Lots of people have body and beauty concerns when they’re pregnant – fears about their body changing and never returning to its former glory, worries about hair loss and stretch marks and a dread of getting spotty, hormonal skin. I was one of those incredibly annoying people who loved every minute of my pregnancy (conveniently ignoring the horrendous first few months during which I felt as though I was suffering the world’s worst hangover) and I really enjoyed the changes that happened to my body.

My main concern was a skincare one, really, because a few of my friends had developed very dark spots on their face during their pregnancies and some had experienced full-blown chloasma, which is when the hyperpigmentation is quite severe and looks like a sort of mask around the eyes and nose. Frequently, pregnancy marks like this disappear after the baby’s birth, but I had friends who developed dark spots from being in the sun and not protecting their skin and these seemed to have stuck around.

Dark spots are one of the skincare concerns that you don’t think about so much when you’re younger – you worry more about getting wrinkles, or getting pimples – but hyperpigmentation can have a much more dramatic impact on the overall look of the skin than either of those things. Apparently the steep rise in estrogen levels during pregnancy can stimulate excess melanin production, which is what causes the dark brown patches of pigmentation, and so I wanted to be extra-careful with my skin during pregnancy. I made sure that I wore an SPF every day and also an antioxidant serum beneath it, for added protection.

Since then, I’ve been very interested in the various serums and treatments that can be used to help protect the skin from dark spots and the latest one to cross my path is the Vinoperfect Complexion Correcting Radiance Serum from beautiful French brand Caudalie.

This serum is France’s number one pharmacy-stocked anti-dark spot solution and has been the bestseller since 2008. No mean feat when you consider how many brilliant products you can find on the hallowed shelves of the French Pharmacie! Vinoperfect Complexion Correcting Radiance Serum contains Viniferine, a powerful natural ingredient that’s taken from grapevine sap, and olive squalene for deep but non-greasy moisturisation.

The stabilised Viniferine used as a key ingredient in the serum has been shown to work in a number of different ways to help prevent dark spots and create an even, radiant skintone. Most importantly, it enables the production of tyrosinase, which regulates melanin production, and also has an anti-inflammatory effect, which limits the synthesis of melanin. Viniferine also helps to promote microcirculation in the blood capillaries so that radiance is boosted, and it demonstrates a level of antioxidant activity that can increase the skin’s own protection against UV rays. Clinical tests for Viniferine showed a reduction in dark spots after just four weeks of use and that the complexion was more radiant; their tests also showed Viniferine to be sixty-two times more effective at regulating melanin production than Vitamin C.

I’ve been using Caudalie’s Vinoperfect for the past three weeks and though I don’t have any dark spots to get rid of, I have been spending quite a lot of time outside and my skin looks nicely even in tone rather than the random areas of tan I usually end up with on my face! I also find the serum to be nicely moisturising, so much so that I’ve skipped moisturiser on a number of occasions and just gone straight in with my BB Cream or SPF or whatever I’ve been using.

A quick and easy skincare step, then – I’ll update you again with results once I’ve finished the bottle, but I’m finding that a little goes a long way, so you may have a bit of a wait! In the meantime, I have five gorgeous Vinoperfect sets to giveaway so that you can try the serum for yourself at home. Each set contains a Vinoperfect Complexion Correcting Radiance Serum and a Soleil Divin anti-ageing SPF50 for the face, so the perfect summer skincare duo if you’re looking to boost your protection and add some radiance! The giveaway is open to UK residents aged 18 and over and all you need to do is leave me a comment below, making sure you enter your email into the form where prompted (it’s not public). Please leave your comment before 12 noon (BST) on the 1st July 2016 – winners will be announced in the following Sunday Tittle Tattle. Good luck everyone – you can read more about the Vinoperfect Complexion Correcting Radiance Serum from Caudalie on their website here.