Everyone wants to know – what’s the best moisturizer to brighten skin?
Whether you’re dealing with uneven skin tone, sensitive skin, or just want to wake up everyday with glowing skin, there’s a brightening moisturizer out there for you!
Adding a good daily moisturizer into your skin care routine will boost luminosity and promote healthy skin.
Here are 7 of the best face moisturizers to give you that radiant complexion we all dream of!
Best Brightening Moisturizers for All Skin Types
To learn more about how brightening face cream works, check out What Does it Mean to Brighten Skin?.
Best Brightening Moisturizer for Uneven Skin Tone
Dennis Gross Vitamin C Lactic Dewy Deep Cream
This facial moisturizer from Dennis Cross is ideal for luminous skin! It protects you from free radical damage, evens skin tone by getting rid of dark spots, and helps with fine lines.
Antioxidant protection is essential to protect against sun damage and promote healthy looking skin.
To learn more about vitamin C, check out Should Vitamin C Serum be used Morning or Night?
Best Brightening Moisturizers with Azelaic Acid
Azelaic acid has awesome anti inflammatory properties for your skincare routine!
Depending on your skin concerns, brightening moisturizers with azelaic are ideal for people with skin texture or acne prone skin.
It also promotes an even skin tone and brightens dull skin without irritating your skin barrier.
SkinCeuticals PhytoA+ Brightening Treatment
SkinCeuticals is one of my favorite anti aging, board certified dermatologist approved brands.
This moisturizer has a lightweight formula that is ideal for an acne prone skin type, similar to a gel cream.
It’s also formulated without essential oils or botanical oils which is great for oily skin types.
Glytone Enhance Brightening Complex
Formulated with glycolic acid, azelaic acid, and vitamin E, this oil free moisturizer is awesome for an acne prone skin type.
The glyceryl stearate in the formula also hydrates skin and promotes a healthy glow. You can use it as a morning or night cream depending on your skin tolerance.
Best Moisturizer to Brighten Skin with Amino Acids
ESPA Overnight Hydration Therapy
This lightweight moisturizer is a good addition to your skincare routine to leave you with youthful looking skin and a radiant glow.
It has a phenomenal blend of vitamin C, other brightening agents, and nourishing ingredients. All of these work together to reduce excess melanin production.
Therefore, this face cream is great to get rid of dark spots and even out your skin tone.
Plus it won’t clog pores and works great for mature skin!
As a bonus, it’s formulated with hyaluronic acid which is great for dry skin types. Similar to sodium hyaluronate, it’ll keep your skin hydrated.
Best Brightening Moisturizer for Dry Skin
Dermatologica Intensive Moisturizer Balance
If you have dry skin, dehydrated skin, or combination skin, you can’t always get away with a gel cream.
In fact, the best brightening moisturizers for dry skin include a bunch of nourishing ingredients to protect your skin barrier. This is because your body doesn’t make enough of your own oil.
So you need brightening moisturizers with ingredients like:
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Shea butter
- Aloe leaf juice
- Lactic acid
And more.
This face cream is awesome because it’s rich enough to protect you and even skin tone without clogging your pores up!
Best Moisturizer to Brighten Skin for Dull Complexion
SkinCeuticals Renew Overnight Dry
The best brightening moisturizers for people with fine lines or dark spots have a bunch of exfoliating acids like:
- Glycolic acid
- Lactic acid
- Mandelic acid
- Tartaric acid
Fun fact – technically, vitamin C is an alpha hydroxy acid too!
This face cream has a 10% acid complex that will help get rid of dark spots and is versatile enough for normal or combination skin.
Best Brightening Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin
SkinMedica Replenish Hydrating Cream
Green tea extract is the key for sensitive skin!
With a sensitive skin type, ingredients like vitamin C and lactic acid might not work well for you.
Instead, we prefer soothing ingredients like shea butter and green tea extract to protect your barrier.
Plus, it’ll help with dark spots, free radical damage, and keeping your skin hydrated.
For more moisturizers like this, check out my Best Green Tea Moisturizers List.
And if you’re interested in a full routine, be sure to check out my Night Skin Care Routine for Glowing Skin. You may also prefer tinted moisturizer as an alternative to foundation.
