Know Your Product Series: Acne Treatment
- July 11th, 2008
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Since it is mid-July and the heat is steamy and humid, I think it’s a good time to talk about acne prevention and treatment! In this humidity anyone can have oily overload. Last week I did and I used my typical acne routine. I cleansed, used Blemish Control Toner Formula 3, Night Solution, and moisturizer. So, the focus is acne treatment and oil control products.
1. Blemish Control Toner Formula 3*: This product contains 2% salicylic acid. This is a very effective treatment for acne. When I first started using this product I couldn’t use it daily and I still don’t. If I use it too often I get too dry and flaky. Instead, I use this product only in the case of a breakout. When I use this product day and night for 3 straight days; the pimple is gone! If you are someone who has a tendency toward extreme oiliness, you may want to use this daily. Remember that acne treatment products are to be applied as close to clean skin as possible. This means it is to be applied after the cleanser and before any other products.
The salicylic acid is the active ingredient that treats the acne and keeps it from coming back. Other ingredients: Alcohol Denat. , Citric Acid , Dimethicone , Dioctyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate , Eucalyptus Oil , Menthol , Propylene Glycol , Silica , Water
2. Acne Treatment Gel*: The active ingredient in this product is 5% Benzoyl Peroxide. This is a product I can use daily to prevent acne in the future. It is creamy and less drying to my skin. Now, I know people who feel the other way around in regard to Blemish Control Toner and Acne Treatment Gel. That is, they sue the toner daily and only use the cream during a breakout. I have crazy skin. So it is always best to see what works best for you. Other ingredients in this product are Aesculus Hippocastanum (Horse Chestnut) Seed Extract , Butylene Glycol , Butylparaben , Carbomer , Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract , Diethylhexyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate , Disodium EDTA , Echinacea Purpurea Extract , Ethylparaben , Glycerin , Isobutylparaben , Methylparaben , Phenoxyethanol , Poloxamer 182 , Propylene Glycol , Propylparaben , Silica , Sodium Hydroxide , Water
3. Time Wise™ Night Solution: This product contains vitamin supplements as well as a light exfolliant. Whenever I have a stubborn breakout I use this product even during the day. It reduces oiliness in the skin. This is why it is typically not to be used both during day and night. The moisturizer in the Day Solution is designed to counteract the drying qualities of the Night Solution. In extreme cases, I wear both during the day.
4. Oil Control Lotion: This is a lightweight moisturizer with oil absorbers. This is to be applied after acne products and after Day/Night Solutions. A friend of mine likes to refer to this as the “Oil Sucking Lotion.” It is quite an accurate description of what it does. It absorbs excess oil while maintaining skin’s natural moisture so as not to allow the skin to become too dry. This is an excellent alternative to the Velocity moisturizer as Oil Control Lotion contains no fragrance.
5. Oil Mattifier: This product doesn’t fight acne, but it does cut down on oiliness. This can go on before or after moisture. It keeps shine to a minimum and is a one-time application in the morning.
6. Beauty Blotters: In order to control oil throughout the day one can carry a packet of Beauty Blotters with her. These are linen tissue papers that absorb oil without affecting makeup. I love these in a pinch!
*Acne Treatment Gel and Blemish Control Toner are considered OTC drug items and are, therefore, regulated by the FDA. Keep in mind that Salicylic Acid and Benzoyl Peroxide are to be kept out of the reach of children.
I hope this information has helped you. If you have an acne treatment tip, feel free to share! 
This has been another edition of Fight the Frump with Fussypants.
Tags: Acne Treatment, Beauty School, Cosmetics, Know Your Product, Skin Care
Pink Biz
Shades of Pink
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Shades, good information. You know MK has a product for every skin type we just need to know how to use them. Thank you for breaking it down. I do read about the products however it is always good to get the information from someone that uses these products and tells what they do on their skin. Personally I have normal skin and I am so thankful. I have never had oily or blemished skin however my daughter does and she is 13 and doesn’t do these things everyday. I tell her and then I get the look and then she will go and do it. Oh well. She will learn I tell her that she has to take care of her skin now because it does make a difference.
I let her and her twin were mascara and eye shadow and lip gloss. They don’t usually wear it however she is at cheercamp this week and took her make up so…I hope that she puts it on hehehhe.
Well have a BLESSED DAY.
