Cate Compares: Acne Spot Treatments

Hello everyone,

I hope you all are doing well and fighting this cold and flu season. I am still getting over my sickness which has lasted quite a while but I finally feel up to blogging again which is nice.

I hope you all have been checking out my awesome friend and co-writer's latest posts. She just did a really awesome baking post that you should check out by clicking here!

Today I am going to be comparing acne spot treatments. There are so many on the market and you can never tell which ones will work for your skin. Luckily, over the years I have accumulated and tried quite a few and I know which ones work for my skin so stay tuned to this post to find out which ones I would recommend and why.

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo Double Action Acne Treatment $20-$30

Let's not save the best for last. This acne spot treatment gets a lot of hype on blogs and youtube and rightly so. This one contains Benzoyl Peroxide which honestly, I find really drying, especially in the winter time but it does work. In fact, this is the only Benzoyl Peroxide (BP) formula that works for me. I will explain more when I talk about the other treatments but BP is usually too drying and I don't usually see a difference but this one really does work to zap the pimple very quickly.
*Quick Info: If you are in Europe or the United Kingdom, this product is not a spot treatment but a lighter version all over moisturizer.

Clean and Clear Advantage Mark Treatment $8.00

This is another acne spot treatment but this one contains Salicylic Acid (SA) as its main pimple fighter. Now SA is definitely better for my skin, in fact I only use cleansers now that contain a bit of it because it helps keep my skin from accumulating to many breakouts and this treatment does do the job. Now as far as the claim of reducing acne marks goes, the jury is still out because I do still get marks after breakouts so I am not sure how effective this is at keeping them away. But this is a really great affordable option for those of you who find SA better for your skin. 

Clean and Clear Persa-Gel 5 $9.00

This is one Benzoyl Peroxide (BA) that I really don't like. I found this to be way too drying for my skin, far much worse than the La Roche Posay one. This contains 5 percent BA which I think is a little too much. In the US evidently this is discontinued and they only sell Persa-Gel 10 which contains 10 percent BA which I can't even imagine how drying that formula would be. I found that with this, I would apply it and the next day, wake up with scaly dry patches n my skin and the spot would still be heavily visible. I would skip this one. 

Lush Grease Lightning Tea Tree Cleanser $14.00

This is the tamest acne spot treatment. It is made with Tea Tree Oil which is a natural alternative for healing breakouts. Now this one does not dry out skin but it does take longer to heal your spot so if you don't like waiting, I wouldn't recommend this for a quick fix. But I do find that even though it takes longer to heal, it heals fully and does not leave a pesky acne scar. So if you have the patience and don't want those annoying, harder to get rid of, discolouration scars this is a great option. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you use any of these products let me know in the comments below and if you have another acne spot treatment that you swear by also share that. 

- Cate.