I'm back on the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo+ bandwagon. This is one of those products that you need to use for a good couple months to see a real effect, and I'm still in that in-between stage right now. Essentially, it's a cream that helps prevent breakouts and reduce scarring. As of right now it's not done a huge amount in prevention, but I have noticed my scarring fading much faster than it has while I stopped using this cream - making me question why I stopped in the first place!
I've been a fan of face oils, particularly serum-in-oils, for a while now, but when these breakouts kept happening I wondered if it was because I was being too heavy-handed with products. I switched out my rich moisturiser (more on that in a sec) and decided to go for a simple serum to replace my usual picks. I'd heard about the Indeed Labs Hydraluron Moisture Serum, a pretty simple product that seemed to fit the bill. I actually really love using it - it feels a bit glue-like at first but once it's patted into the skin it sinks in so fast and just leaves my face feeling refreshed and ready for my moisturiser to be applied. This doesn't look like much on the skin (such as oils making you look pretty glowy) but I can feel that it's doing its job.
For moisturiser I knew I needed to go for something light, but still wanted a little richness. I settled on La Roche Posay's Toleriane Ultra (which is clearly well used!). This is specifically for sensitive skin, which I'm not totally sure if I have or not, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt to treat my breakouts as 'sensitive' anyway. It's a lovely cream that feels really light but still like it's doing a good job, and I strangely love how it's in a little pump instead of a normal squeezy tube or pot!
So there we go, the new bits I'm using. I still like to use the Pixi Glow Tonic as an exfoliator, and a little spritz of Lush's Tea Tree Toner. I've held onto a few other mists and my oils in the hopes that I'll use them on particularly lackluster days, but for now I'm happy with my simple routine and using the odd face mask every now and then to try and tackle the breakouts.
It goes without saying that some of the breakouts are probably hormonal and that I need to assess what might be triggering it in my diet, but at least this is one way that I can try and help. Leave me any tips you have below!