La Roche-Posay - Effalcar Duo [+] - £15.50 ℅ Escentual
As a teenager, I suffered with acne and had a permanently spotty face and back. It wasn't so nice, but I got used to it. I tried many treatments, to not much use, but was very lucky in that I eventually grew out of it. My back cleared and the majority of my face cleared, leaving me with just a few patches that were a little trickier to shift. I've always kept this patch down the left side of my face, starting at my temple, that would come and go, and get bigger and smaller, but never seemed to disappear. Don't get me wrong, it is particularly mild and not too much bother, but as an adult, having spots that just won't shift isn't really ideal. They are perfectly concealable and my hair covered the majority of it when it is down, and I'd just got used to it really.
I got the opportunity to try out La Roche-Posay's new offering recently and thought I'd give it a go, not really expecting it to do so much, but persevered, and couldn't have been more happy with the results. The current patch of spots had been the same for months, starting at my temple reaching down to my neck, so was quite happy to give anything a go that might be able to help.
After receiving it, I used it morning and evening for 2 weeks to give it a good run (and am continuing to use it now.) I stupidly didn't take a before photo, only taking one after one day of use, but really wish I did so I could show you the immediate reduction in redness I noticed. Each spot seemed duller than the day before and a bit less angry looking, which really impressed me after so little time.
By the end of week one, I noticed the redness considerable reduced and the smaller spots already beginning to fade. My skin was smoother with the lumps under the spots already much flatter, and the blocked pores in the area shrunken and fewer in number. By the end of week two, all of the marks you can see in the picture are flat, leaving me with many fewer spots and bumps smoothed out. The majority of the blocked pores have gone. It is in fact, hardly red at all, with only a few pink spots, the rest being the brown scarring that was left underneath, with that already seeming paler and beginning to fade.
Obviously, you can see that this isn't some magical product that makes spots disappear overnight, but I wouldn't expect that to be possible. I personally am absolutely thrilled with the results. For a patch that hasn't budged for months, to have faded so much in just a two week period has really impressed me. It has also done much more than expected, by not just minimising the spots themselves, but also redness, bumps and pores included.
The product itself has a light fresh scent, almost citrusy, and feels almost oily on application, but leaves skin feeling soft and smooth with no residue. It doesn't sting, especially on sorer patches which is much more than I can say for other treatments I have tried in the past. If you have problem skin such as mine, I can't recommend this enough. I can't wait to see the results in a months time, and am hoping that thus will eventually fade altogether!Labels: review, skin, skincare