Cleansers - For me, there are only two out there that actively help fight breakouts: REN's Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser (£18) and the Acne Facial Cleanser from Mario Badescu (£14.95). As much as I love a good balm/cream cleanser to keep my skin hydrated, I've fallen back on these two for the past year or so and am on my third tube of REN's offering. Impressive stuff. The Acne Facial Cleanser is quite tough to describe in terms of its texture. It almost feels a bit like a gel-oil hybrid so it does a great job of removing your makeup whilst containing ingredients such as salicylic acid, thyme extract and hyaluronic acid to get your skin back into tip-top condition. I've always found that this does a great job at clarifying the skin and keeping spots at bay. The REN cleanser almost feels like a face mask and you can really feel its clay content working. This is definitely one of my 'holy grail product's because it just works.
Treatments - Whilst there are many not-so-great products out there for blemish-prone skin, there are also some gems. One of the best that I've tried (and have repurchased about four times now) is La Roche Posay's Effaclar Duo (£13). This stuff is amazing; an absolute essential in my skincare kit. Very similar is Cleanance K from Avène (£10.50), an exfoliating moisturiser that keeps your skin clear and may be more suitable for sensitive skin. From my experience, both sit really well under makeup so are as great for daytime wear as they are in the night. As for actual spot busters, my pick of the crop would have to be Aesop's Control Gel (£15). My blemishes tend to get really dry and flaky and many other targeted treatments only make this worse, so the spots are harder to cover. Control gel contains aloe vera, which is great to soothing and nourishing skin whilst also tackling the problem with sodium ascorbyl phosphate and salicylic acid. Genius stuff. If you have more of an issue with acne type blemishes or milia, the Buffering Lotion from Mario Badescu (£15.95) might be worth a try. This really works well at bringing them to the surface and clearing your skin out. It's taken me a good few months now and I'm planning on picking up another bottle ASAP.
Masks - I've always found that a good cleansing mask can do wonders for blemished skin and have long turned to Lush's Mask of Magnaminty to sort my skin out when it's being a pain in the neck... This feels incredibly refreshing and a little bit tingle-y "so you know it's working". It's got a nice and clean ingredients list and is a relatively budget option at only £5.25/£9.25, depending on which size tub you buy. Alternatively, the Super Facialist Range by Una Brennan has a great Tea Flower Deep Clean Pore Purifying Clay Mask (£8.99) is a good option for clarifying the skin, but it is quite heavily fragranced so it might be one for those with sensitive skin to avoid. A recent acquisition of mine is Origins' Clear Improvements mask (£22), which seems to be taking number one spot at the moment. My skin just feels so much clearer for using it and although it is only early days, I think it's safe to say we're onto a winner here.
In addition, I think it's really important to look at what might be causing your blemishes. Not drinking enough water, having too much dairy and being stressed out can all contribute to bad skin so I'd really recommend thinking about that before you do anything else. I've recently started taking some supplements (am planning a post on this in a few weeks...) so this might be something to consider. Whilst there aren't any absolute miracle workers that will make a spot disappear straight away, these picks definitely help reduce the inflammation, dryness and size of blemishes so are definitely worth a try.
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