Product Review: Mario Badescu's Acne Repair Kit

This blog post is two and a half weeks in the making! For those past 2.5 weeks, I have been testing out the Mario Badescu Acne Repair Kit (see previous post here). I wanted to give it a good test run before I posted what I thought. Well, ladies, here's my review:

This stuff works!!!

Let me start by saying this kit is mainly for spot treatment. I do not think it was meant for prevention, although one product in the kit may help some (I will get to that in a moment). This kit includes 3 products: the Drying Lotion, the Drying Cream, and the Buffering Lotion. So what are all these creams and lotions about? I'm glad you asked . . .

The Drying Lotion

The Drying Lotion comes in a glass bottle. It has pink sediment in the bottom of the glass and clear liquid at the top. DO NOT SHAKE this bottle. To apply, you are supposed to dip a clean q-tip into the pink sediment and then apply to pimples at bedtime. It is called "drying lotion" because it dries small pimples and whiteheads up overnight! I am totally a believer in this stuff! In my experience with it, I have seen pimples totally disappear overnight. It doesn't always work that miraculously on every pimple, but at the very least, they are smaller and have faded a significant amount by the next day.

The only con to the drying lotion is this:

It dries a calamine-colored pink and you end up looking like you have the chicken pocks every night when you go to bed. My husband is used to it by now, but for the first few nights, he had to crack some jokes about the pink dots on my face. In my opinion, though, it's totally worth enduring some sidecrack comments for the results!

(Another possible con that I've read about with this lotion is flakey skin. Since my skin is oily in the areas where I use this lotion, I have only seen minimal flaking. And since the flaking usually only occurs after the pimple is dried up and gone, I would choose slightly flakey vs. pimple any day of the week).

The Drying Cream

The drying cream comes in a small white tub. It is thick and light yellow and smells like sulfur. The sulfur smell is not too bad, but it's not pleasant. I use the drying cream mainly in the morning under my makeup for new (or in-the-process-of-healing) breakout areas. It has a slight concealing effect and can be blended into the skin easily- perfect for wearing under foundation. This is the product I mentioned earlier that I believe has some preventative properties. On the Mario Badescu website, it says this cream can be used in areas known to be problem spots to help prevent breakouts. My skin has been looking pretty good lately, so I will continue to use this. 

The Buffering Lotion

How much do I love this product?? Let me count the ways! This lotion is specifically for large, under-the-skin pimples or cysts. The kind you can feel coming for days that just keep getting bigger and bigger no matter what you do. Well, say hello to kryptonite! This lotion literally stops them in their tracks. It prevents them from getting bigger and shrinks them more and more until they are gone. This is not an overnight miracle product like I mentioned with the drying lotion. You have to use it every night for a few days to a week. But if you've ever had a cystic pimple that's lasted for weeks to a month, you will be singing hallelujah that there's something to prevent them from growing and actually shrinks them in size! You need to SHAKE THIS LOTION before applying at bedtime, and it's more like solution than lotion. It is milky white and runny and kinda hard to put on your face before it runs down your finger. You gotta be quick putting this one on!

So my consensus is (if you can't tell already) try this kit! If you go to Mario Badescu's website, click on "Consulting", and fill out a questionnaire, they will send you free samples of the skin regimen they pick for you. I didn't know about this until after I bought the kit, but I'm looking forward to trying the other products they offer as well.

Disclaimer: I know that everyone's skin is different, so I can't say for sure how this will work for you. These are my honest opinions on a product I bought myself.

And don't forget to enter my giveaway! You can enter up to 3 times to win a gorgeous 14k gold bracelet! I have one myself and LOVE it! Hurry and enter before the giveaway closes on March 4. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on March 5!