Burt's Bees - Herbal Blemish Stick

Burt's Bees product description:
This blemish stick contains 10 effective natural herbal ingredients including willowbark, nature's version of salicylic acid, which clarifies and gently exfoliates skin to clear pores and help prevent breakouts. Combined with tea tree and juniper oils, known for their antiseptic and astringent qualities, and calendula to reduce inflammation and redness, this concentrated formula keeps your skin clear, naturally.

I've been hunting for blemish spot treatments derived from natural ingredients. I've tried The Body Shop's tea tree oil before and ran out of them so decided to try the Burt's Bees. The packaging is compact and I love how it's so easy to apply. Some people may not like the smell, but I'm used to it and have grown to like the herb smell. Personally, I believe that it doesn't smell as strong as The Body Shop's. It does visibly reduce the redness of  my pimples after about 30 minutes of application and the blemish itself goes away after 3~7 days. Unlike the other drugstore spot treatments, this doesn't make my skin dry, peel, nor sensitive. I prefer using this rather than other tea tree oils for its convenience and effectiveness. 

Biore - Pore Unclogging Scrub

Biore's product description:
Our gentle but super effective scrub uses perfectly spherical beads — not jagged edges, like some competitors' scrub ingredients — to detoxify skin. The scrub penetrates deep down where breakouts start to help prevent future ones. Show the door to pore cloggers and get ready for beautiful, clear, smooth skin.

I have an extremely dry, sensitive, acne-prone skin. I use this scrub twice a week to get rid of flakiness and hopefully reduce my breakouts. This scrub is so refreshing, I love it. It's very soothing and you can immediately feel the results. It's gentle enough that it doesn't cause any irritation for my sensitive skin. Every time I use this, I can see that my blackheads on my nose has been reduced and makes my skin feel softer and smoother. It really does what it tells us on their description.

up & up - Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes

up & up is a Target brand and is cheaper than their competing drugstore brands, but claims to have the same effect. Their makeup remover cleansing towelettes is oil-free, hypoallergenic, and alcohol-free. I love the fact that these are alcohol-free unlike other makeup removers. They won't irritate my sensitive skin and doesn't make my skin feel dry afterwards. It keeps my skin soft and clean. It removes makeup very well and doesn't make me feel like I still have some residues on my skin. The only downside to this is that it doesn't remove eye makeup that well, especially mascara. I want to be gentle with my eye area but I have to keep rubbing my mascara off which eventually burns that area from the rubbing. I try to press on to the lashes so the cleanser can break the mascara down, but that doesn't work. Even if I think I removed all of my mascara off, I notice that I still had some on afterwards when I take a shower or wake up the next morning. I don't even want to imagine what it would be like trying to remove waterproof mascara. Great for removing face makeup, horrible at removing eye makeup.

T. N. Dickinson's - Witch Hazel

T. N. Dickinson's product description:
Our pharmaceutical formulation of witch hazel gently cleans and refreshes skin without removing essential moisture. This exclusive multi-use formula temporarily relieves skin irritations due to minor cuts, scrapes and insect bites. Also useful to calm, cool and cleanse your face and body.100% natural astringent for face and body. Won’t dry like alcohol. Contains no artificial fragrances or dyes. Dermatologist tested and recommended.

I use witch hazel as a toner and to help my acne breakouts. This works great after cleansing my face because it closes my pores up. I've read that it can work miraculously some people to treat their acne, but it doesn't really do much for me. It also works amazing when I use it after shaving my bikini area. I no longer get red bumps from shaving that sensitive area. The only down side to a witch hazel is the stinky smell! It smells horrible like bacon and crest whitening strips mixed together. At least that's what it smells like to me. I have to hold my breath when I put it on my face, but I think it's all worth it.

Freeman - Avocado & Oatmeal Facial Clay Mask

This is the Freeman's clay mask from the Feeling Beautiful line. It claims that the mask purges pores and draws out excess oils and dirt.
I love this clay mask! When I first used it, it did burn me a little and was worried that this might irritate my skin. After several use, I got used to it and it no longer burns my face. I love the smell of this too. After washing it off, my skin instantly looks brighter, smooth, and glowing within the surface of my skin. My skin is free of pores! I only use this once a week but it makes me want to use it twice or three times a week because I love the way my skin looks after using this. At $3.99 this is a steal. This company does not test on animals so they are cruelty free. They have so many different kinds of mask, I want to try all of them. 9 out of 10

Aveeno - Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer SPF 15

Aveeno claims that with clinically proven Total Soy Complex and natural light diffusers, this daily moisturizer evens out skin tone and texture and immediately reflects light to bring out skin's natural radiance. Its fast-absorbing formula leaves skin soft and smooth and is clinically proven to improve skin tone and texture in as little as 4 weeks. Gentle enough for sensitive skin and daily use.
I use this moisturizer everyday under my makeup. It's great because it contains an SPF of 15. I love the smell. It's very subtle and smells clean and fresh. I've been using this for more than 3 months and I haven't noticed any difference in my skin tone nor texture since I've started the use. I wasn't particularly disappointed in that because I wasn't expecting this moisturizer to do so. It's very lightweight and fast absorbing. It's probably just my extremely sensitive skin overreacting to products, but I do feel a little burning sensation after I apply this. I guess it wasn't gentle enough for MY sensitive skin. It's a pretty big bottle so it will last me quite a long time. 7 out of 10

The Body Shop - Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oils are great for treating acne due to its effectiveness of killing the bacteria that cause acne. I used to use the drugstore on the spot treatments for my acne but it will burn, get irritated, and the area would become extremely dry. Tea tree oil has less of those side effects because they're not made from harsh chemicals. This is my holy grail for treating my acne. The smell isn't so great but I really don't care as long as it's going to treat my breakouts. I just dab it on with a q-tip, and it's not a overnight miracle treatment but the pimple will definitely go away. It calms down the redness around my entire cheek area and I also feel like it's helping post acne marks to fade. I don't experience any dryness or further irritation. This company does not test on animals which is always a plus! There are non-diluted tea tree oils sold so I will give those a try after I run out of this one. 10 out of 10

Clean & Clear - Daily Pore Cleanser

Clean & Clear claims that the gentle micro-scrubbers remove impurities like pore-clogging dirt, oil, and dead surface skin. First of all, I have extremely dry, sensitive, acne-prone skin which is a ridiculous skin type to have to deal with. I initially bought this for my boyfriend but since he's away and I ran out of cleanser, I gave this a try. This is almost like a very gentle version of a scrub. I feel like it has improved my pores by making them look smaller, almost invisible. My skin feels smooth and soft after using this. I was actually surprised by the results because I generally am not a huge fan of Clean & Clear products. Actually, I kind of hate them. This smells literally like soap (like a cheap hotel body wash), and I wish they could've made it fragrance free. Since I'm looking for a more gentle, moisturizing cleanser, I won't be purchasing this again but if you have oily to normal skin type with pores that you want to take care of, you might want to give this a try. 6 out of 10