Neutrogena Rapid Clear Acne Eliminating Spot Gel review

Whew! What a mouthful :P Aaanyways, I'm still a little bit unsure about this stuff, as my experience with it has been on opposite ends of the good-bad spectrum.

Neutrogena Rapid Clear Acne Eliminating Spot Gel review

Product Description: a maximum strength acne treatment for breakout emergencies that clears breakouts fast and helps prevent emerging breakouts even before they become visible. This breakthrough formula features MicroClear, a powerful new technology clinically shown to boost delivery of acne medicine to clear congested pores and speed treatment deep to the source. Clinically proven to provide the following results in 8 hours: reduce pimple size, swelling, and redness.

Active Ingredient: Salicylic Acid

Inactive ingredients: Water , Alcohol Denat. (38%), Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Virginiana) Twig Extract, Polyacrylamide, Glycerin, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Cyclopentasiloxane, C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, Benzalkonium Chloride, Capryloyl Glycine , Sarcosine, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Butylene Glycol, Cedrus Atlantica Bark Extract, PPG-2 Isoceteth-20 Acetate, Phenethyl Dimethicone, Cetyl Lactate, Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Laureth-7, Propylene Glycol, Polysorbate 20, Ammonium Hydroxide, Dehydroxanthan Gum, Tetrasodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance

Pros: reduces redness, swelling, and dries out the pimple quickly, clear gel, convenient packaging.

Cons: a bit pricey, stings a little, medicated smell, can make the pimple worse, cause dryness, redness, and peeling.

What I thought about it: I've been needing a spot treatment for some time now (been using toothpaste lol). So I decided to buy this one, since, of course, it's Neutrogena: my HG of all skincare products. However, right off the bat, it is pricey ~$9. I got mine on sale 30% off. I had been getting a couple pimples and I really wanted to get rid of them. I had about 4 red spot type pimples, not whiteheads or blackheads (I rarely get those). So that night I applied a little dot of product on each of my pimples. The salicylic acid is at 2% so it's pretty potent; it stung a bit but was tolerable. The gel was clear and unnoticeable, but did have that "medicine" smell. When I woke up in the morning, the greatest thing happened! All the pimples were gone! TOTALLY DISAPPEARED. I was ecstatic.

However, a few days later, I got a red spot pimple on my nose and by my mouth. I felt totally confident that this spot treatment would take care of it. So I applied it the same way and went to bed. The next day, however, the pimple on my nose was much more red and seemed a bit bigger. The one by my mouth did not seem any better either. Now I was crestfallen :( I couldn't determine if this reaction was from applying too little or too much, since I figured I had applied the same amount.

So I applied some more anyway, hoping it would clear up. I had a feeling it wouldn't (wishful thinking) and it didn't, of course. It got redder and sensitive for one day, then got dry and started peeling. Today it's back to normal and the pimple is gone. I was kind of disappointed that I got this kind of reaction the second time I used this product, but I suppose that is the way it is supposed to work most of the time. I was just lucky that I had no irritation the first time. All in all, I wouldn't stop using this just because of that. I think that this is a good product but it just needs to be moderated in its use.