The beginning of 2014 is also a brand new beginning for Clarins whitening range whereas the brand recently has completed it’s reformulation of White Plus HP to White Plus Total Luminescent. Not sure if you are aware but last year Clarins starting to embark onto this new breakthrough technology by reformulating all of their whitening products except for Whitening Repairing Night Cream. Now the new range is complete.

Contrary to Caucasian living in a much more colder climate than Asian where we are constantly exposed to sunny and hot weather all year round. It only make sense that Asian women often long for a translucent and fairer complexion that is also smooth and even skin tone at the same time. Clarins understand that need and is now emphasising more on achieving a brighter and luminescent skin.

Research done by Clarins shows that it’s breakthrough technology reveals that the skin is made up of millions of “micro-mirrors” that have the ability to reflect light. With this research result on hand, Clarins New White Plus Total Luminescent range is infused with unique “Trans Luminescent Complex” to revive skin’s micro-mirrors, ability to achieve ultimate translucency, even, fair and healthy looking rosy luminescent complexion.

Hydration also play an important role. I always said that a well hydrated skin (even on oily skin) will be able to prevent and solve any skin problem. You can easily spot one with dehydrated skin if the skin look dull and lifeless. The skin also loses it’s natural ability to reflect light. And when it does, the skin is prone to the exposure of UV rays, pollution and air conditioning. During the night time, the skin barrier permeability increases and resulting in extra 25% water evaporation. Brightening products will not work if you have dehydrated skin. That’s when Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent Day and Night Duo comes in.

The key ingredients has also been replaced with three main ingredients. Each ingredient works by targeting different layer of the skin.

[Skin Surface] High Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid – Improves skin hydration for a more radiant and transparent skin.

[Inside The Epidermis] Sandspurry Extract – Limits the formation and development of melanosomes in which melanin production occurred. Lesser melanin leads to a fairer and even complexion.

[Inside The Dermis] Ginkgo Biloba Extract & Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid – An ingredient which provides protection of the blood microcirculation for a healthier looking skin and rosy luminescence.

Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent Brightening Hydrating Emulsion SPF20 PA+++ Oil-Free (RM230 / 75ml)

Brightening Hydrating Emulsion is one of the two new addition in the White Plus Total Luminescent family to replace Whitening Velvet Emulsion SPF20. The existing Brightening Hydrating Emulsion does not comes with any SPF therefore it is suitable for day or night use. This new one that comes with SPF20 is of course meant for day time use. Although it is said that you can remove it with a cleanser but I would suggest you to cleanse your face thoroughly as it still contain SPF20. Not majorly a lot but still it’s there.

Consumer’s perception towards whitening or brightening products is that the product dries up their skin, which is why beauty consultation will advise you to apply it before hydrating products. Although I never encounter the “drying” issue due to my skin type, however it is a tad bit too heavy on my skin. Now, I particularly enjoyed using this Brightening Hydrating Emulsion mainly because it is now not heavy on the skin and I have to give credit to it’s Hyaluronic Acid of Low Molecular Weight. This ingredient managed to keep my oily skin moisturize therefore my skin doesn’t produce oil sebum as much.

I like it’s glass, tall and heavy bottle. It looked classy and feels nice on the palm. It comes with a cap that doesn’t close down with a click so I would advise you not to hold or take the bottle by it’s cap. I however love the open and close nozzle. The pump works like a charm and the exact amount pumped out from a single pump is just nice for the whole face. Sometimes I tend to use half a pump, depending how many products I apply before. If I use this solely I would use a whole pump full.

Brightening Hydrating Emulsion comes with SPF20 PA+++ as mentioned before, however this emulsion is oil-free. What this mean is this emulsion is suitable for combination to oily skin. Hurray! I love love love the fine melting texture and scent of the emulsion very much. Clarins is known for it’s calming, beautiful scent and this is not exceptional either. Sometimes I cheat a bit and use this alone without any hydrating product thereafter because the hydrating power in it is already enough for me. It’s milky emulsion texture is so light that mattes out immediately after each application. Even my palm doesn’t feel tacky at all.

