My skin’s been plagued by acne prone skin and blemish scars on my forehead area for as long as I can remember. New acne will develop before the previous ones could heal. Before the acne scars could lighten, new ones form on them. In short, I’ve never quite seen a clear day on my forehead for months. The skin around the rest of my face has always been ok though.

So I learnt about the Aesop Chamomile Concentrate Anti-Blemish Masque from one of my favourite Youtubers Essie Button the other day and she was saying how this product broke her whole face out. I for one love skin purging. I’ve never had facials done in my life, so you can imagine the level of toxicity in them. The next day I went for this Aesop baby all prepared for an acne showdown then hide my face at home for the next days until the storm’s over.

Aesop Skincare: An Acne Treatment & Anti-Blemish Product Review

Aesop is an established skincare, bodycare and haircare brand from Australia, Melbourne. They’re known for their high quality plant-based ingredients and in-depth lab researches. So here’s my first attempt on the brand in seeking how to get rid of my acne and blemished skin on my forehead.

Packaging

I love that it comes in dark glass jars as dark glass tends to preserve the freshness of the product better than plastic. Screw on the cap tight each time after use to enhance the shelf life as it dries fast.

Shelf Life & Storage

12 months from manufacturing date. The instruction says to store it below 21 degrees. So off I pop it into the fridge each time after use. The chilling sensation it gives every time I apply it onto my skin is a bonus to further calm the inflammations down.

Consistency & Texture

For a clay mask, the texture is rather soft and smooth. It isn’t buttery smooth but feels more aqueous to the touch. Almost cream-like, just slightly wetter. It feels very light on the skin and dries fast.

Fragrance

I love the spa-like fragrance! You can tell it smells a lot like sage and rosemary, both of which are my favourite herbs of all times. Unlike most clay masks, this hardly gives off any earthy, alkaline smell but heavenly herbaceous scent.

Price & Size

Retailing at SGD$67.00 for a 60ml jar at the Aesop counter located at Tangs Orchard, and Aesop stores at Suntec City, Millenia Walk, Ngee Ann City and 52 Club Street.

Key Ingredients of this Aesop

The Aesop Chamomile Concentrate Anti-Blemish Masque contains no frills in its jar; just straight up goodness for the skin.

 

Rose Hip Oil, Evening Primrose Oil – helps repairs and build skin’s natural barrier by improving the cell structure plumpness of the skin. Both oils are great for healing acne scars and blemishes. Rose hip oil also helps in inhibiting pigmentation in the skin.

Lemon Peel Oil, Lemon Tea Tree Oil, Tea Tree Oil – these citrus oils have some acidity in them and astringent properties that can rid of excess sebum and kills bacteria in our skin, in turn helping to subdue acne. They also have skin lightening properties that are helpful in blemish scars and age spots removal.

Sage Oil, Rosemary Oil – both of these oils have calming benefits on the skin and help to reduce inflammation and prevent acne from spreading or flare-ups. They are also great for controlling oil production, toning and purifying our skin and pores.

How To Apply

Apply thinly over the whole face or only affected areas as spot treatment. The product starts to dry up just about just 2 minutes into application. Leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes before rinsing it off. I use it on alternate days although it states to use twice weekly.

The Acne Treatment Test

Boy did my skin purge! But I was expecting that to happen happily. My skin as seen in the photos below wasn’t even the worst. The worst of it can be seen in this video – and this mask was the culprit.

 

I don’t usually have breakouts on my cheeks and chin areas but with this mask, it did after about two weeks of using it. The good news is, they started to clear up in the following 2 weeks, and are still in the process of healing as I speak.

My advice for you if you have to go out to meet people every day, use this product as a spot treatment, i.e. only apply to affected areas and not on the whole face unless you want to ruffle some feathers for the greater good like I did.

The Acne & Blemish Scars Removal Test

You can see from below that while old acne scars are healing, there are new ones breaking out. The saving grace is that the speed of subduing them is faster than the rate at which they are stemming out of the skin. I’m guessing, given time the flaring will be under control completely. I will probably do another update in a week or two to prove this point (read below).

All in all this is an effective product for acne treatment and blemish control. While the progress is slower than I expect it to be, I do hope that recovering over a longer term tackles the root of the problem and prevent the acne from ever coming back again; at least for a longer time than the period they’d beset me.

Meanwhile I heart Aesop. To top everything off, Aesop is cruelty-free, and by that they don’t even use animal-derived ingredients.

Another 2 weeks after….

As promised, I’m reporting back on my acne condition after 6 weeks of using this Aesop mask. While it has good control over the lightening of the acne scars, new ones kept coming (notice my right temple). This is pretty much at best this masque could help me. I hereby officially self-diagnose my acne condition as chronic. But I have also been using the Boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser in keeping the new ones from aggravating and it has been doing quite a good job. Till then, cheers to flawless skin.