For licensed skincare professionals
Dullness and radiance protocol
60 minutes. Six sessions, every 10 to 14 days on the acid route, weekly on the gentler route.
For skin that looks flat, gray or uneven in daylight. This protocol addresses the appearance of radiance and the look of an even tone. It does not lighten skin.
Who this is for
Skin that reads flat in daylight. Uneven-looking tone across the cheeks or along the jaw. A visible mismatch between face and neck. Clients who say they look tired in photographs.
Dullness is an optical problem before it is a pigment problem. Light returns evenly from a smooth, hydrated surface and scatters from a rough or dehydrated one, so two clients with identical pigment can look entirely different. Work out which one you have. Rough to the fingertips, and visibly better the moment you press in a humectant: the problem is surface, and steps 3 to 5 carry the result. Smooth already, with flatness that sits in defined areas: steps 6 to 8 carry it. Most clients are both, and the proportion decides where the hour goes.
Who this is not for
- Active irritation, broken skin, or any open lesion in the treatment area.
- Sunburn or windburn within the last 72 hours.
- A professional resurfacing treatment within the last 14 days.
- No patch test on file, where the acid route is planned.
- Current prescription oral or topical retinoid use, or a course finished in the last six months, until the prescribing physician confirms.
- A client who will not commit to daily sun protection. A genuine contraindication here, not a sales line. See the note under the table.
- Known sensitivity to any ingredient used. Check the full INCI, not the marketing copy.
Before you begin
Choose one resurfacing route and record which one you used. Route A is Pro Resurfacing Acid Peel, for resilient skin with a patch test on file. Route B is Resurfacing Cleansing Peel, for reactive skin, any first session, and anyone whose history you do not yet know. Never both in one session, and never route A twice in a fortnight.
Photograph at session one: same light, same angle, same distance, no makeup. Everything you tell the client at session six rests on that image.
The protocol
| Step | Product | Amount | Dwell | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bright Micro Bubble Cleanser | 1 pump | 60 sec | Work into damp skin, let the foam do the work. Remove with warm damp cotton. |
| 2 | Bright Micro Bubble Cleanser, second cleanse | 1 pump | 60 sec | Repeat on damp skin. Remove, blot, leave the skin barely damp for the route step. |
| 3A | Pro Resurfacing Acid Peel, route A | 2 to 3 ml | 2 min first session, by tolerance after | Fan brush, forehead to chin, thin and even. Avoid the eye contour, the nostril folds and the lips. Stay in the room and watch the skin, not the clock. Remove completely with cool water at the first sign of sustained stinging. |
| 3B | Resurfacing Cleansing Peel, route B | 3 to 5 ml | 2 to 3 min | Damp skin, hands moving. The route for reactive skin and for any first session. Remove completely with cool water. |
| 4 | Bio-Ferment Essence Toner | Saturate 2 cotton rounds | Leave damp | Press over face, neck and décolletage. Do not wipe. Skin should stay visibly damp into step 5. |
| 5 | Brightening NanoSerum, sealed vial | 1.0 ml, drawn through the stopper | 5 min | Apply to damp skin. Press in with flat palms. Face, neck and décolletage: the neck is where the mismatch shows. |
| 6 | Brightening NanoSerum, second layer | 0.5 ml | 3 min | Onto still-damp skin, over the areas of uneven-looking tone only. |
| 7 | Lumina Brightening Serum | 3 to 4 drops | 2 min | Press in over the full face. Do not massage; there is nothing to massage in. |
| 8 | Lumina Brightening Cream | Rice-grain per area | Leave on | Targeted, to the discrete darker-looking areas only. It is a 20 ml product and it is not a face cream. |
| 9 | AquaCell Moisturizer | Pea-sized | Leave on | Press and roll over the rest of the face, neck and décolletage. |
| 10 | Sun protection, any brand | As directed | Leave on | Applied in the room, before the client leaves. Not optional after a resurfacing step. |
The one thing that determines whether this protocol works: daily broad-spectrum sun protection between sessions. Nothing else on this page is close. A brightening course without it loses more ground in the two weeks between appointments than the appointment gains, and you will spend six sessions running to stand still. Vegalab does not sell an SPF, so you can recommend one honestly. Ask at every session whether it is actually being used, and record the answer.
Total product time is about 30 minutes. The rest is consultation, assessment, massage during the dwell periods, and the home routine conversation.
Frequency and course
Six sessions. Every 10 to 14 days on route A, weekly on route B. Reassess at session four against the session-one photograph, in the same light.
Skin that has not moved by session four is telling you something: either the home routine and the sun protection are not happening, or the concern is not surface dullness. Reassess before you escalate the peel. Escalating the peel is almost always the wrong answer.
Aftercare
- No acid, scrub, enzyme, brush or retinoid at home for 48 hours after route A, 24 after B.
- Daily broad-spectrum sun protection, reapplied, any brand.
- No hot water, sauna, steam room or hot yoga for 24 hours.
- Expect mild transient pinkness after route A. Pinkness still present the next morning means the dwell was too long: shorten it next session rather than abandoning the route.
What to expect, and when
Immediately after: skin looks brighter and more reflective and makeup sits flatter. That is a smoother surface returning light more evenly. It is real, and it is short.
By session three: a more even-looking tone and less of the flat cast in daylight. Clients notice this in photographs before they notice it in the mirror.
By session six: a more even-looking overall tone, and a jaw line where face and neck read closer together.
Scope: this protocol addresses the look of dull and uneven tone within the client's natural skin tone. Moles, freckles and defined lesions sit outside it. A sharply bordered patch that holds its shape across a full course goes to a physician rather than to a stronger peel.
Home maintenance
The treatment holds for about a week. The home routine carries the rest.
Morning: Bright Micro Bubble Cleanser, press in Bio-Ferment Essence Toner, Lumina Brightening Serum, AquaCell Moisturizer, sun protection. Every layer onto skin still damp from the one before.
Evening: cleanse, tone, Lumina Brightening Serum, Lumina Brightening Cream on the target areas only, AquaCell Moisturizer.
Twice weekly: one 1.5 ml application of Brightening NanoSerum from a sealed vial as an evening intensive, drawn through the stopper. Each vial covers three applications, so a ten-vial box is about fifteen weeks of twice-weekly use, which covers a six-session course with weeks to spare.
Not at home: Pro Resurfacing Acid Peel. It is a back bar product. Clients who acquire it use it weekly, then twice weekly, and arrive at session four duller than they started.
Show the vial mechanics once: cap off, syringe through the stopper, stopper stays in place.
When to refer
Refer to a physician, and do not treat the area, if:
- Any pigmented lesion is new, changing, asymmetric, irregularly bordered, multi-colored, larger than a pencil eraser, or behaves differently from the client's other marks.
- Any lesion bleeds, crusts, itches persistently or does not resolve.
- A symmetrical patterned darkening appeared over the cheeks, forehead or upper lip, particularly alongside pregnancy or a change in hormonal medication.
- Darkening followed a new oral medication.
- Dullness arrived suddenly, with no change in routine, season or sleep.
- Nothing has changed after six sessions with consistent home care and daily sun protection.
A cosmetic protocol works on the appearance of tone. Deciding what a mark actually is belongs to someone with a dermatoscope.
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