Doing a double take…

While flipping through this month’s issue of Cleo magazine, I had to blink and check twice when I saw these two products. Now I’m sure you all have heard of L’Oreal’s White Perfect Transparent Rosy Whitening Radiance Boosting Double Essence with pink tourmaline gemstone mineral, said to lessen yellowish complexion and increase rosy radiance.

However, after flipping a few more pages, I came across this…the Bio Essence Tanaka White White & Firm Double Action Essence…

Both are clearly from their whitening range, but although the Bio Essence product doesn’t obviously claim the ‘pinking’ effect of L’Oreal’s, it does mention an “exclusive Bio Mineral Essence” to brighten skin – which pretty much means the same thing in my book.

Who else is going to jump on the same bandwagon I wonder…I haven’t road-tested any of the products longterm yet but I have tried the texture of both (they gave a sample of the Bio Essence product together with Cleo), and to be honest, I can’t really tell one from the other. L’Oreal’s White Perfect Essence is the slightest bit more shimmery, but once they’re both mixed up and absorbed into skin…*shrugs*

What’s your take on these two? Any ayes/nays in either direction?