I do like this product as a 2-in-1 products – brightens and hydrates as I can skip applying unnecessary products. The mattifying feature is definitely a plus point for oily skin girl. Having said that, I still see a slight dewiness peeking through not long after that, which I’m fine with. I’m home-based these days so I do skip day time regimen once in a while and whenever I do, I look darker on the face alone. The next day I follow-up with this Brightening Hydrating Emulsion and I’m back to normal. This would be an ideal product for beauty conscious users that lives a busy lifestyle.

Here is the ingredient list for Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent Brightening Hydrating Emulsion SPF20 PA+++.

Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent Smoothing Brightening Night Cream (RM250 / 50ml)

One of my favourite night cream of all time is Clarins White Plus HP Whitening Repairing Night Cream, for which I’ve gone through a few jars. This year Clarins reformulated their whitening night cream to Smoothing Brightening Night Cream. If I like the previous version I have no doubt that I will like this new one too.

Night time regimen is as important as day time if not the most important between both. I personally slather more skin care at night comparing to day time because our skin rejuvenate itself during the night time when we sleep. It is crucial to ensure the skin receive enough hydration, therefore this new Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent not only improve the 24-hour whitening efficacy, it also promote dewy skin for 24 hours in order to fight dullness, loss of radiance and dehydration from the deepest skin layers.

I would prefer this new jar design over the old one as the old one has a silver lining on the cap that tend to rub off with frequent use. This new one is much more classier. It comes with a inner separator lid to further preserve the cream freshness and to prevent any unwanted residue from falling in. The cream is filled to the brim but sadly it doesn’t comes with a spatula to scoop the cream out. What you can do is to use a clean spatula, transfer a small amount of cream to a smaller jar and refill when needed.

The cream is oh-so smooth and rich at the same time. It is also in a melting texture cream but more solid comparing to Brightening Hydrating Emulsion. I personally have no problem at all with rich night cream because that’s the type of cream I would want on my face when I sleep. Somehow I feel that the scent is much more less fragrant comparing with the old version. It’s not a bad thing as some people can’t take too fragrant skin care. You can still smell the signature White Plus Total Luminescent scent but very subtlety.

Despite being a cream, I don’t find it to be heavy. It’s lighter in texture that melts away when you smooth out on the face. I suppose this has got to do with Hyaluronic Acid in the cream. I do find this to be less oilier but more moisturizing. A little goes a long way but I like to slather more than usual as this night cream is able to accelerate skin’s regeneration and in removing dead cells when we sleep. Instead of drying up the skin like other whitening cream, this one in particular provides a more intense moisture at night to counteract excessive water loss during skin regeneration.

Once again, I do like it’s 2-in-1 benefit of brightening and hydrating. I have had superb result in the morning from using the old Whitening Repairing Night Cream and I’m glad to report the new Smoothing Brightening Night Cream does the same as well.

Here is the ingredient list for Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent Smoothing Brightening Night Cream.

The Whitening Luminescence Restorer Treatment (RM248 / 60 minutes)

For you facial junkie out there, in conjunction with the new White Plus Total Luminescent release Clarins will be introducing a facial treatment to complete your beauty routine and to achieve the results you have always wanted.

The Whitening Luminescence Restorer Treatment is a treatment to revive radiance, brightness and crystalline translucency skin. Same as any other Clarins treatment available, this treatment also include a special treatment for hands, neck and décolleté. You will be able to diminish dark spots, prevent new dark spot formation and brightening up overall complexion. Skin is also refresh and more transparent, youthful and of course rosy luminescence.

To understand more about Clarins facial treatment, do read all about my personal skin spa experience for The Lifting Face Shaper Treatment. Through the experience you will find that Clarins is well-known for their manual application technique using 100% hand works. This unique technique is able to give instant result and I bet you will fall asleep from the massage.

The Whitening Luminescence Restorer Treatment is available at all Clarins Skin Spa from 28th February 2014 onwards.

Disclaimer: Press sample.