There are some moments in your childhood that you never forget. For me, such landmark memories include meeting my best friend and seeing Colin Farrell [1]'s beautiful eyebrows for the first time. I remember my debut breakout less enthusiastically. I was 12, and a group of acne clusters rudely decided to throw a party on my face. The day after, my mother brought me to a Macy's beauty counter, where she introduced me to another cherished friend: Clinique foundation, my OG favourite that I still wear today. Twelve years after first testing it, I still get unwanted breakouts (it never ends, people), and I'm the type of person who doesn't feel super comfortable leaving the house without any base on.
Whoops, I should say I was that kind of person — until this week, when I've been going gloriously makeup-free [2]. Truth be told, I'm testing a lot of new skincare products right now that have brightened up my face in general, but I suspect one reason I'm so comfortable baring my acne-prone face is due to the Blume Meltdown Blemish Treatment [3] ($26). The tiny dropper's packageing promises to "take down pimples overnight," and after reading that, I actually huffed a "yeah, right" to no one in particular in my empty apartment's bathroom. The treatment is a mix of mostly celebrity-approved oils such as rosehip (responsible for Kate Middleton's glow [4]), olive (Chloë Grace Moretz is a fan) and tamanu (many influencers swear by the Farsali iteration [5]). That said, adding oils to a greasy complexion can be somewhat ill-advised, and it's not recommended to treat cystic acne, so I wasn't sure if it would make my face worse.
To be very careful, I used only one drop — not a bit more — for my entire face. It sort of works like the liquid version of an acne patch, sucking the gunk out of your face like a magnet. I went to bed with a little bump forming on my face, and when I woke up the mark was still there, but it looked much less threatening. In less than a week, all active breakouts where gone. I still have some light scarring that I'm treating with other products, but my new complexion is clear enough that I'm willing to trot it around town uncovered. (TMI alert: this formula also works great on stubborn ingrown hairs.) I'll still keep my Clinique base close — I'm not ready to go full Alicia Keys [6] just yet — but it's great to prove the cliche of "feeling comfortable in your own skin" true.
