Epara’s Brightening Night Balm: 10 Days to Radiant Skin

Those of us women with deeper skin tones have often found options for our unique skincare concerns to be extremely limited. However, thankfully, a small number of brands have now taken matters into their own hands. UK based luxury skin-care brand Epara is one of these.

Meaning "to cocoon oneself" in the Nigerian dialect of Ebira, Epara is a collection of handcrafted luxury skincare products tailored to the unique needs of women of colour. Its founder Ozohu Adoh, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur, had for a long time suffered from a sensitive uneven skin condition and with no products or treatments available she decided to develop her own. The result, a luxury skincare range for the face and body that targets the skin issues women of colour face on a daily basis.

The major concerns for women of colour is not ageing or wrinkles, it is hyper-pigmentation, and hydration. Hyper-pigmentation is essentially the overproduction of melanin on the skin. It manifests itself in dark spots and patchy, uneven skin and is caused mainly by over-exposure to UV rays. Post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation can also occur where there has been skin trauma caused by acne or a wound and the skin overcompensates during the healing process by producing so much melanin it leaves dark scars. These dark patches and uneven texture are notoriously difficult when it comes to fading on darker skin.

There are ten products in the Epara skincare range, each one formulated with the finest african botanicals, essential oils, and plant extracts, to create indulgent skin treatments scientifically proven to leave the skin beautifully moisturised, healed and protected. I elected to trial Epara’s Brightening Night Balm. I have tried a myriad of different brightening serums and creams on the market that claim to do the job but inevitably fell short, but this is definitely one of the best brightening products I have used. With its beautifully luxurious sustainable packaging. I sensed from the start that this treatment was something special and I was not mistaken!

To avoid lightening the skin tone overall, a common issue with skin brightening products, a marine botanical plankton extract is included in the balm that only targets the areas where melanin is overproduced, both brightening and evening the skin tone, but without altering the users’ skin tone overall. Another significant ingredient is hyaluronic acid, a natural sugar molecule that occurs in our body and helps to attract water, so it functions as a great moisturiser, keeping the skin looking fresh and hydrated. In darker skin tones, dryness frequently manifests as an ashy or grayish appearance of the skin, so the inclusion of hyaluronic acid is particularly useful as it acts like a sponge.

With a thicker (but not heavy) ultra-rich cream-like consistency, and a very subtle perfume, I found Epara's balm very easy to apply. It also comes with a handy scoop. After carrying out my usual nightly skincare routine I gently patted the balm into my face and neck. It felt very nourishing and indulgent. It’s cocktail of active ingredients has been clinically proven to reduce dark spots and dryness and after ten days of use I can readily attest to this - my uneven skin tone and texture were much improved with the dark spots visibly lighter. My skin felt completely hydrated, looking much more luminous and glowing.

Melanin-rich skin has its own set of unique challenges but having experienced such great results with Epara’s Brightening Night Balm – it’s one of the best skin-care products for people of colour I have so far come across - I definitely will be incorporating other products from the Epara skincare range into my beauty repertoire as I now know they will make a radical difference.