I’m here to share with you my Cystic Hormonal Acne Treatment with Kiehl’s for my acne-prone skin since 2 months back or so; one I couldn’t wait to share since seeing my first skin improvement!

For those who read me long enough, you know my skin’s been troubled with persistent cystic acne due to some hormonal changes in my body. Acne masks, facial cleansers, facial scrubs and even anti-blemish pillowcases, you name it, I’d tried them all. Don’t get me wrong, they all produce good results on my skin and managed to rid of some really stubborn acne scars keep my breakouts under control for some time too, and then after which, new acne will start to emerge again. Put it this way, at best, my skin has never seen a near-clear day for more than a month.

I was at the Tang’s Kiehl’s outlet the other day and got myself a bunch of anti-acne skincare from there under the recommendation by one of the staff. You know sometimes when you’re at the point of exasperation, you just relent and allow others to throw you fixes of all sorts and then hopefully, just hopefully, you get a legit solution from those. In any case I’d always loved Kiehl’s products so I don’t mind giving them a shot.

Cystic Hormonal Acne Treatment with Kiehl’s Skin Care Products

I’ve brought home with me their Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque, Blue Astringent Herbal Lotion, Blemish Control Daily Skin-Clearing Solution, Blue Herbal Spot Solution, among some other travel sizes and samples of stuff.

Kiehl’s Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing (Clay) Masque (Step 1), SGD$45

First off, let me just talk about this clay masque. It has a very soft texture, feels lighter than the Innisfree Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask that I’d tried. It takes no effort to apply the product evenly because of this nature. It takes about just 10 mins for it to be completely dry on your skin if you’re in an air-conditioned room, and about 15 mins if you’re in room temperature. There is no sensation (not warm) throughout the process of drying except for a little tautness on the skin which is natural.

Unlike the Innisfree clay mask, this one is fairly easy to rinse off with water. The result is supple and squeaky clean skin. I was told to use this on alternate days for the first 2 weeks, and then reduce it to twice a week thereafter.

Kiehl’s Blue Astringent Herbal Solution (Travel Size) (Step 2), Complimentary Travel Size with min. spending of SGD$120

This one is a bacteria-killer at large lol. The Kiehl’s lady told me to wet a portion of cotton pad with this and press it against the affected areas on my skin instead of swiping them across the face like we usually do with toners. I can feel a little tingling feeling when the solution is put to work and my heart was saying, in Nicholas Cage’s words in Face Off to John Travolta the prick, in this case, “DIIIIIIEEEEEeee….!!”to my acne. I’d wished them dead long ago. And don’t they dare resurrect.

Kiehl’s Iris Extract Activating Treatment Essence (Step 3), SGD$68

I have this one at home, and I was foolish enough to have suspected it as one of the culprits that may be clogging my pores, so I stayed off it in a while. However, the Kiehl’s lady told me the opposite; she said this essence has iris extract that only calms the skin, it helps very much with skin cell renewal that may actually help with skin restructuring and acne scar removals. Not that I didn’t know about this, or I wouldn’t have given a positive review of the Kiehl’s Iris Extract Activating Treatment Essence but the thought of essence reminds me of ‘thickened’ solution and the thought itself just make me feel it would clog pores.

So I was educated and continued to use it as a Step 3 of my acne skin care routine. You just need a couple of drops and press it onto the skin. She was right. The pores got tightened and new acne didn’t seem to develop on them.

Kiehl’s Blemish Control Daily Skin-Clearing Solution (Step 4), SGD$52

This is my favourite step of all because it is the easiest to apply and not as ‘torturous’ on the skin. I just need to massage a little (dime size) into skin and the job is done. Massage it all over the face however concentrating on the affected areas. This one lightens not only blemishes and acne scars, it also brightens the skin and eliminate dark spots.

Kiehl’s Blue Herbal Spot Solution (Step 5), SGD$40

The Kiehl’s staff had advised me to include their Blue Herbal Moisturizer in between Step 4 and this step. I tried the sample sizes and did just that instead of just purchasing it as advised because the texture wasn’t pleasant; it pills easily upon drying. So I was right on that, for a few nights in a row I did include the moisturizer in my regime but it pills (ball up) so bad it felt uncomfortable and I was also afraid the pilling may remove some of the previous skincare applications as well.

So I skipped the moisturizer and go straight to the spot treatment. Pain alert, people!!! This one is freaking legitly painful! Even as a spot treatment you can feel stinging bites from those tiny spots alone but thankfully it lasts only for probably a minute or less. Just brace through it, wipe off a tear or two, and then there’s a better tomorrow, lol. The product dries up my acne quickly so they die faster, know what I’m sayin’?

Cystic Hormonal Acne Treatment – a Kiehl’s verdict:

So these are my before photos since my last attempt on any anti-acne product (around June 2015, and the skin has been on-off in this state). I picked up these products in Oct 2015 and then there are the after photos (present day in Dec 2015). You may think that the improvements are not significant enough but these are the ones that prevent my acne from recurring and it has been on an upward improvement for 2 months! So it is kind of a big deal to me. Fingers crossed for it never to ever revert back to its sorry state.

I only had the time to complete the whole regime each night before sleep. I totally skipped them in the morning, applying only my daily moisturizer and sunscreen and makeup. I don’t want my skin to be bogged down by too many layers of products that’s for sure.

So here goes, for those with the same condition as mine (with persistently recurring cystic acne), I’d urge you to give these Kiehl’s products a try. I’ll report back on the third or 4th month on how my skin’s doing and meanwhile, have a blessed Christmas and happy Holidays! I’ll see you in 2016 with more exciting beauty posts!! xx

Present Day: 2nd Feb 2016

Reporting back on my updated skin condition as promised!

What did I say? The Kiehl’s range curb new acne growth pretty well, right?

Ok, not much changes to the blemishes from 2 months before (don’t get confused with my age spots tho) but the scarring on the forehead definitely improved. What pleases me most is I think new ones seem to have stopped developing. I’ll check in again a few months down the road. You gotta play the long game with cystic acne.

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