The Body Shop Chinese Ginseng & Rice Clarifying Polishing Mask for skin with dark spots
Chinese Ginseng
Rice Extract
Shea Butter
Salicylic Acid
Luffa Cylindrica Fruit
High
- HighNormal Skin Fit
- AverageEffectiveness
- HighSafety
A great choice for skin with dark spots; a few cleansing masks fit it even better.
This fit is calculated for the concerns frequently associated with dark spots: hyperpigmentation, sun spots, and uneven skin tone. For scores and recommendations based on your full skin profile, including your 12D face scan results and any goals or preferences you have, please use the Lovi app.
Page built Nov 8, 2026How the Fit score works
Lovi Assistant explains
- Highly suitable for your normal skin, this mask effectively decongests pores and exfoliates with kaolin and salicylic acid, which help to purify and refine your skin texture.
- While glycerin and shea butter offer hydration, the formula's primary focus is cleansing and pore decongestion, with limited direct action on your main concern of pigmentation.
- The product is safe for your normal skin, as it lacks harsh ingredients and has a low risk of irritation.
How to apply
- Use this cleansing mask once a week to start, and increase frequency only if your skin feels fine.
- Apply the cleansing mask in your weekly routine after the cleanser and enzyme powder, but before the hydrating toner.
- Spread an even layer over your face while carefully avoiding the delicate eye area.
- Apply the cleansing mask to clean and dry skin for the best and most comfortable results.
- Always do a patch test before your first use and avoid combining it with strong acids.
People Say
★4.5Overall rating based on 1.0k+ reviewsThis creamy, exfoliating mask is widely praised for its ability to revitalize dull, uneven skin tones, leaving the face feeling softer and looking brighter. While most users enjoy the "spa-like" cooling sensation and polishing effect, some find the herbal ginseng scent overpowering and the granular texture slightly abrasive for sensitive skin. This summary is based on a very large amount of data and should definitely be taken into account.
Highlights
Brightens and evens tone Mostly Mentioned
- “My complexion instantly feels brighter”
- “Reveals brighter-looking skin”
- “Helps remove dullness and unevenness”
Effective exfoliation Often Mentioned
- “Polishes away dead skin”
- “Texture feels really nice and scrubby”
- “Leaves skin feeling super smooth”
Softens skin Often Mentioned
- “Face feels incredibly smooth”
- “Leaves my skin feeling super soft”
- “Skin feels lovely and soft after use”
Cooling sensation Sometimes Noted
- “Instantly feel that cooling effect”
- “Feels very spa-like and relaxing”
- “Refreshing and soothing experience”
Difficult to remove Sometimes Noted
- “Difficult to wash off cleanly”
- “Makes a total mess in the sink”
- “Need a washcloth for full removal”
Price point Sometimes Noted
- “Quite pricey”
- “Expensive but worth buying”
- “Steep pricing made me think twice”
Strong herbal scent Sometimes Noted
- “Scent might be a bit overwhelming”
- “Smells very strongly of ginseng”
- “Has a strange scent I can't describe”
Potential irritation Rarely Noted
- “Felt a slight burning sensation”
- “Particles are a bit large/rough”
- “Ingredients could be tough for sensitive skin”
Sources: lovi.care, nykaa.com, productreview.com.au, influenster.com, kherblog.com, tictalktoe.com, and more
Questions and answers
What makes The Body Shop Chinese Ginseng & Rice Mask a great fit for skin with dark spots?
This mask is a great fit because it effectively decongests pores and refines your skin texture using salicylic acid and kaolin, while featuring ingredients like rice extract and ginseng that may help improve skin tone and smoothness. Although it contains glycerin and shea butter for moisture, its main focus remains deep cleansing rather than directly targeting dark spots.
Which ingredients make this mask a good fit for skin with dark spots?
Rice extract in this mask helps brighten skin and fade dark spots, while salicylic acid and kaolin clear out pores to refine your skin texture. These ingredients work safely on normal skin with a low risk of irritation.
What does Chinese Ginseng do for skin with dark spots?
Chinese Ginseng helps brighten skin with dark spots by reducing melanin production and suppressing related enzymes. It may also protect the skin from environmental damage that can lead to discoloration.
Journal of Ginseng Research, 2015Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 2019
What does Rice Extract do for skin with dark spots?
Rice extract helps make dark spots less noticeable by slowing down the pigment production in your skin. Using it regularly also helps brighten your overall complexion while keeping your skin smooth and protected.
Where does this mask go in a skincare routine for skin with dark spots?
This mask fits into your weekly routine as an exfoliating step, best used once a week to start. It helps purify and refine your skin texture with salicylic acid and kaolin while being safe for normal skin.
Can I use this mask with retinol, and in what order?
You can use this mask in your routine, but avoid using it on the same nights you apply retinol to prevent irritation. Since this mask exfoliates your skin, separating it from strong treatments like retinol helps keep your skin calm and smooth.
How often should I use this mask?
You can use this mask once a week as part of your weekly routine, and carefully increase the frequency if your skin tolerates it well. It is safe for your normal skin, as it lacks harsh ingredients and has a low risk of irritation.
Can this mask clog pores, cause breakouts or purging for skin with dark spots?
This mask is unlikely to clog pores or cause breakouts for skin with dark spots because it contains salicylic acid and kaolin to deeply clean and decongest pores. It has a safe profile with a low risk of irritation, making it suitable for your routine.
Is this mask fragrance-free and alcohol-free?
