Clark's Botanicals Skin Lightening Kojic Cream

It's Fashion Week here in New York, which means parties upon parties. After reading about Clark's Botanicals in a recent issue of Vogue, I wanted to check out the brand. I got lucky when an editor-friend invited me to a PR party for Clark's last night.

The event was co-sponsored by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (actor-party boy Wilmer Valderrama was there for some reason). This month, a percentage of sales from Clark's Skin Lightening Kojic Cream will go the CDRF. To learn why, read this short article on CB's tragedy-turned-blessing origins.

Pretty factor: Unlike hydroquinone, a chemical skin bleacher that's banned in Europe and most of Asia because it's absorbed into the blood stream and causes mutations in lab animals, kojic acid safely and naturally lightens the skin. Derived from a fungus, it inhibits the production of melanin as effectively as hydroquinone, and you don't have to stop using it after 2 months (as you do with hydroquinone).

Ideal for: Anyone with pigmentation problems, e.g. sunspots/liverspots or red marks left over from zits.

Eco factor: No parabens, phthalates, petroleum or mineral oil.

To buy: $85 at clarksbotanicals.com