CLINIQUE ANTI-BLEMISH SOLUTIONS CLINICAL CLEARING GEL

I’m pretty lucky in that my skin concerns don’t usually include acne. Generally my skin is dehydrated and I’m normally focused on fixing that, but I am blighted by hormonal outbreaks and blemishes. Since these aren’t really related to products, lifestyle or diet, it’s really frustrating to know they will arrive like clockwork every month, and undo all my good skincare work. It’s not exactly the most fun time of the month so having to worry about blemishes on top of everything else is something I could really do without and I dread them making an appearance! Since I’m more on the dehydrated/dry side I find a lot of spot clearing treatments are way too harsh for my skin and tend to make things worse, so when Clinique offered to let me trial their Anti-Blemish Solutions Clearing Gel, assuring me it wouldn’t be too harsh, I decided to give it a whirl.

I was using the gel alongside some other products from their 3 Step Blemish range but since I don’t suffer from breakouts all the time I mostly used the gel as a targeted treatment. I wanted to see how a different, more blemish-prone skin type would fare with it too so my other half kindly donated his face for experimental purposes. Matt used to have blemishes a lot but recently his skin has improved quite a bit (who said living with a beauty blogger didn’t have its perks?) although he is more blemish prone than I am and with a new work routine calling for earlier mornings and less sleep, he had a few active breakouts.

Although the 3 Step system wasn’t too harsh for my skin I mainly used my regular cleansing products and focused more on the gel for my blemish-fighting needs. You can apply a thin layer all over your face twice a day or just apply as a targeted spot treatment. As a spot treatment it can be used alongside other spot products but I don’t like to complicate things or go over the top when it comes to spot fighting, so I used it alone. Matt used the 3 Step more regularly than I did since his needs were a bit greater and he applied the gel all over his face underneath a light moisturiser.

We both found the Clearing gel really effective but not too harsh, although I did take extra care to moisturise and pamper my skin as I always do when I’m using anything to fight breakouts. As well as containing salicylic acid which is a wonder ingredient for fighting blemishes it also features Sea Whip to soothe and calm the skin, probably why it worked so efficiently but gently on my dehydrated skin. All in all, I’m really happy to have found something that clears up those hormonal breakouts whilst leaving my skin in an otherwise great state. It also dries quickly and isn’t too slippy or sticky to wear under makeup, which is great.

Anti Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel is available nationwide from 21st March 2014 at www.clinique.co.uk

*Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Clinique via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Clinique.