Nearly half of adults suffer from acne – I tested 3 skin products and the winner was £26

ALMOST half of Britons suffer from acne as adults, and I’m one of them.

So there aren’t many off-the-shelf stain solutions out there that I haven’t tried. Now there’s a new breed of treatments that tackle a lot more than just stains. So I put three of them to the test.

Budget

4

The Ordinary Balancing and Clarifying Serum, £20.20 for 30ml, theordinary.com:

Designed to reduce congestion, minimize shine, and improve the appearance of pores for clearer-looking skin, this new launch from The Ordinary takes the brand a step further than its single-ingredient roots.

The refined formula feels more luxurious than most other products from this brand that I’ve tried, and I also like that you don’t have to layer multiple products on top of each other to get effective results.

It is water based but left a slight oily residue which I didn’t like and I haven’t noticed any improvement in my breakouts yet. But it has definitely made my skin smoother.

The jury is still out.

Middle class

4

Kiehl’s Truly Targeted Blemish-Clearing Solution, £26 for 15ml, lookfantastic.com:

Kiehl’s was the first luxury skin care brand I tried and it has never disappointed me over the years.

This product was no exception and it is my favorite of the three I tried.

It creates a barrier over pimples so you can apply makeup over them during the day. You can also use it all over your face if you have large areas of pimples.

It reduced the redness and inflammation in my skin after the first use. I also noticed that it really helps bring under-the-skin spots to the surface faster, which is a godsend.

In addition to unclogging salicylic acid, it also contains niacinamide, which helps soften and visibly shrink pores, and licorice root, which makes skin glow.

I definitely notice the difference when I use this.

Luxury

4

Emma Lewisham Supernatural Blemish Face Serum, £68 for 30ml, spacenk.com:

This clever dual serum is actually a two-in-one product and is nothing like any topical treatments I’ve ever used.

Instead of relying on exfoliating actives, it uses probiotics to kill acne-causing bacteria on the skin’s surface, meaning there’s less chance of irritation or dryness. If you want dramatic results fast, this isn’t the product for you.

The results are gradual but once I stopped using this serum I could see the difference which is always a good sign. It has made my skin much calmer and smoother and I have noticed that my pimples don’t scar as badly when I use it.

Choice of the week

4

BARGAIN alert! The new LOOKFANTASTIC x Lorna Luxe Beauty Edit, £60 (but worth over £185), launched this week and is one of the best beauty bundles I’ve ever seen.

It features eight cult products from brands like ELEMIS, Elizabeth Arden and Philip Kingsley, six of which are full-size and the other two are generous travel sizes, so they’ll last you weeks, if not months. Buy now and be quick at lookfantastic.com.