Well helloooo! Happy New Year! How was your Christmas? I had almost a whole two weeks off (we’re not counting the quick post I did on Boxing Day sales, mmmkay?) and it was absolutely lovely. I had the most wonderful Christmas with Teddy having a great time, so I’ll share a few pictures of that soon. Since so many of you come here looking for help with spot-prone skin, I thought I’d do a bit of an overview of some products that I’ve found to be really effective at treating spots, as well as a few that help with the associated issues of having an acneic skin type. All of these are regularly featured in my fight against spots and all of them apart from one (you’ll see what I mean) will get replaced when finished. These are products I depend on and find really do work, so let’s have a closer look:
First up, here are the five products that I genuinely believe have a significant impact on spots, either by getting rid of existing ones, cutting short the lifespan of erupting ones or even preventing new ones forming altogether. As you can see, it’s a good mix of high street and luxury, so hopefully there’s something here for you to try if you haven’t already.
Starting off with one of my all-time favourite products, which is Biologique Recherche P50. Pictured is P50W, which is a more gentle form that’s a bit more tailored to my skin type (great for those who are a little sensitive too) and it’s definitely the one that suits my skin type perfectly, although having tried all three (there’s the original P50 and P50V too) I can say that I love them all and they all work really well. I’m a hardcore believer in the benefit of decent acids featuring in your skin routine, especially if you’re spot-prone, and the BR P50 is the very best acid toner you can get your mitts on. You can find Lotion P50W here – link – and I believe it’s around the £50 mark.
Straight on to a product that works really well with P50, which is the cult Serozinc from La Roche-Posay. There was all sorts of joy when this finally became available in the UK last year (it was last year, right?) and with good reason as it’s a real star of a product for tricky skin. It’s soothing, calming and purifying whilst adding a little hydration, making it ideal for use after acid toning or cleansing. I also think it works really well as a barrier type product that’ll stop other products creating additional skin problems, so I tend to make sure my spot-prone areas are well sprayed with this before I try new products as an extra precaution. Of course I don’t know if it does actually work in that way, but I feel like it does! It’s widely available now, with the cheapest I can find it being Escentual for £5.66 here – link.
The Avene TriAcneal Expert is one of the very best spot-fighting products to launch recently and is ideal for typical acne-prone skin. If you’re oily or dehydrated and need a hydrator that will not only effectively hydrate your skin and fight your spots, this product is perfect. For me, it isn’t hydrating enough as my skin is so dry, especially during the winter months, so whilst I was impressed by the spot-fighting ability of this, I ended up giving up on it because I couldn’t get the hydration level right without using so much additional product that I worried it would dilute the effectiveness. I thought it was important to include it in the list though as it really does work brilliantly on spots. Cheapest I can find is £17.25 here – link.
The Murad Blemish Clearing Solution is my favourite spot treatment as it’s soooo good at getting rid of spots. It’s also a great investment product as you only need a small amount, it works really quickly and it doesn’t dry out the surrounding skin, so it’s pretty much perfect! I think this is a product that deals with active spots (rather than preventing new ones forming) but I had a stress and binge related breakout over the Christmas break and this worked amazingly quickly on getting rid of the spots without causing any other problems. I use this after cleansing and toning before applying moisturiser, I let it dry, then apply my moisturiser, let that dry, then apply another layer of this. You get 50ml for £29.50 and that will last for absolutely ages – link.
Finally on to a product that I’ve had for a while but haven’t reviewed yet, but I will be featuring it in the next Mask Monday, which is the ZO Skin Health Sulfur Masque. If you get spots but don’t enjoy the feeling of a clay mask, this is the one for you as it’s an extremely effective spot-fighting mask that soothes, reduces redness, calms irritation and just generally does all the things you want a spot-fighting mask to do. I use this as a spot treatment – if I’m having a breakout, I apply it to the breakout area and leave it there for anything up to a few hours (I’ll usually wash it off before bed) and it makes a big difference. This is £34 and you can find your local stockist here – link.
Those are the products that I think really help with spot-prone skin. Here are three more products that I think help with problems associated with the fun and games that come with using products to fight acne, such as dryness, dehydration, scarring and general reactivity.
A while ago I did a trial for Jan Marini with varying levels of success (it did work…eventually) and I remember using the Bioglycolic Face Cleanser, however, I don’t remember loving it half as much as I do this time around. It’s a brilliant, albeit extremely powerful, glycolic acid cleanser that packs a serious punch but gets to work straight away on lumps, bumps, spots and scars. If you’re new to it, ease yourself in gently, but after using it daily for around three weeks I have definitely seen a marked improvement in the red marks leftover from breakouts, which is an extremely tricky thing to get rid of. It’s £26 here – link – for over 200ml of product, and as you only use one pump each time, this’ll definitely last a good while.
If you’re really struggling with acne then you’ll likely be using some strong products, with the annoying consequence of dried-out, dehydrated skin. A good hydrating serum is essential and the Hylamide Low-Molecular HA is absolutely ideal for spotty skin types as it leaves no residue – it sinks in more quickly than anything I’ve ever known – leaving skin feeling hydrated and plumped without any greasiness. This feels like a really corrective product that makes a big difference at a very decent price, so if you’re ever prone to dryness this is well-worth adding to your kit. It’s £18 here – link.
Finally, the product to end all products, which is the amazing DHC Resveratrol Cream. This is the richest product I’ve ever used that doesn’t break me out, so I end up with skin that feels incredibly nourished and looks really well hydrated, without suffering the breakouts that usually arrive when using rich products. Every time I try a new moisturiser I always end up coming back to this one, and I will replace this every time I run out. I currently use this as a day cream (trying a new night cream – another good’n) but this works as a day and night cream and sits really well under make-up, making it the ideal all-rounder and an especially good investment for anyone using harsh, drying products to tackle acne. It’s £43 here – link.
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