My (Acne) Skin Care Routine

This is what I do morning and night and it has helped keep my acne at by while also helping reduce my acne scars. I have super oily skin with mild acne/moderate and super huge pores. Using this routine I still get ~1 – 2 pimples a month (due to hormones) but it’s a lot less than what I used to get. This routine has also drastically reduced my acne scars (thanks to the Olay Complexion Renewing Lotion).

(I have the Proactiv toner in a pump dispenser so it's easier to use)

Night

St. Ives Acne Scrub (I know this is bad but I use this to take off my tinted moisturizer, and it does come off after I use this! It works for me because with my oily skin, 30-40% of my tinted moisturizer has already disappeared from my face throughout the day)

Proactiv Toner (to remove excess scrub/makeup – I notice that when I skip this step, I get a few more pimples than normal even if I use the acne treatment)

Olay Pro-X Complexion Renewing Lotion (The best dark spot correct I have tried, hands down. There were noticeable results within the first week of use.)
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel - Best gel moisturizer ever. Pretty standard moisturizer, it helps keep my face soft and I just love it!

Proactiv Step 3 - Acne treatment w/ 2.5% Benzyol Peroxide (As long as I use this every night, my acne stays away [in combination with step 2])

(Garnier Moisture Rescue for dry skin – I use this whenever I feel like it)

Clinique All About Eyes roller eye cream (I’m too lazy to dip my hand in a jar so I like roller balls)

Morning

Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel (I LOVEE this cleanser because it's so gentle on the skin and leaves my face very soft. I like this in the morning because I don't want to strip my face at the beginning of the day. It's also a dupe for the Clinique Liquid Facial Soap!)

Proactiv Toner (The cleanser doesn’t completely clean my face so I follow up with this)

Olay Pro-X Complexion Renewing Lotion 
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel 

Clinique All About Eyes roller cream

If there is only one thing for me to recommend you try, it’s the Olay Pro-X Complexion Renewing Lotion. You can find it on Amazon for $8.49 (it’s so cheap because it’s a discontinued product) and you will see your scars –even old ones- noticeably fade in a week.

If you suffer from mild acne and have oily skin, I would recommend you try Proactiv (I get the 120 day set on eBay for ~$65 and the jumbo sized bottles last me about 8 months which is about $0.50 a day for clear skin!) If you have dry or sensitive skin, you can try this but I wouldn’t recommend it because all these products will dry your skin out.  

Update: I used to use the Proactiv cleanser but it started irritating my skin so I switched to the Simple Refreshing Gel

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel Review

This product is one of my all-time favorite moisturizers. (I got this in a set of 2 for $40 from the Cosmetics Company Outlet.)


Let's start out by saying, I have purchased at least 4 bottles of this stuff since I found out about it from Juicystar07 (now it's at 6).

You can really see the gel's texture here.

It has a lightweight-gel consistency (not runny at all) and does not feel oily at all. I never liked the original moisturizing lotion because I felt that felt too oily on my skin. 

This is my go-to moisturizer in the spring/fall months when my skin needs some moisture but not too much and (or whenever my other moisturizer runs out). I always have a bottle of this stuff on hand because I can trust it to not break me out and keep my face soft and moisturized.



Quick Review of the rest of the products from the 3-Step line

I've also tried the Liquid Facial Soap Oily Skin Formula from the 3-Step System from Clinique and it was a pretty good cleanser. It did not strip my skin and also made my skin feel really soft. I would recommend it to anyone with combination/oily skin. I stopped using this because I needed a cleanser that would treat my acne but I would purchase this again during winter months.

The Clarifying Lotion 3 was an OK product. It was a pretty typical toner. It didn't necessarily help with my acne (though it doesn't claim to but I wish it did). I wouldn't repurchase. I also got the jumbo sized version and never got to finish it because there was so much.