posie paige

While blemishes are a fact of life, they are basically NEVER welcome visitors on anyone’s face. It seems as though we’ve all tried every trick in the book in an attempt to be rid of them; acne creams, tea tree oil, even toothpaste…
However, for many people these remedies have little to no visible or lasting results. Recently I have been testing out a couple of commercial natural blemish treatments, and I’ve had very different experiences with each. Before I get into it, I want to emphasise that skin types and chemical make-ups differ greatly from person to person, so what might be a wildly successful treatment for one person may do absolutely nothing for someone else, which is very important to remember when it comes to finding the right blemish treatment to suit your skin…

Numero uno: Indie Lee blemish lotion

The Indie Lee blemish lotion (find it here) was the first natural blemish remedy I tried, and I expected to love it. I chose the lotion over the Indie Lee blemish ‘stick’ as I thought it would be a nicer experience using a q-tip to ‘dip and dab’ rather than ‘swipe’. The lotion is best used overnight as a spot treatment as it is a beigey-pink colour, i.e. it’s not really designed to be used along with makeup. Application is pretty simple; allow the bottle to settle upright so that the ingredients separate into a fairly clear liquid at the top and beige sediment on the bottom, then dip a q-tip into the bottle, all the way to the sediment at the bottom; that is the part of the product meant to be used as the treatment, not the clearer liquid that sits on top. The lotion is then supposed to dry out the blemish and reduce its appearance.

Honestly, after each use of the lotion I never really noticed a huge difference to my blemish situation. Each morning after I removed the lotion the blemish was always still there and not really reduced in size or appearance in any way. I was kind of disappointed. What perhaps is more annoying though is that this product has a very unappealing smell. It’s not exactly supposed to smell nice, of course, but the smell is so strong and overpowering that it became quite off-putting; I stopped using the product because I despised the smell so much and I must admit that I have hardly ever reached for it since I first started using it. The problem is that the smell lingers on the skin after application; you don’t stop being able to smell it once it’s on!

The lotion was sadly a bit of a dud for me, though I have seen other positive reviews from people who have loved it, proving that products work differently for different people! I haven’t tried the Indie Lee blemish stick, which is a clear ointment that can be used beneath makeup, but I suspect it would probably work much better for me than the lotion did, so perhaps I will give it a go sometime in the future.

Numero dos: Kora Organics blemish gel

I was a little sceptical of this blemish gel (and the Kora Organics brand as a whole) before trying it. I really didn’t think that it would do much or that I would be able to see any difference after using it, simply because it didn’t appear to be a very strong treatment to me. I happened to receive a sample of the gel with a recent online order and thought I’d just give it a go, and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I loved it!

Again, I used this blemish gel as an overnight spot treatment, although this product can be worn underneath makeup (Yay!). The gel is basically a clear, thin liquid that dries quickly once applied, but doesn’t actually dry out the skin. The faint smell is pleasant; kind of herbal and slightly reminiscent of tanning lotion (in a good way).

What I love about this product is that the object is to actually heal the blemish, not dry it out or suffocate it. Skin-calming ingredients such as aloe vera and lactic acid soothe angry blemishes. I have found that my skin feels hydrated and somewhat tighter (but not at all dry) after using the gel, and my blemishes certainly appear less noticeable and seem to heal and disappear quite quickly.

I loved my sample of the gel so much that I bought the actual product once I finished it; I decided that it was too good to live without. It is fairly pricey for what you get (around $40 for a small 10mL tube), but I think that when something really works for you, you should always stick with it! Plus only a small amount is used each time, so I expect my tube will last me quite a while!

Pssst! A word to the wise regarding the Kora Blemish gel: I recommend that, if possible, you check the expiry date at the top of the tube before purchasing; Kora products don’t have a terribly long shelf life and you don’t want to be purchasing a product that may go off sooner than it should. Be especially wary if you see Kora products on sale – some retailers may be wanting to get rid of soon-to-expire stock.

P. X