the B. spot

I had- ok embarrassingly enough I will admit it and correct myself- I still have a nasty little (again I correct myself) not so little, pimple right under my nose.  I received the Murad Acne Treatment Concealer in my CEW goodie bag and thought “this is the perfect time to pull that baby and cover up this monstrosity”.  So I went into my bedroom all excited ready to play with a new toy; found it right away and began peeling off the protective sticker; then stopped suddenly because something that I have seen way too many times caught my eye.  The top of the concealer was covered with beautiful crystals!  Crystals?  Yes, crystals!  The salicylic acid recrystallized out of the concealer and cover the top and sides.  So if the salicylic acid is in crystal form on the outside of the concealer- what’s left inside to treat the little nasty under my nose?  I sighed with disappointment, put the cap back on, replaced the protection sticker and sulked as I walked out of my bedroom.  In theory, the stick would have been perfect to camouflage pimply imperfections but now, unless someone from Murad is out there reading this blog and has taken pity on me and would like to send me a fresh one in Medium/Dark, I will never know…

Science Behind It:

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression- mine recrystallized but it doesn’t mean that it won’t work if you have one that is intact.  Salicylic acid is a monographed item (it’s approved as an OTC drug for acne) so it definitely works.  My biggest issue would be if anything in the actual stick would be counterproductive to the pimple fighting action of salicylic acid and really the only way to know that for sure is to try it.  Yes, I know that people have an entire list of ingredients that are comedogenic (causes the creation of comedones) but that’s a tiny piece of a huge puzzle and they may not create comedones in the final formulation…but I digressed

Salicylic acid is oil soluble so it is effective in getting into the pores to promote exfoliation from within to keep the pores clear of debris and anything else causing the clog.