This is the Global Acne Treatment Kit Effaclar Duo+ from Laroche Posay. The three products come as a bundle, it retails on their website for $25.00 CAD. It is a line dedicated to clearing and preventing acne by creating an environment on your skin that allows it to function properly. 

I'm sure you guys have heard that people with acne-prone skin often have a disrupted microbiome (the overall environment of the skin). These products are specifically targeting the acne-causing bacteria present on the skin, and the inflammation that presents. They are great for oily, and combination acne-prone skin types. 

The main active ingredients in these products are the following:

• Niacinamide: a soothing ingredient for irritation, skin texture, oil production, inflammation, and hyper-pigmentation

• Salicylic Acid: a great exfoliator to clean out pores

• Zinc PCA: antibacterial, a salt that control acne, and the oil production in the skin

• Glycerin: humectant to attract water into the skin keeping it hydrated

The Cleanser

This is the Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel for Oily skin. It retails on their website as a stand-alone for $— CAD. This cleanser contains two of my favourite ingredients; Salicylic Acid and Niacinamide as mentioned above. The cleanser is anti-bacterial and regulates sebum production without over-exfoliating your skin. The product does however contain parfum/fragrance which you all know isn’t something I particularly enjoy. As a wash-off treatment, it doesn’t stay on the skin long enough to do any harm. I find the cleanser has a very light, indistinguishable scent so I wouldn’t say it is “highly fragrant,” it is last on the ingredient list. Most likely just to cover the scent of some of the other acids.

It has a light gel texture, and it foams to a soft consistency. When it comes to foaming cleansers, they can be very drying to the skin since they typically use a lot of alcohol to make it foam up. However, upon using it, I was very surprised that it leaves your skin feeling clean without stripping the skin, which is a plus for me since I love treating my skin with moisture and don’t want to give up my natural oils in order to get rid of my acne.

The Toner

This is Effaclar Micro-Exfoliant Astringent . It retails on their website for $22.00 CAD as a stand-alone product. This is a micro-comedone targeting product. It is an exfoliant containing BHA and LHA for whiteheads, blackheads and micro-comedones. It is suited for unclogging the pores. I never been a huge fan of astringents because they are drying to the skin I'm going, to be honest, this product contains alcohol and a little bit of parfum (as the last ingredient). Now, not all alcohols are drying, some are placed in skincare as texturizers and preservatives when they are at mild concentrations. In this product, Alcohol Denat is the second ingredient used. If that's something you are concerned about maybe this might not be the one for you. 

The first time I used the product, it did sting a bit. It wasn’t anything unbearable but it left just a little bit of redness on my skin, almost like putting tea tree oil on your skin does. I don't use this every day and not all over the face. I target specific areas of the skin. Like my active breakouts, and areas that I typically get whiteheads.

The Spot Treatment:

This is the Effaclar Global Acne Treatment Duo+. It retails on their website as a stand-alone for $25.00 CAD. It is an acne spot treatment that not only helps heal acne but also helps to prevent it from re-occurring. It also targets dark spots which is helpful because those take forever to get rid of. It has a beautiful creamy texture so it’s not at all drying, and absorbs quickly into the skin.

This Effaclar Duo + spot treatment has got to be my favourite out the line. It is essentially salicylic acid. It targets those whiteheads and blackheads but also inflammation in the skin (think cysts, papules, and pustules). It is also great for dark marks.

My Experience

I used the cleanser 2x a day and it left my skin feeling clean without a squeaky lean feeling. My skin felt so soft and smooth. I don’t think it’s necessary to put the astringent all over the face, and I rarely get blackheads only whiteheads so when they were active I would put this on those areas. Otherwise, I’d use it 2-3x a week to upkeep it and prevent them from forming. The spot treatment, as I said is what I loved the most. I’ve only ever used one Salicylic acid; the one from Clean and Clear, so this was a nice change and it really did help me.

I started using these products right before my menstrual cycle, which is when my acne acts up and this truly helped. I found it really good for my whiteheads and hormonal acne, some of the more painful nodules/cysts beneath the skin were gone or at least significantly reduced in size in just 3 days of applying these products.

Overall

I really enjoyed using this trio. I would repurchase the cleanser and the spot treatment. The toner, although I found it did help, I simply can’t get over the Denatured Alcohol being the second ingredient. For a short period of time, that’s fine, but over the long term, it may become drying and a bit irritating to the skin. Otherwise, I like this collection a lot for acne-prone skin.

These products were gifted to me.*