Review – La Roche-Posay Effaclar 3-Step Anti-Blemish System

I’ve been so excited to get my hands on the La Roche-Posay Effaclar 3-Step Anti-Blemish System due to launch in September 2014 RRP £32.95. It will be exclusively available from larger Boots and online at Boots.com. Now I’ve had the chance to try it out and can tell you about my first experience with this iconic brand!

The system is designed for UK women and clinically tested and exclusively available in the UK. It uses the 3 steps that we are used to:

• Cleanse
• Tone
• Correct & Hydrate

This anti-blemish system is intended to deal with the signs of oily blemish prone skin:

• Blemishes
• Clogged and enlarged pores
• Excess Sebum
• Uneven and rough skin texture
• Red and brown marks

 

The routine begins with Efficlar Purifying Gel Cleanser to remove bacteria, followed by Effaclar Clarifying Toner to smooth mattify and tighten pores. Finally the Effaclar Duo + corrects the appearance of blemishes, unclogs pores and reduces the appearance of red and brown marks, whilst providing 24 hour hydration.

So what was it like in action? Well first let me say that I don’t have oily blemish prone skin – although I do have combination skin and blocked/enlarged pores and the occasional spot. (I’m usually quite proud of them at my age – reminds me of my youth!) So I thought that I’d still be a pretty goodcandidate to try out the system. The box claimed that you would see results within 4 weeks so that was my intended time-scale for review. However, I trialled the products for just a week and I’ll explain why later. I used the 3-step system night and day as prescribed.

Efficlar Purifying Gel Cleanser – I used this by putting it onto a damp wash cloth or muslin as this is my prefered way to cleanse. It left my skin feeling really clean and soft.

Effaclar Clarifying Toner – I haven’t been using toners for many years – it just seemed an unecessary extravagance but I had recently begun using a toner again as part of trialling another brand. This one from La Roche-Posay really cleansed my skin to the next level, removed more “dirt” and left my skin feeling squeaky clean.

Effaclar Duo + – This correcting hydrating cream went on smoothly and made my skin feel moisturised but not greasy.

The effects – I really enjoyed this system and I felt that it was a recipe for success. My skin felt really clean, particularly after toning although I did notice that my skin instantly reddened as I applied it. My pores are definitely clearer although I did experience a couple of spots during the week but I put that down  down to coincidence as I really can’t think that there is anything in the product that would cause spots. After a week when I was really in to the routine I noticed that I had flaky skin around my nose and along my nose to mouth line (somewhere that I’d never experienced dryness before) and in a small patch on my top lip. At this point I realised that this wasn’t the right combination of products for my skin type and so I stopped the trial.

I’m disappointed not to be using La Roche-Posay products and hope that I can discover the right products for me within the range. I do believe that the 3 step system is a good one and I’m passing the products to my daughter to trial. Hopefully I can persuade her to provide an update on her experience with them on the blog soon!

Which La Roche-Posay products have you tried? I’d love to hear about them.

 

Hazel

 

The products were PR samples but I wasn’t paid for the review and the views in it are my own.