Aveeno Skin Care Products

Hello everyone

I'm new to the forum, so forgive me if this subject has come up before. I'm kind of in a hurry to figure this out.

A little background information: I'm bi-racial; my mother is white and my father was black. This summer, I went outside for the first week or so without using any sunscreen. I usually don't use any, even though I don't like to tan any darker than my natural complexion already is. However, this summer, the sun instantly took to my arms, face, legs and feet and tanned them ridiculously.

So, my body colour is a very light pale brown colour, but now my arms, legs, and feet are a good three or so shades darker than the rest of my body, which has a yellowish undertone to it.

I didn't know what I could possibly use to even or lighten the skin on my body, so I decided to focus on my face. I bought Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub for my face. My mom said that when she used it, after a couple of weeks she could see a vast difference. I've been using this cleanser for about two and a half weeks now.

This morning my mom said that my face looks white except for my forehead. I checked the mirror and the colour isn't a drastic difference, but you can tell that my skin looks uneven. I actually look like I got sick with the flu or something and just went pale. I think it's because every day I would start with my cheeks and focus mostly on that area.

Just yesterday before my mom noticed this, I also purchased Aveeno Active Naturals as an SPF15 moisturizer with lightening qualities for use after the Aveeno cleanser. Now I'm not sure if I should really be using this second product. I don't want to damage the skin cells and have discolouration on my face forever.

Has anyone ever used these products and had any problems with it? Also I was wondering if anyone knows if the ingredients used in these two products are harmful for the skin, or has any ideas on how I could completely even out the skin on my face so that it is all light?

One last question I have, is how can I tend to getting my arms, legs and feet as light as the rest of my body? I bought a lotion with cocoa butter in it, but I think cocoa butter only evens out the skin, it doesn't lighten or anything.

Well, I'm sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

- Faye