I’ve been blessed with good skin. Growing up, I didn’t have the skin problems that plagued my

friends, especially during adolescence — breakouts, oilyness, rough skin. But I took skincare seriously even then. I rarely experimented with products and stuck to the ones that really worked for me.

Fast forward to 2009 — I began getting random pimples here and there. I thought it was because of stress or because it was the time of the month. But I noticed that the breakouts were getting worse and none of my tried-and-tested pimple remedies worked and I found out later that I had hormonal acne. No amount of stress reduction and proper diet made the breakout go away. I was desperate, so I had to try out other stuff I read about on the internet (except benzoyl peroxide. No amount of acne will make me desperate enough to resort to BP, but I was *this* close).

My quest for the best acne killer led me to Mario Badescu. Their drying lotion and buffering lotion were quite intriguing, as even Hollywood celebs swear by these. I decided to get the drying lotion for my under-the-surface bumps and whiteheads (the buffering one is for cystic acne, which I didn’t have — thankfully). It wasn’t cheap, but I figured if it worked, I will lose my horrible acne. If it didn’t work, well, I will lose money. 😀 And how it worked! A few days and small dots of this lotion were all I need to banish 80% of my acne! So begins my love affair with Mario. Since that ‘fateful’ encounter, I have been a loyal user of Mario Badescu products. Most of my skincare are from MB. Not even Belo touches my face (but would YOU let Belo touch your face?? Haha, ok, that’s another post for another day. I don’t want to be rude…)

So here I am today, reviewing all the MB products I have used so far….and hopefully, spreading the LOVE to everyone 😉

• Drying Lotion – The very first Mario Badescu product I tried worked like a charm. This pink liquid smells like Caladryl (figures, it’s got calamine in it). You take a small amount of the pink stuff using a cotton swab and dab onto pimples. I used it every night, and I was 80% acne-free. 😀 I was a happy camper, and kept at the routine until I noticed a month later that it wasn’t working as well as before. As a matter of fact, I felt it’s making my acne worse — instead of drying out my pimples, it irritated them until they were red and much bigger 🙁 I had to stop using the lotion and was seriously considering the Buffering Lotion until I read about the….
• Drying Cream (P795, available at Rustan’s) – Based on reviews I read, this is even better in zapping under-the-surface bumps than the Drying Lotion. Again, I had nothing to lose. And again, I was bowled over by the effect. The Drying Cream was able to dry out (duh) the pimples that the Drying Lotion wasn’t able to remove and reduce the inflammed ones. The best part is that this cream has never stopped working for me. I don’t know when my hormonal acne will stop, but as long as I have my Drying Cream, I will never get horrible breakouts again. 😀 (and I’ll probably never use the Drying Lotion again, haha). I’ve been using this for about half a year now, and the half ounce jar still looked new 😀 The cream is still up to the brim, just like when I bought it. See, very economical. Only had to use a very small amount to zap the zits away. I read that many people are bothered by the smell — I’m not. I kind of like the sulfur smell. I’m used to using Katialis on my pimples and that smelled much worse! This is now my go-to product in zapping zits.

            Mario Badescu Drying Lotion (1 oz)

• Healing Cream (P945) – I used the Healing Cream in tandem with the Drying Cream. I noticed that this cream helped minimize the redness of the zits, especially the ones irritated by the Drying Lotion. I tried to use this as an over all night cream, as some people suggested, but I don’t think I got any benefit from it. Still, HG material!
• Enzyme Cleansing Gel (P745) – To complete my acne-fighting triumvirate, I also incorporated the Enzyme Cleansing Gel in my daily routine. I think this really helped in clearing away the dead skin blocking my pores and diminishing the bumps. It does not foam, so you might think it doesn’t work. But it really does, and I love the effect on my skin. I used this morning and night, and in less than 2 weeks, my skin has become much clearer and smoother. Now, I only use this at night since I already achieved the results I wanted.

I have a lot of other Mario Badescu products to review, which I will do at another time. Coming up in a few weeks —

– Whitening Mask
– Enzyme Cleansing Gel
– Hydro Moisturizer
– Honey Moisturizer
– Glycolic Acid Toner
– Seaweed Night Cream
– Vitamin C Serum
– Eye Makeup Remover

Oyasumi, Pilipinas! ^_^

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