La Roche-Posay - Effaclar Duo

La Roche-Posay's Effaclar line is intended for those who are prone to breakouts and/or have oily or combination skin. The line has everything from cleansers to spot treatments to moisturizers, but this product is more of a treatment serum.

The product website lists the benefits: 

Effaclar Duo has been rigorously formulated to act on the 2 major clinical signs of acne prone-skin:

• Acne pimples: its formula dries and helps clear up acne pimples and allows skin to heal.
• Clogged pores: its formula penetrates pores to prevent acne pimples.

I just use it under my regular moisturizer (at night, in the morning or both) whenever my skin is having a teenage flashback. Though it is a blemish treatment, and though it does contain salicylic acid, I find that it's much more gentle than most others I've tried. It doesn't cause any dry patches or skin irritation and doesn't burn, sting or cause my skin to feel tight when applied.

This is an important point because I've found most blemish treatment products focus only on drying up the blemishes and removing excess (or all) oil from the skin, entirely overlooking the fact that blemished skin is usually irritated and sensitive. So you have to choose between either dealing with the blemishes and making the overall condition of the skin more angry and aggravated, or soothing sensitivity and ending up with more blemishes. I didn't believe a product existed that addressed both issues simultaneously, but here it is!

It's quite a thin, serum-like consistency that spreads easily and absorbs into the skin instantly. Which is great, because you can put it on under other products. The scent is lovely and subtle as well - another thing I usually can't say about blemish treatment products.

 I've been using this for hormonal breakouts, and the first morning I woke up after using it, I could see visible improvement, and it seemed to help reduce the number of new breakouts with continued use. Obviously I'm not the usual target audience for blemish products, being in my early 30s, but hey, we get breakouts too and it's great to find a product that doesn't cause other skin problems. Two thumbs up!