It’s sunshine season, of course. Sun-tanned skin, shades and flip flops are almost prerequisites for going outdoors or to the beach. But before you grab some quick tan lotion, consider this trend, already popular in Asian countries, and one catching on at beauty counters across the United States.

According to CTV News, “brighten” is the new buzzword in beauty, promising to “illuminate” the consumer’s skin, giving them “radiant” beauty, which makes one wonder: Is fair skin best? Taking a cue from Asian countries, where bright, pale skin is popular, a new cosmetic trend that is perfectly Asian American is on the rise — a fusion of two ideas of beauty.

Open Salon blogger Autumn Whitefield-Madrano notes that, for many Asians, there is a desire to be pale, while Caucasians think that being tan is all the rage, but for the same reasons. To people in Asia, pale skin signifies high-class wealth. Tans in America signify youth and beauty. “Both self-tanners and skin lightening creams are class in a bottle,” Whitefield-Madrano notes.

So what’s the big deal about a brightener? Whitefield-Madrano explains that a brightener is whatever your complexion wants it to be, for any skin type, offering “youth and ‘rejuvenation’ in both” Asian and American cultures. “A brightener is whatever we want it to be.”

What do we want? Pale skin seems to be ideal for both Asian Americans and Caucasians in the United States, giving it an Asian-American trend. Last month, The New York Times reported that these new products, which eliminate melanin (skin pigment) are “mildly effective,” but becoming wildly popular. And Thomas Fuller wrote about its possible harmful effects on Asian women in 2006, also for the Times.

A new idea of beauty is coming into the United States that isn’t about a skin color transformation reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s, but an even complexion, instead. Christine Dagoussett, for Chanel explains that unlike in Asian countries, “In the U.S., it’s different because it’s more about evening the complexion, and it’s for all ethnicities. We call it brightening. It’s not about the color of the skin.”

What will your complexion be this summer?  Bright and even-glowing bronze or perfectly pale?

Photo: Thomas Fuller/International Herald Tribune: An ad for skin-whitening in Hong Kong

Tags: beauty, brighteners, health, rejuvenation, skin brightening, skin care, skin lightening, sun tan, tanning