For someone who is always looking forward to trying the next best thing, the decision to repurchase says a lot about how great a product is. La Roche Posay Effaclar K and Nuxe Rêve de Miel Honey Lip Balm strayed into my life about 5-6 months ago, and the last bit should be gone in a couple of days. I couldn’t bear to run out of them, so I repurchased and I’m going to review them for you!
I have combination skin with normal cheeks and oilier T-zone. I don’t break out bad often, but I do get hormone-related breakout from time to time, and I used to be plagued by blackheads. After having tried many products that claim to help and got disappointed every time when I was much younger, I resigned to the fate of removing them with a mask regularly and forgot all about tackling the problem at the roots.
If you are also plagued by blackheads or breakouts, don’t despair! There are so many products nowadays with AHA/BHA that will, given some time, majorly improve the situation. The key is finding a formula that your skin can handle and having some patience!
This is where Effaclar K comes in. The salicylic acid (a form of BHA) exfoliates your skin gently and continuously, so that older cells peel off. If old skin cells get out of the way at a regular pace, there would be much less piling up to form blackheads.
Using this is simple. You have to first turn the whole nozzle part left for the product to go through, and then remove the cap normally. The tube is hard, so I would advise you to start at the end and fold it up as you go. This is a good product for someone who has never used acid before because it is gentle enough, but in that case I wouldn’t want to use it all over my face twice a day right from the start (I did, and I ended up with burnt cheeks for a few days… Living example of how you shouldn’t be overenthusiastic about acid)! I use it mainly for my T-zone and wherever I have acne forming. When I use it for my T-zone I use a thin layer (the product is white but once it’s absorbed/dry it becomes transparent), but I would slather it on where the acne is. 99% of the time the acne dries up before it even has the opportunity to pop up! This does to a certain extent hydrate as well. I wouldn’t use it to replace a hydrating serum when my skin is dehydrated, but with the normal state my skin is in this is sufficient.
5-6 months on my blackheads have been greatly reduced, and they just don’t form as fast. My pores have shrunk as well, and this is great for every little emergency I have with hormone-related breakouts. Whenever I feel something nasty on its way, I nip it at the bud with a good dose of Effaclar K before bedtime!
The new tube I got touts a reinforced formula. I will report back if I experience any difference!
When I reviewed the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment a while ago, I briefly mentioned how my lips are. In short, they can be really dry and painful if they don’t get some proper moisturization at night, but if they do I’m set for the day. Sometimes they also have a mind of their own. I could use the same thing on my lips, but on certain days I’ll wake up with great lips and others lackluster ones.
Not since I started using Nuxe Rêve de Miel Honey Lip Balm! Housed in a hefty glass pot, the balm is very interesting. The texture is thick and could be a bit grainy. Especially when the weather is cooler, you might want to swirl your finger slowly in the pot to melt some. If it still feels a bit grainy once you slather it on, just press your lips together a little and the graininess should go away. In warmer weather it becomes softer, so it’s easier to get some out of the pot.
It is VERY thick and heavy, so I personally wouldn’t use it during daytime. However, going to bed with a generous layer of this balm has systematically guaranteed soft and luscious lips in the morning! I usually just blot the rest out in the morning. A lot of it is absorbed, and you might have some white residue on the inner rim of your lips. Never mind. I would rather suffer that little bit of unattractiveness to have soft lips all day!
As you can see, again this is not a product that is merely a spiced-up version of Vaseline. I’m not saying that Vaseline doesn’t work, but at least for me it certainly doesn’t work as well!
Here’s a picture of the products so you can see the texture:
Bottom line: Gentle, effective, and reasonably-priced, I would definitely recommend NUXE Rêve de Miel Honey Lip Balm to everybody and La Roche Posay Effaclar K to people who suffer from breakouts and blackheads, especially if they are new to AHA/BHA!
What have you repurchased recently? Have you tried any of the two? If so, would you recommend them?
Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx
Both of these are favourites of mine as well! They both work really well and I love them and always have them around. Great post!
Thanks Tracy! They’re so handy to have around. You know they won’t fail you!
