Nlighten Kojic Papaya Soap Review

Let me begin this post by saying that I am not a fan of kojic. I am also not a fan of bar soaps for facial wash.  So it was really difficult for me at first to want to try NLIGHTEN KOJIC PAPAYA SOAP and give it a chance. I have tried different brands of kojic soaps in the past with really unflattering results.  After several days of use, my face ended up looking similar to a prune. My skin turned shiny in a way that screams dry dry dry and nearly dying.  I tried to research on the internet for the probable cause and apparently I am not alone with the dryness and the seemingly dead epidermis. Kojic is very strong and you have to take extra care in using it on your skin. Leave it too long and your skin will dry up.  Use it too often and your skin will dry up. The problem is, too long and too often depends on the individual so no one can really tell for sure how long and how often  you should use kojic. You have to go through the process of trial and error which you can’t really afford since it is really strong and you might damage your skin in the process.

My next pet peeve is the fact that it is a bar soap. My past experience with bar soaps was that they were very messy and you usually ended up wasting a lot of product through the process of melting. You have to be really extra careful. It was especially true for kojic soap which would melt even in the slightest of moisture. You can’t leave it in a bathroom because steam from your shower will dissolve it. Then once your bar soap gets all watery, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria which will eventually factor on your skin problems. Facial bar soaps in my opinion are really unhygienic and a death sentence for skin with acne.

So I opened my bar soap of NLIGHTEN KOJIC PAPAYA SOAP with a little apprehension and a slight skepticism. 

Just like other Nlighten products, the packaging of Nlighten kojic papaya soap was remarkable. It was not your usual flimsy cardboard box soap container that will dissolve easily in water. It was a very glossy and shiny cardboard material. The letter print outs on the box were also shiny which I suspected cost them a fortune to make. I liked this because with skin care products, the cover more or less reflects what is on the inside. This is not always true but it is mostly a good benchmark from my experience

According to the box, this soap combines the triple strength lightening process of glutathione, kojic and papaya extract to even out blemishes and remove impurities. Moreover, it should also help lighten and refine skin complexion. But aside from that, the seller also told me that this is an effective treatment for acne as most kojic and papaya soaps in the market. The product is 135 grams as packed and the ingredients are as follows:

Cocus Nucifera, Water, Glycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Diethanolamide,Sodium lactate, Carica Papaya Extract, Butylene Glycol, water, kojic acid, Acetyl tyrosine, Sodium Sulfite, Aminipropyl, Ascorbyl Phospate, Saxifraga Sarmentosa Extract, Arbutin, Paeonia Suffroticosa root extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis root extract, Glutathione, EDTA, Butylated Hydroxytoluene fragrance, C15510.

The ingredient listing was very encouraging. For one, Kojic acid is 10^th in the order which means that it is not mostly kojic. Other kojic soap lists kojic as their second or first ingredient which makes their soap very strong and acidic. Nlighten Kojic Papaya Soap is definitely milder because kojic is not their primary ingredient. Second, 10 of the listed ingredients are natural or botanical which will probably please most users who are purist about their skin care products. This is actually not just kojic, papaya and glutathione but also contains beneficial extracts from other plants and not to mention that the primary ingredient is coconut palm. The glutathione and plant extracts will most likely counter the acidic effect of the kojic in the soap.

The color of the soap was very light orange. The soap was cut precisely with no excess unruly edges which are common in other much cheaper kojic or papaya soaps. Again, this speaks volume about the quality of the product and the integrity of the factory. The plastic enclosure of the soap has an easy open tab. I know that opening the plastic covers of soaps is not really a great inconvenience but these nice touches emphasize that customer service and product satisfaction is foremost in the mind of the manufacturer.  There was a slight fragrance and the soap pleasantly smelled like melon. Well, I think it smelled like melon.

The best and most economical way to use a bar soap for the face is to slice off a small piece to use and then store the rest for future consumption. For this nlighten kojic papaya soap, I sliced off a 2 mm thin piece and then stored the rest. I used an ordinary but very sharp kitchen knife. It cuts off cleanly just like cheese. Surprisingly, this thin piece of soap is unbelievably long lasting and will not melt as long as you keep it dry. Mine is on the third week to date and it is still going strong. I want to bet that the whole bar of kojic soap, if used only for the face, will last for a year. For longevity alone, this soap is worth the price.

But what I love about the Nlighten kojic papaya soap aside from its longevity is that it has the same feel and texture of a liquid facial wash. It is physically a bar soap but once you lather it on your face; it washes like a liquid facial wash. It is very light on the face and rinses off easily without leaving any heavy residue which is common with bar soaps.  There is no tightness and dryness or tingling sensation afterwards. If you didn’t read on the box that this soap contains kojic soap, you wouldn’t know it was one of the ingredients because of the mildness. I also didn’t experience any peeling after several days of use. But do note that I am also using Nlighten facial cleanser(toner) and Nlighten cloud cream(moisturizer) together with the soap as part of my daily skin regimen.

Overall I think Nlighten kojic papaya soap does what it says on the box. It was a great support wash for my anti-acne skin regimen. Although it is a bar soap, it is very hygienic because it has a high tolerance towards melting and has the same qualities and properties as a liquid soap. It is very economical because it lasts a long long long time. But what I love about this soap in particular is that it is a MILD kojic soap because it contains less kojic and a lot of other botanicals that counter the acidity. You don’t get the peeling, drying and itching. You can comfortably use this soap on a daily basis. But I would still advise using a moisturizer with sunscreen or sunscreen because after all, this is still a kojic soap.

I would definitely repurchase but that might not be until another year because this soap rocks the longevity test.

Ciao!

**Disclaimer I am currently a Nworld distributor. But my posts were reactions and first impressions I had about the product when I was still first a user. These impressions eventually convinced me to join the Nworld family because I finally met a product which I passionately and truly believed to be effective.**