Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Sample Review: Mentholatum Acnes Medicated Sample Kit

I've been using the Mentholatum Acnes Medicated Skincare Sample Kit (which I got from fr3b.com ) due to bad breakouts.

The products included in the kit are Mentholatum Acnes Creamy Wash, Acnes Powder Lotion and Acnes Sealing Jell. They come in really mini sizes.



Mentholatum Acnes Creamy Wash comes in a tube form. It's stated as a mild and non-irritating cream wash for daily use to effectively prevent pimples, remove excess sebum and keeping your skin soft and moist. The cleanser is indeed very creamy and has a citrus smell like lemon. It lathers all right for me but I do find it does wash off dirt, sebum and dead skin really well. There was no squeaky feeling. The only thing I dislike about the cleanser is that I feel my face looking very white after it and it was not a brightening/whitening effect. It was as if there was a layer of powder over it. I was thinking it could be possible they added some clay inside so that after washing, there'll be a layer of clay to absorb the excess sebum from the face. As I don't have the ingredients list listed on the samples, I can't really check on it right now. Will pop by Watsons to look at it. Another possibility is that it washes off too much dead skin. I also feel the skin doesn't feel that soft but instead feels a little rough as if there's powder. But overall, I find it a good and effective cleanser since my pimples did disappear after a few days of usage.

Acnes Powder Lotion comes in bottle form. It is stated to be a toner that contains oil-absorbing powder to keep face clean and fresh for long hours. It also helps to refine pores and keeps face free from oil. I do like this powder at first. It was in liquid form with white powder sediments in it so you'll have to shake it before using. You can use a cotton pad and pour onto it and use it to wipe all over the face but I just pour it in my hands and dab it on my acne areas. After applying, it dries and you can see that it totally mattifies. This toner did help a lot with my acne. I applied it only over the acne area after using the cleanser and it just helps to soothe the pimples and soak up all the excess sebum. The pimples would dry up really fast and I could wash off the layers of dead skin the next day. However, I do feel it is quite drying and also it does not have ample oil control to last for a day. My face oils up very fast after applying and the amount of oiling was even more than I normally would. It did help initially when I used it on my acne, but after that when my acne was clearing up, this powder lotion ended up giving me more blackheads over the area I applied instead. I supposed it was stripping too much oil, and the excess sebum caused a second round of blackheads. :(

Acnes Sealing Jell comes in a squeeze tube form. It's just normal pimple gel with no weird smell. I don't have much to say about this product. It did shrink my acne and flatten it but it didn't heal it. I do have bad cases of cystic acne so I would say this doesn't work miracles on cystic acne. For normal zits or whiteheads, it does dry them up and force the pus to the surface. I find this to be a decent product but just not fantastic.

Overall, I was still quite impressed with the sample kit. It did work well for me at my worse moments. It also cleared up my chin, which was my acne prone area, and for the first time in a long time, I could actually feel my chin was smooth. -sheds silent tears- It cleared up one side of my cheeks but not the other. I applied more of the powder lotion on one side so I could tell it was the lotion giving me the blackheads. But I really don't think the powder lotion is a bad product. It would work if you have really bad acne prone skin and my advice would be to stop using the powder lotion once your face started clearing up by 80%, just before it backfired. Switch to a normal cleanser or toner since your skin has returned from oily acne skin to normal skin.

If you are based in Singapore and still interested in the sample kit, you can redeem it here .

Mentholatum Acnes has a variety of products ranging from cleansers, moisturisers, masks and oil control sheets targeted towards acne prone people. I really do think they are worth checking out. The range is really affordable and products retail for SGD$6.90 onwards.

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