You won’t find a group of people more enthusiastic about natural skin care ingredients than we are at Mario Badescu. Here’s the thing, though: we love natural ingredients because they’re powerful and they really work. Which is also why you need to be super-careful about how concentrated or diluted certain ingredients are.

Don’t make the mistake of think that natural = gentle no matter what. Case in point: there are a ton of people on the internet who really want you to put undiluted lemon juice on your skin. It fades dark spots! It exfoliates! It also irritates, stings, and burns. It leaves your skin vulnerable. Instead, look for skin care products that include lemon or lemon extract, in the right concentration. If you’re interested (and you should be, it really does help with lightening dark spots), check out our AHA & Ceramide Moisturizer. This little gem of a moisturizer is super-gentle; it lightly exfoliates, helps to brighten up hyperpigmentation, and smooths your skin.

It does this using Lemon Extract while simultaneously soothing with Aloe.