For some reason my skin seems to be playing up A LOT lately. As someone who *touch wood* has fairly normal skin and few blemishes, I’m obviously super annoyed that right now I seem to be getting a lot of little pimples popping up. While I try and work out what’s causing it, I wanted to share my go-to natural acne skincare routine. This skincare routine offers a real focus on skin-clearing ingredients and plenty of hydration – when we get blemishes or pimples we tend to avoid hydrating and moisturising, which in turn makes it worse. So please, always hydrate acne prone skin!
Here’s the products I’m loving right now and how I’m using them….
My Natural Acne Skincare Routine
Cleanser
The Juliet Anti-Blemish Cleanser from Antipodes has been my go-to for forever now and I use this even when my skin is behaving. It’s such a beautiful natural cleanser that gently removes makeup, oil and dirt from the skin. Containing Manuka Honey and antioxidant-rich Vinanza Grape & Kiwi, it works to fight blemishes naturally and balance oil production. I use this every morning when it’s time to cleanse.
For night time, I always use my Oh Natural Soft Launch Cleanser first, followed by the Eco By Sonya Super Citrus Cleanser – another fab cleanser for literally every skin type, but I find it really good for keeping the skin clean without stripping the skin of it’s moisture.
Salicylic Acid
I love the Salicylic Acid 2% from the Ordinary. It’s high-powered, affordable and does a great job of helping to calm down active breakouts and remove texture from the skin. It helps to exfoliate the skin, removing impurities, and reduce blemishes. It’s also great to use if you have larger pores as it helps to shrink them. I don’t use this all over my face – just on blemishes and any areas that have texture. For a BHA, it’s also not super drying which is great and doesn’t sting the skin.
Serum
I have two serums I use religiously with breakouts (and to be fair, even without to keep my skin looking blemish-free!) The first is one I have been using daily for years now, the Niacinamide 10% and Zinc 1% from the Ordinary. This one helps to balance texture, pore size and sebum production, making it a fab serum for whether you have blemished skin or not. It’s a holy grail in my skincare routine and I apply it every morning before makeup.
During this rough patch with my skin, I’ve also been using the Antipodes Credo Probiotic Anti-Blemish Serum. This has been my first time using this serum, so still early days, but it has great reviews and is formulated perfectly to help balance the skin, strengthen the skin barrier, and create a happy home on the skin for good bacteria. So far my first impressions are it’s a beautiful serum, leaves my skin looking glowy, and it smells amazing. I have high hopes for this one!
Moisturiser
Hydration is a MUST for acne prone skin, but you also want to make sure you aren’t using anything too heavy – which can block pores and create more issues. I’ve been using the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturiser, which I’ll be honest came as part of a Glow Recipe set that I’ve been trying out. It’s a very light-weight moisturiser that smells amazing and feels really hydrating on the skin. It’s designed to moisturise the skin and contains BHA to help keep pores clear and clean. The only reason I’m not 100% sold on this one, is that I feel like maybe it’s a little too light for every day use. So while I’ll use it up as part of my routine, I’m not certain I’d repurchase this one.
Face Mask
I love the Eco By Sonya Face Compost Purple Power Mask (weird name, yes I know). This is a detoxifying clay mask designed to draw out impurities from the skin. It’s an antioxidant mask which helps to make the skin look and feel clean and clear. It definitely is fab for brightening, and I’ll use this one every few days when I have active breakouts to help calm them down.
The other mask I love using is another Antipodes product, the Aura Manuka Honey Face Mask. This one again contains honey for antibacterial properties, and is designed to support blemished skin. So much so, you can actually use this mask as a targeted spot treatment for blemishes! Again I’ll use this one every few days, alternating with the Face Compost to ensure I’m balancing hydrating and deep detoxifying.
Pimple Patches
And sometimes when the blemishes are really annoying, I’ll pop on one of the Essano Happy Skin SOS Pimple Patches. These are clear and also help to reduce the redness and obviousness of your pimples, while treating them with hydrocolloid, zinc and niacinamide. These help to absorb impurities from the skin and are designed to help clear your acne faster. Are they magic workers? No, but I find using one overnight on small blemishes helps get rid of them. Larger ones take a few applications.
TLDR;
You can tell that I generally go between a handful of brands for my skincare – and this is true whether it is for acne prone skin or for my daily go-to skincare regime. I really love The Ordinary* for their serums (niacinamide, salicylic acid, and their caffeine eye cream). Eco By Sonya is fab for their citrus cleanser, face masks, skin oil). Antipodes for cleansers, face masks, moisturisers, and serums.
*I should note that The Ordinary technically isn’t natural, but the three products I use and recommend are rated as low toxicity on the EWG Skin Deep database. If you are thinking about using The Ordinary I encourage you to check out the database.
