While I do not object to alcohol, my face certainly does.  It's one of those feelings where you know that in 12-24 hours, you will have big red pimples erupting on your face.

My husband somehow bought a bottle of Clean and Clear Deep Clean Astringent, thinking it was facial cleanser.  I haven't used toners or astringents in the normal sense for a while now*, so I thought, well, let's see how well this works!  My thought process was like this:

This astringent contains 2% salicylic acid.  My current moisturizer does not (Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel), and neither does my current facial wash (DHC Mild Soap), so I could use this astringent for my dose of pimple fighting salicylic acid power!  Woohoo!

I soaked my cotton pad with the Clean and Clear Deep Clean Astringent, applied it liberally all over my face, and within seconds, I felt the burn.  It wasn't as painful as my previous experience with the MISSHA peel-off mask, but it was close.  It also started itching like nobody's business!  I looked in the mirror, and yup, my face was bright red.  Can you say uh oh??  I looked at the ingredient list (should have done this first huh?), and yep, the first ingredient is alcohol.  I then remembered why I stopped using toners/astringents, because it felt bad!  Since I have stopped, my skin has become even more sensitive to alcohol.  GR!

The next morning, my face was still sensitive, but no big angry pimples yet.  I was on the look out though!  The night after (so 2 days afterwards), I spotted about 6 big angry pimples on my forehead, and a bunch all around my face.  Dammit, I knew this would happen!

So while this product did not work for me, it's not saying that it wouldn't work for you.  Some people aren't sensitive to alcohol, so if you aren't, this product might be your solution to acne-hell.  Me on the other hand?  I'm gone after 2 drinks.  Oh wait, I'm talking about alcohol in skincare products.  Yea, one application and I end up breaking out.  Alcohol just does not like me!

 

Products Mentioned In This Post:

Clean & Clear Deep Cleaning Astringent

$4.99 by Clean & Clear at Walgreens

 

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel with Pump

$24.00 at Clinique