It contains fragrance (parfum, limonene, citral, citronellol, linalool, and eugenol) and drying alcohol (alcohol denat).
What the research says
A single application of a moisturizing fluid containing hyaluronic acid 1%, glycerin 5%, and Centella asiatica stem cells extract significantly increased skin hydration by 29% and reduced transepidermal water loss at 24 hours compared to baseline and an untreated control site in twenty healthy women.
Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2017A mixture of Panax ginseng and Crataegus pinnatifida prevented skin aging by improving procollagen type I expression, diminishing matrix metalloproteinase-1 secretion, reducing skin roughness and photodamage scores, and decreasing loss of skin moisture in human dermal fibroblasts and healthy human skin.
Journal of Ginseng Research, 2017Daily application of a cream containing niosomes loaded with purple glutinous rice extract in 20 human volunteers for 28 days resulted in a significant decrease in melanin index and skin roughness by -14.05% and -9.95%, and increases in skin hydration and elastic recovery by +48.73% and +35.98% compared to initial values.
International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2020Twice daily application of a multitargeted dermocosmetic cream provided comparable efficacy to benzoyl peroxide 5% gel in reducing inflammatory, non-inflammatory, and total lesions in 150 Caucasian subjects with mild-to-moderate acne over 56 days, while demonstrating superior skin tolerability.
Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024Enzyme-modified ginseng extract cream significantly reduced the global photo-damage score and various roughness measures including total roughness, smoothness depth, and arithmetic roughness average compared to placebo in 23 human subjects.
Rejuvenation Research, 2015A red ginseng hydrogel formulation with 1,2-hexanediol promoted selective growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis and decreased Cutibacterium acnes in 20 female subjects.
Journal of Ginseng Research, 2022A 1% fermented black ginseng cream significantly reduced eye wrinkles and brightened skin color in twenty-three human subjects compared to control cream and baseline.
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part A, 2020The iontophoretic delivery of hyaluronic acid nanogel-loaded Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate significantly reduced advanced glycation end products and mitigated skin stiffening in an ex vivo skin tissue glycation model.
International Journal of Nanomedicine, 2025Red rice extract suppressed UVB-induced inflammation and skin aging in human skin fibroblasts by inhibiting the MAPK signaling pathway, leading to decreased NF-kappa B and AP-1 activation, reduced ECM degradation, and increased ECM synthesis compared to UVB-irradiated controls.
Natural Product Communications, 2016Aspergillus oryzae-fermented broken rice and brewers' rice water extracts inhibit photoaging in UV-irradiated human fibroblasts and co-cultured keratinocytes by downregulating MMP-1, inhibiting elastase, enhancing collagen formation, upregulating elastin gene expression, and lowering pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Cellular and Molecular Biology, 2023A combination cream of stimu-tex AS and saccharide isomerate reduced erythema, increased skin capacitance, and reduced transepidermal water loss compared to placebo in 20 subjects after fractional CO2 laser procedure without causing serious adverse events.
Lasers in Medical Science, 2025A skin barrier restoring cream with shea butter, silkflo, and vitamin E increased type I procollagen synthesis, enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity, decreased reactive oxygen species generation, and promoted hyaluronic acid production in H2O2-stimulated human keratinocyte cells compared to untreated cells.
International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2025Cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen achieved a higher cure rate (39%) than salicylic acid (24%) and a wait-and-see approach (16%) for cutaneous warts at 13 weeks in primary care patients.
CMAJ, 2010A moisturizer containing licochalcone A, 1,2-decanediol, L-carnitine, and salicylic acid significantly reduced noninflammatory, inflammatory, and total acne lesion counts compared to a vehicle control in Thai patients during a 12-week maintenance phase.
BioMed Research International, 2020Treatment with 2% supramolecular salicylic acid hydrogel resulted in a regression and markedly improvement rate of 51.01% compared to 43.10% for Adapaline gel in patients with mild to moderate facial acne vulgaris, showing no significant difference in efficacy.
Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024Topical Luffa cylindrica extract suppressed plasma IgE levels by 36% and histamine by 41%, and reduced AD-like skin lesions in Dermatophagoides farinae-sensitized Nc/Nga mice compared to untreated sensitized mice.
Pharmaceutical Biology, 2015Luffa cylindrica stem sap stimulated growth and migration, induced type I procollagen and elastin synthesis, downregulated proteinases, and reversed UV-A-induced damage in human skin fibroblasts.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2021
Ingredients
Water, Glycerin, Luffa Cylindrica Fruit, Kaolin, Sesamum Indicum Sesamum Indicum Seed Oil Sesamum Indicum Seed Oil, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Peg-100 Stearate, Alcohol Denat, Decyl Glucoside, Alba Beeswax Cera, Perlite, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter Shea Butter, Propylene Glycol, Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Salicylic Acid, Xanthan Gum, Limonene, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Menthol, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Citral, Citronellol, Linalool, Menthoxypropanediol, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Eugenol, Dextrin, Rice Extract, Ci 77891 Titanium Dioxide
Behind this fit score
Lovi calculates every fit score from the full ingredient list with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.
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Co-founder, Medical Director
Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer
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Co-founder, CEO and CTO
PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex
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Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc
Medical Board
Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine
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Medical Board
Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD
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Medical Board
Cosmetic chemist, SCS, IFSCC member
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Medical Board, Medical Advisor
Dermatology MD
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Elina Nazarenko, MD
Medical Board
Dermatology and diagnostic consultant
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Victoria Derkova, MS
Medical Board
Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist
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