Shades of Pink~
WOW!!! Wonderful post. I have to get my blog going. I am new to the whole blogging world as I said before but how do I get all this different types of information and options on my blog like you have? Did you have to pay for you blog? Blogspot and wordpress are free blogs, is there a reason why you did not use one of those?
Thanks, Bren. You are lucky to have normal skin. I have combination skin and it is very finicky (if skin can be finicky). I have to trial and error all the time. If my skin gets too dry and I treat it like oily skin, I break out. If I get oily and I treat it like oily skin, I flake!
To be honest, Mary Kay is the first skin care line that has managed to keep my skin balanced.
I am with you Shades! Oily, blemish-prone (at least 2 weeks of the month), sensitive skin! I find that I use the TimeWise Oily/Combo Skin Care with Day/Night Solution daily… Blemish Control Toner all over my face at night, and Acne Treatment Gel morning (and sometimes night). I use the Oil Mattifier on my chin and forehead daily!
Now… my skin didn’t start acting like this til I was over 35!LOL Go figure! Before then, I was DRY,DRY,DRY!!!!!!!
Rachel, my blog started on wordpress.com, but there are a lot of limits on what you can put on a blog there. Blogspot has more freedom than wordpress so if you want to use AdSense on a Blogger (blogspot) blog, you can do that. Personally, I wanted my own domain and host so I could have maximum freedom.
LOL! SCM, I used a mall brand (mentioned somewhere on All About Me) that wreaked havoc on my skin. I had pretty balanced skin as a teen. I didn’t start having issues with breakout until I was in my early 20’s. I started using skin care and eventually decided skin care was bad.
Then I was introduced to MK and I haven’t had a problem since. Once in awhile I get a small breakout, but using the above products has worked wonders!
Thanks for visiting my blog, this morning to comment on my Grace. Thanks for posting of the acne issue. I am so relating to this problem. In Texas, it is hot and humid. I feel like I am one big oily mess and my forehead is showing it. Your info is helpful.
Most tinted moisturizers break my forehead out.
I thought about doing my own domain but I just order business cards with my blogspot info on them. When you create domain can I keep both the blog and domain up and keep them fairly similar names? That way I can just write my correct domain on the cards when they come in and put a link on my blog that links to my own domain.
What do you think?
Hi Jackie W! The moisturizers I have mentioned in this post are not tinted if that helps you. Mary Kay does make a tinted moisturizer, but I do think it’s a little greasy. It hasn’t broken me out, but it just has a different feel to it. I wear it underneath my mineral powder foundation and they work well together.
One suggestion I could make (whether you use MK or not) is to maybe use some type of toner or anti-acne product before applying the tinted moisturizer. That could at least counter the oiliness it is producing in your skin.
Rachel, you certainly could do that. I used godaddy.com to register my domain. You can go there and see if the domain you want is available. They run about $10 per year to register and maintain. Getting a private host is another story. That can cost anywhere from $50 per year to $200+ per year depending on the host and what you want to be able to do. Fortunately, for me, my designer is family.
Rachel if you get your own domain and wordpress site then try - http://themes.wordpress.net - theres hundreds of free themes there including pink ones and cosmetic related ones too.
If you are thinking of getting your own domain I reckon it’s best to go for it now before you invest a lot of time in your other site.
My main goal here is to promote my business and provide good customer service. Along with helping others. I think I will just stick with what I have for now. I don’t have any money invested….just time. I barely know what I am doing on my blog and much less trying to expand to a website.
Those are my goals, too. I want to master selling the product and providing top notch customer service. This is just a new tool.
How long have you been in MK? I think I read somewhere 4 years. Is that right? I have 5 years in as of next week!
I started MK as a hobby. Now I am taking it more seriously as a business. I have some lofty goals for this year.
The tinted moisturizer makes my skin an oil slick
I only wear it when I go to the gym (at 4:30 am) when not many people will see me, but I can’t make myself go “bare” 
I agree….. MAKE your business a selling one and you will do much better!
I can’t wear the tinted moisturizer by itself. I made that mistake on vacation. I took a yoga class on the beach and was thinking, tinted moisturizer and it has SPF 20! Yea! Doubled with the Day Solution SPF 25 I had it made, right? WRONG! It was so humid and hot and the yoga was more rigorous than I expected. I was sweatin’ bullets! LOL I think it all ran right off my face! Shoulda gone with the actual sunscreen SPF 30 and waterproof!
Thanks for your encouragement, SCM.