Thank you so much for this! I’m always on the lookout for products like the La Roche Posay Effaclar K for my oily acne prone skin. Your post reminded me that I had an unused tube of Effaclar Duo lying somewhere, I fished it out of the back of my cabinet right now, can’t believe I forgot I had this. Lets see how this works on my skin. Will definitely try the Effaclar K in the future. Btw have you tried the Vichy Normaderm range. I have used the Nuit Chrono-active Anti-Imperfection Care and it worked wonders on my skin, shrunk my pores and just improved the texture overall.
You’re welcome Ankita! I haven’t tried the duo, but I hope you’ll like it! Definitely try the Effaclar K because it’s gentle enough to use often enough and works continuously to get rid of dead skin! I’ve tried stuff from the Vichy Normaderm range, but the scent is a little too much for me unfortunately. Glad to hear it works for you though!
That lipbalm look fantastic – wish it was available here!
And I totally can order it online, yay!
DO IT EMI *egging you on* I hope the price is reasonable there!
I have more must haves for you Sunny 😉
But I won’t share all my secrets all at once haha
Don’t make me beg LOL
i find myself usually in love with products that have salicylic acid myself. and i agree, for someone who would like to try more products, to repurchase is a heavy weighted decision. 🙂
These two products are like my security blanket. I’ll still try new things, but I know if anything goes wrong or doesn’t work wonders I always have them to go back to!
Phil introduced met to Effaclar K and I have been loving it ever since. Great product !
Phil is really our skincare fairy godfather 🙂
Never used either of these products, but will be getting them soon. I suffer from blackheads and hormonal break-outs too and my lips are very dry lately.. talking about the perfect post 😀
Haha I hope they’ll help, Sofie! Keep me posted 🙂
I use the Effaclar K everyday! It’s part of my skincare routine 🙂
Yay glad to hear you like it too Victoria!
I’ve been curious about Effaclar K! I want to tackle some of the blackheads, too.
Try this one, Larie, especially if you don’t use a lot of products that contain AHA/BHA already 🙂
My next acid purchase (haha, it sounds scary when you put it like that) will be Effeclar K! Heard a lot of good things about it and I really do need good aid to help tackle blackheads and acne. I’m not sure what does cause pimples to pop up, I think often it’s stress related. Anyway, better to beat them at it!
I’m going to check out the Reve De Miel moisturizer for my boyfriend. Phil gave me some options for him to try and of course I will be the onze reviewing all of them and deciding. Good to see that you like this one!
(I meant glad you like the Reve De Miel for lips, in case you might think now that I didn’t read your article through 😉 )
Haha acid purchase :p Try this one for sure! It’s gentle but works continuously, so you can use it more often than the stronger stuff! I hope you’ll like both too!
That Reve De Miel sounds soo good!
It is Marijke! I haven’t had so many “good lip days” in a row in my life!
I have the LRP Effaclar Duo and I think it’s good. I would probably be more amazed at the results if I hadn’t already been using Epiduo (a prescription benzoyl peroxide and adapalene gel for acne) for months prior to discovering it. It’s got a higher concentration of BP though and that, along with the salicylic acid, is really good at zapping the bigger pimples I get
Haha that’s what I was sayin’. If you are already an AHA/BHA veteran, this is probably a little too “soft” for you. Still, for those with sensitive skin this is a great bet. I use Alpha-H Liquid Gold at the same time, but while I’m not 100% sure what to think of that yet, this remains a go-to!
I use Effaclar K twice a day and around the areas that I get pimples more often. It certainly helps in preventing them from popping out.
I’m glad to hear it works for you too! Just slather some on for good measure 🙂
I have tried multiple La Roche Posay products for my acne and I wasn’t too please with some of them. Just not Effaklar K. Might check it out now. The Duo version of that “serum” is pretty good though.
I’ve heard that not EVERYTHING in the line works for everyone, but the K version is apparently the best bet so take a look at it when you can!
I have LRP’s Duo, which works well for me. I keep seeing Reve de Miel and keep wanting to try it!
You should really try it, Dovey. I honestly have no need for lip balm during daytime now (unless I’m testing something that turns out to be drying)!
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