With suffering from acne prone skin (primarily on my chin and jawline thanks to PCOS) and hearing loads of rave reviews on La Roche-Posay's products I decided to give their range a shot and after 4 weeks of use I feel confident in giving a review on what I have tried.

Purifying Foaming Gel For Oily Sensitive Skin rrp £11 200ml 

A foaming gel cleanser that's tested on blemish prone skin and is designed to gently purify skin and eliminate impurities and excess oil. You can't knock the amount of product that you get for your money and the cleanser itself is nice, it foams well and leaves skin feeling clean and not at all tight as some cleansers for oily skin do.

Effaclar Clarifying Lotion rp £11 200ml

Another product in their range designed for blemish prone skin and comes highly recommended by thousands of dermatologists to help reduce excess oil levels and unblock pores. I like the cooling effect of this toner after cleansing and it does leave my skin feeling squeaky clean without drying it out and again the amount of product you get for your money is undeniably good value.

Physiological Ultra-Fine Cleansing Scrub rrp £10 50ml 

I have a bit of a soft spot for exfoliators and with this one promising effective results with its soap-free and alcohol-free formula I couldn't resist adding it to my routine. Firstly this scrub smells lovely, kind of a mix between baby wipes and a floral smell which is a pleasure to use however it doesn't do much on the exfoliating front. It's more like a cleanser with a few exfoliating beads in it which leaves you feeling like you need to use more. For the mere 50ml for the price and the amount you need to use I wouldn't purchase again, I have exfoliators in my bathroom cabinet that deliver better results for half the price.

Effaclar A.I Targeted Breakout Corrector rrp £9.50 15ml

Suffering from at times large cyst type spots on my jawline I like to apply something intensive to said spot before bed to try and get some of the inflammation down by morning and La Roche-Posay's appealed to me as it claimed to be wearable under make-up and intensely purge imperfections. Let me start by saying however little of this product you use you will not be able to apply make-up over the top, it has a bitty texture to it when it's dried that makes it totally obvious you have something under your make-up. I tried using it only at night after cleansing and toning and it does nothing for getting down spots. If you suffer from large spots like I do then I highly recommend Clinique's Anti-Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel to get angry spots down without drying them out.

Effaclar Duo Ant-Blemish Cream rrp £15.50 40ml

I love the texture of this cream, it feels smooth to apply, however my skin does not like this product. This cream promises to unblock pores, fight off shine and fight against the appearance of marks and scars and I can honestly say my skin texture has got worse after a month of using it. It's recommended you apply to the whole face morning and night but I had to stop wearing it in the day as it was stripping my skin of moisture and left me with dry patches, something I've never experienced before with having oily skin.

I know when it comes to a new skincare routine you have to be patient to see the results you want but after a month of using this range my skin is getting worse and I'm having the worst break-outs I've had all year...when I get spots on my forehead you know there is something seriously wrong. 

I had high hopes for these products but they just don't work for me. Do you use La Roche-Posay products? What are your experiences with them?

Bad Skin Saviours

Unfortunately the majority of us mere mortals suffer from zit's every once in a while. It doesn't matter how well you cleanse, how well you eat, how much water you drink...you're going to get the occasional (or frequent if you're anything like me!) bad skin day. I thought I'd share with you some of the products I use to help me clear up those yucky little blighters...

Premae's Harmony Serum is one of my favourite spot-fighting weapons in my skincare arsenal. This amazing lightweight shine controlling serum preps skin for moisturiser and is great as either a mattifying primer or mixed with your foundation for a natural BB cream. The grape seed blended formula helps soothe redness and creates a defensive barrier against free-radicals, chemicalised make-up and the environment. If there was one skincare product I couldn't live without it would be this! My skin has cleared up no end since I started using it last year.

To nip spots at the bud I like to apply Clinique's  Anti-Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel just to the spot itself. This gel is in my opinion incredible, as soon as I feel a spot coming I apply and the majority of the time the spot doesn't actually come to a head, it just dies back down! Although powerful I don't find it drying on my skin, instead it forms a barrier over the spot and the active ingredients fight the swelling.

If I've had a particularly nasty spot or even if I've just had to give a little white-head a squeeze, I like to apply Sudocrem Antiseptic Healing Cream. I've been using this stuff for years for a multitude of purposes. I find it's excellent for quickly healing skin problems like spots or dry patches, there's always at least one tub of this stuff lying around the house!

Jodie

xoxo