SKIN1004's Centella Tone Brightening Capsule Ampoule takes a practical view of why brightening routines fail.

It is rarely that the active does not work. It is that high-strength vitamin C stings, dries, and gets abandoned within a fortnight - and a product sitting unused in a drawer brightens nothing. This formula suspends the vitamin in visible capsules within a Centella Asiatica base, so the calming ingredient is the medium the active travels in rather than something added lower down the list to offset it.

Niacinamide provides a second brightening route, working on tone while supporting the barrier, and hyaluronic acid counters the dryness that follows sustained use of any brightening active. The capsules break down on contact with skin and disappear as you pat the ampoule in.

Use it once daily to begin with, after cleansing and before moisturiser, building to twice if your skin is comfortable. As with every product in this category, daily sunscreen does more for the result than the ampoule does - pigment returns faster under UV than any active can fade it.