking for a Leaping Bunny-approved soap, body wash, lotion, scrub, moisturizer, or cream with turmeric root extract to naturally glow your skin, achieve an even-toned appearance, prevent blemishes, and acne-causing bacteria.

Find this incredible melanocyte lightening agent in Turmeric Ginger bar soap. Not only does it help brighten your skin tone, but the lather from this soap is also super gentle on your skin cleanses, and prevents future body acne from reoccurring. 

Bakuchiol Oil

Bakuchiol is a botanical ingredient or organic compound found in seeds and leaves of the Psoralea corylifolia plant. Research highlights Bakuchiol oil contains powerful antioxidants that fight free radicals in the skin cells, reduce skin discoloration from the sun or environmental exposure, and produce a soothing effect.

Bakuchiol oil in vegan skincare products can improve wrinkles and fine lines, brighten the tone by reducing dark spots, and boost firmness and elasticity. A vegan skincare product with Bakuchiol oil and other ingredients, such as vitamins A, C, E, and K, magnesium, calcium, selenium, zinc, phosphorus, linoleic, linolenic, oleic, and Stearic acids, can brighten the skin tone and improve skin tissues overall wellbeing.

Bearberry Extract

Online research shows that bearberry extract has good antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, making it a powerful botanical ingredient in skincare products. It reverses melanosomal tyrosinase activity, reducing melanin production in melanocytes and hindering effects on skin pigmentation.

In addition, bearberry extract is a common ingredient in vegan skin brighteners, moisturizers, facial cleansers, lotions, bath soaps, and body washes. A research study published in Science Direct shows that arbutin in bearberry extract inhibits tyrosinase enzyme activity by slowing down melanin production, giving your skin a smoother, more natural, brightened, and radiant appearance.

Licorice Root

A 2016 study shows that licorice root extract contains glabridin, a powerful and active skin-brightening compound that prevents tyrosinase enzyme from producing more melanocytes after sun exposure. It also reduces the risk of dark spots and hyperpigmentation induced by UVA and UVB sun rays.

Vegan skincare products with licorice root contain glycyrrhizin, an anti-inflammatory compound that prevents your epidermis from experiencing swelling, inflammation, redness, itchiness, and irritation. Because licorice root has potent antioxidant effects, it prevents free radicals from negatively affecting skin cells.

Soy Extract

Soy extract is a rich source of isoflavones with powerful amino acids, streamlining collagen and elastin production, repairing damaged cells, and inhibiting trypsin, an enzyme synthesizing melanin.

So, using a skincare product with soy extract can improve your skin's appearance, brighten the tone, and prevent bacteria from accumulating on the epidermis. Again, it would help to look for Leaping-Bunny-approved skincare products with soy extract to ensure they don't contain animal-derived or animal-tested ingredients.

Green Tea Extract

Green tea extract balances your skin's natural oils (sebum), fights acne, reduces inflammation, unclogs pores, enhances moisture, and lightens your skin tone. It contains epicatechins and other polyphenolic compounds that inhibit UV-induced hyperpigmentation and tumorigenesis. Green tea extract reduces dullness/paleness and removes toxins/bacteria from the epidermis.

Chamomile

Chamomile is a potent botanical ingredient that provides your skin cells and tissues with antioxidants, hindering free radicals activity, regenerating skin cells, tightening pores, and slowing down aging effects. It also brightens your skin, removes blemishes/redness, and soothes irritation and itchiness.

Final Words

Antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-melanin, and anti-inflammatory compounds in botanical extracts restore and strengthen your skin cells by combating free radicals, preventing bacterial buildups, and inhibiting melanocytes from producing melanin.

As a result, you achieve a smooth, vibrant, radiant, even-toned, and brightened appearance. Check Hebe Botanica for plant-based/vegan skincare products with 100% pure botanical ingredients.