Nivea Multiple Night Whitening Cream

While I was in the Philippines last month, I was floored by the enormous number of skin whitening products on drugstore and grocery store shelves. Even just fifteen years ago, the only beauty product I remember that specifically targeted skin whitening was San-Ing, a cheap Chinese import you could even buy at a neighborhood sari-sari store, and whose active ingredient was Sulfur. I tried it after a fair-skinned cousin recommended it, but she neglected to tell me to stay out of the sun. I'd applied to on my neck as a tester, and by the second day, I had a nasty, itchy rash that lasted for days.

Never again.

Anyway, I loved loved loved browsing through the store shelves, trying to finding the right skin lightening product (i.e., recognizable brand, inexpensive price, and yeah, attractive packaging). I would've loved Shiseido's White Lucent line, but, ahem, my wallet would scream anytime I was within a five-mile radius of their store counter.

I did, however, find a whole slew of Nivea products, and at a super-reasonable price (about P125 or so for the creams, or just under US$3). One of the active ingredients is something called White Pure Active, which supposedly "reduces your skin's pigmentation at its source." I brought home five pots of Nivea Multiple Night Whitening Cream, and I've been slathering it on my face, neck and decolletage every night ever since. So far, it's left my skin surprisingly smooth, considering how oily it often is. (Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that it's bone-dry out here in the high deserts of the western United States right now, what with winter just around the corner.) I've been using it for almost a month, and while this may simply be the power of suggestion, I do think that my skin tone has brightened somewhat.

I gather that one pot will last me about 6 weeks, so with four more in my linen closet, I'm safely stocked up until the next time I head back to the Old Country.