The Spot-Zapping Trio

We all know how this one goes: you wake up, wash your face, and suddenly a dull pain surfaces as you pass over a barely visible pinkish lump. It threatens to grow into an angry pimple, and you have to resign yourself to disappointment or frustration (or both) about the situation. In my case, this is followed by an irrational desire to pop the darned thing(s). However, when faced with my latest stress-induced breakout, I decided to kill the spots with kindness, and found a winning combination of three products that do the job just fine.

After cleansing, I dab a cotton pad soaked in Aveda's Exfoliant all over my face to rid my skin of any dull or dead cells. This mildly acidic solution helps to prep the skin for any treatments that are to follow, and to truly get the most out of them. When spots flare up, I trade in my Clarins Toning Lotion with Camomile for La Roche-Posay's Serozinc. This zinc sulfate toning spray helps to kill any remaining bacteria as well as to hydrate your skin a bit, so that it is ready for moisturiser. This product is not available in the UK, but I'm in Belgium at the moment, and one of the first things I did when I arrived was to leg it to the nearest pharmacy and get a can of this magic stuff. Now, many may equate this product to Evian's Brumisateur, but this is on a whole other level. I've only used Serozinc several times, but it seems to have given the pimples that extra kick up the backside to get them to really GO AWAY. I apply this quite liberally, mostly because I can't get enough of that refreshing feeling you get from a spray can... Someone rein me in before I buy up the whole pharmacy stock! On top of the (copious) Serozinc, I layer some of LRP's Effaclar Duo only on the areas where spots are appearing. This treatment is formulated for acne-prone and oilier skin types, and my skin is quite dry, hence my sparing application of this product. 

After using this routine for just two days, I have noticed a clear difference with the spots. In a sense, it feels as though I nipped it in the bud before the breakout became quite serious. On my skin, this combination of products does not bring pimples to a head more quickly. Rather, it makes them less painful and prominent, whilst drying them out ever-so-slightly so that they become nothing more than a layer of dead skin (lovely, I know, but such is the reality of pimple treatment). Let me reiterate that my skin is dry and sensitive, and then tell you that these products have neither irritated nor dried out my skin. It is gentle yet effective, and you really couldn't ask for more from this dream team of spot-zappers.