I’m such a magpie with beauty products. There is always a new sparky one that catches my eye and off I run, chasing a new holy grail. I am oily skinned and acne prone, which has always seemed quite unfair, especially when one is, ahem, over forty. My younger daughter is going through the acne roller coaster now: antibiotics- ineffective, retin A- hard to tell. Now she is trying ProActiv and so far so good. Before the ProActiv though we were away and a monster zit reared its head. She was desperate so I got her the old cult fave, Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. You know- the one that looks like Pepto Bismol and smells like, well, Buckley’s Cough Medicine or Pine Sol. But it worked on that evil zit and made it into the arsenal of Zit Busters.

I don’t know why, but over the past few weeks my skin decided to freak out and treat me to some lovely cystic acne around my mouth. Maybe the weather? Who knows. Cysts are evil and almost always rooted in hormones which makes them very hard to treat. In a fit of pique and desperation, I busted out the Drying Lotion, gave it a shake, dabbed with a q tip and hoped for the best….

So, what happened? It worked! It kept the monster that was growing at bay for 2 days by using it at night.  Day 3 it started to shrink and by Day 4- today- it is gone! My skin is a tad dry where I applied the lotion, but I would rather have a dry patch than a monster zit or, worse, a scar. The interesting thing is how many people swear by this product and how effective it is. Yet when I looked it up on Beautypedia, it is dismissed as a nothing product with nothing in it that could ever ever ever help with acne. Good thing I read this after buying it and using it successfully or I might have believed it.

Thank you Mario Badescu Drying Lotion! I will never doubt your magical abilities again! Available wherever Mario Badescu is sold for around $17.

Whatever you do, resist and do. Not. Pop.