The Best Products For Acne-Prone Skin (And We’ve Tried Them All)

January 14 | 5 minute read

Words by MECCA Memo

Got a spot? If you don’t today, maybe you had one yesterday. Or perhaps you can feel one brewing under your skin (don’t you just hate that feeling?).

Whether they're caused by hormonal spikes (puberty, pregnancy, periods), or life in general (late nights, early mornings, sleeping in your makeup, gasp!), you’ve probably tackled a breakout (or ten) at some point. Either way these red spots can make us do crazy things, like applying toothpaste (please don't), or picking and popping (though deeply satisfying absolutely not worth the post-pigmentation marks).

The desire for a quick fix is understandable, but your best bet in beating breakouts is establishing a reliable skincare routine, utilising tried-and-tested pimple-clearing ingredients and formulas. Help it along its way with our top products to treat and prevent breakouts.

Best overnight breakout treatment

A pimple might feel all-consuming but remember: the lifespan from start to finish is only about eight days! If that can feel like a lifetime, try the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. The spot treatment is a bestseller for its blend of calming calamine and clearing salicylic acid, which work overnight to reduce the look of breakouts. You’ll notice the formula separates into a clear liquid on top and a powdery pink sediment on the bottom. You’ll want to shake it, but don’t! Instead, take a cotton tip and dip it through the clear liquid, into the sediment, then dab it onto the affected area. If you’re on the go, keep a stash of Mario Badescu Drying Patches on hand – an easy, on-the-go alternative to the lotion.

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Best liquid pimple patch

Put down the toothpaste! And pick up Kiehl’s Truly Targeted Blemish Solution. It does exactly what it says; it works like a pimple patch by creating a protective seal over the breakout, allowing the active ingredients – salicylic acid, niacinamide and licorice root – to do their thing, working to reduce visible redness and fade post-blemish marks. Apply a single drop to your fingertip, dab directly onto the blemish, spread into a thin layer then allow to fully dry. It’s undetectable, even under SPF and makeup.

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Best face mask for congestion

If you’re not exfoliating, or you have excess oil, congestion could be a main cause of your breakouts. Clear away dead skin cells and pore-clogging oils that create blackheads using the MECCA MAX X-ZIT Strategy Clarifying Mask. It combines antibacterial and detoxifying ingredients, like bamboo charcoal and kaolin clay, as well as lactic acid to gently exfoliate and sulfur to calm redness and irritation. Once applied, it works in just 5-10 minutes.

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Best in-shower breakout solution

As well as your targeted solutions, it’s an excellent idea to address the blemish-causing bacteria on the daily with your cleanser. The Kate Somerville EradiKate Daily Cleanser is a medicated, foaming formula that the Beverly Hills-based aesthetician designed specifically to help prevent and clear blemishes for her A-list patients. With daily use, it helps to draw out impurities, unclog pores and keep skin clear. She’s popped in honey and rice bran to help calm inflamed skin, and oat extract to balance sebum production. Leave it on the skin for at least 30 seconds to allow the ingredients enough time to do their best work.

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Best blemish serum

If burning breakouts off with harsh products has left you scarred (literally and figuratively), Emma Lewisham's Supernatural Blemish Face Serum with Live Skin Probiotic is a much (much!) gentler solution and one of the few products we’ve found to actually prevent breakouts and keep skin clear in the first place. Every dose includes 350 million live probiotic cells that actually live on your skin to help support the microbiome, promoting a clear, balanced and glowing complexion. Use it directly on blemishes after cleansing to help reduce their appearance, or apply daily as a preventative to maintain radiant skin.

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Best blackhead treatment

Blackheads, those little black dots that generally appear through the T-zone and are often rough in texture, are actually a build-up of oil and dead skin cells inside an open pore. They’re stubborn little things, and a chemical exfoliant is your best chance at keeping your pores free of any build-up. Glow Recipe’s Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Serum™ helps to decongest and dissolve dead skin cells with a combination of salicylic acid and mandelic acid, along with strawberry water, leaf extract and enzymes to reduce excess oil and even skin tone. As a preventative measure, we recommend committing to a nightly double cleanse, then applying two pumps of this serum onto slightly damp skin, before following with moisturiser.

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Best blemish routine

Thanks to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, tea tree oil is known to be an effective ingredient when it comes to clearing blemishes – and countless other ailments, ostensibly. Enter Dr.Jart+’s Teatreement™ Collection, formulated with Australian Tea Tree Leaf to help balance oily, blemish-prone skin along with niacinamide to help control oil and brighten skin. The collection includes the TeaTreement Cleansing Foam, TeaTreement Toner and TeaTreement Moisturiser. In other words, a full routine that, with consistent use, not only helps clear blemishes but rebalances skin’s PH levels without the drying effects you find with many breakout treatments.