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If you’ve ever tried to treat hyperpigmentation without irritating your skin, you’ll know how difficult that balance can be. Some dark spot serums promise fast results, but often come at the price of redness, dryness and in the end even more pigmentation as a result.

In this EADEM Milk Marvel Review, we take a closer look at whether this gentle dark spot serum can actually deliver visible results or whether its focus on gentleness makes it simply too mild to effectively fade stubborn pigmentation, especially on aging skin.

What the EADEM Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum claims

A fragrance-free gel-like serum, uniquely formulated to rapidly reduces visible dark spots, hyperpigmentation and post-acne marks while bestowing a healthy-looking glow.

Pimples, inflammation, and bug bites leave very visible, annoying darker marks that take months to fade. No more trial and error or product hacking. This unique milky formula rapidly fades acne scars, dark spots, and PIH without lightening your natural skin color.

GENTLE YET IT WORKS

Milk Marvel is infused with Niacinamide, Amber Algage, and Encapsulated Vitamin C. Our Smart Melanin™ Technology ensures that every ingredient is used at the just-right dosage, so you can trust it’s the most compatible and efficient at fading dark spots.

Facts about the EADEM Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum

Prize and size

The product comes in a bottle made of frosted glass with a pipette. It contains 30 ml and is available for 82 € here. The dropper works well enough in picking up the amount you need for your face and neck.

Texture and smell

Inside the glass bottle is a milky lotion without any scent. It is an unscented product, so you might catch a whiff of something earthy when you sniff very closely, but that is very, very faint. While the product is easy to spread and quick to absorb, but has some moderate tackiness that disappears within a few minutes or when you layer something on top. Despite that, I never had issues with pilling.

How to use the EADEM Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum

You don’t need much to cover your whole face, 3-4 drops is enough. I use it on damp skin, which makes absorption even quicker. For me it was a morning product, mainly becuase it layered well with other things, was hydrating and I used it to replace my Vitamin C Serum for the testign period. It would just as well fit into your evening routine if that suits you better and would probably even work in the same routine as Tretinoin as it is very gentle.

According to the brand, morning and evening use is recommended, but I don’t think that using it twice a day would give you better results.

In terms of layering it goes on after your more liquidy layers – think toners, essences and face mists – and before your moisturizer and sunscreen.

Ingredients of the EADEM Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum

Water/Aqua solv, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride emo, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil Phytosterol Esters emu, Niacinamide cci|sb|aacne|h, Glyceryl Stearate SE emu 2 3, Methylpropanediol solv, Polyglyceryl-6 Laurate emu, Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate, Ceteareth-20 emu|surf 3 2, Cetearyl Alcohol emo|vc|emu|surf 1 2, Phenoxyethanol pres, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer vc, Sorbitan Palmitate emu, Sodium Phytate chel, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract so|sb, Cellulose Gum vc 0 0, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid aox|sb, Honokiol aox|sb, Magnolol aox|sb, Plankton Extract, Bromelain, Papain 0 0, Lecithin emo|emu, Sodium Hydroxide buff, Algin vc 4 4, Sodium Ascorbate aox, Tocopherol aox 0–3 0–3

Hover the mouse over an ingredient for short explanation. Read more on INCIDecoder.

You have heard me say it numerous times: Fighting hyperpigmentation is a multistep approach, and you’ll need a combination of different ingredients to get the best results possible. The EADEM Milk Marvel Serum combines three different and well known ones for that purpose: Niacinamide, Licorice Root Extract and 3-0-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid.

Niacinamide has several skin beneficial effects, one of them is it inhibits Tyrosinase, an enzyme needed in the the production of melanin. (More info: The benefits of Niacinamide in skincare explained) Licorice Root Extract is mainly anti-inflammatory and also inhibits Tyrosinase, so works by in parts reducing the trigger and in parts by inhibiting melanin production. (More info: The benefits of Licorice Root Extract for hyperpigmentation explained) 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid is a Vitamin C derivative that both works as antioxidant and as Tyrosinase Inhibitor. As it is a derivative, it is more stable than regular Ascorbic Acid, but at the same time has less data on its effectiveness. (More infor: The benefits of Vitamin C and its derivatives in skincare explained)

In addition to these three there is Amber Algae Extract, probably hidden behind “Plankton Extract” in the INCI list. It is mainly known as antioxidant and not specifically for brightening, at least not to my knowledge. Then there are Bromelain and Papain, enzymatic exfoliants. These are very, very gentle and come quite low on the ingredient list, so I wouldn’t expect this to have a significant exfoliating effect. I don’t think they are intended to, as the brand doesn’t market the Milk Marvel Serum as exfoliating (they have the Cashmere Peel for that which I will review eventually).

The main other thing is Glycerin for hydration.

Now when I say, you’ll need a multistep approach, I usually mean different ingredients that target different steps in the development of hyperpigmentation (you can read more about that here). Here there are three different ingredients, but all target the same step, the Tyrosinase, which will make it less effective than something that targets three different steps. But, and that is the choice you have, it is probably what makes the product so gentle as well, so you really have to see what is more important to you.

Does it live up to its claims?

Only some.

I can see it help fade dark spots over time, but the repeated use of the word rapid is where I disagree. Rapid fading is hard to achieve with topical skincare (More info: When is the right time to switch from skincare to laser for hyperpigmentation treatment?), and with this very gentle product it is going to take a lot of patience to see improvement.

How does it compare to…

Remedy Dark Spot Solution

The Remedy for Dark Spots is one that combines different ingredients against hyperpigmentation that also target different steps in the hyperpigmentation development process: Niacinamide, Tranexamic Acid, Mandelic Acid, Kojic Acid, Licorice Root Extract, Glutathione, Silymarine, Acetyl Glucosamine, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, a Vitamin C Derivative and encapsulated Retinol. Not all of them have brilliant data (*cough* Tranexamic Acid *cough*), but the addition of the (also very gentle ) Mandelic Acid alone should speed up the fading of dark spots due to increased exfoliation. If you are not already using a separate Retinol and want something very gentle, at half the price Remedy might be a better option for you.

You can read my full review of the Remedy Dark Spot Solution here.

Would I repurchase and which skin types do I recommend the EADEM Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum to?

I personally will not repurchase, but I am absolutely not the target group for the product, so you might reach a different conclusion.

Looking at the formula and my experience with it, I’d say it might help with overall brightening and evening out the face over time, but isn’t designed to target severe and stubborn dark spots, which are what I am dealing with. On top of that, I am already using Niacinamide and Vitamin C in other products, so the only new thing it offers would be the Licorice Root Extract.

But: My skin is quite resilient, so it isn’t irritated easily, and as I am pale I don’t react with postinflammatory hyperpigmentation as quickly as other skin tones. If that is different for you and irritation and subsequent pigmentation is your main concern, you are probably in need of something gentle that will mainly not cause new irritation and help fade existing spots over time. This one certainly is gentle, pairs well with the rest of your routine and should help with a more even skintone if you are willing to be patient – I know online results after 2 weeks are promised, but I doubt that, I think the two to three months mark is much more realistic.

Shop EADEM skincare here

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