The $28 Blemish Oil That Let Me Skip Foundation For a Full Week

There are some moments in your childhood that you never forget. For me, such landmark memories include meeting my best friend and seeing Colin Farrell's beautiful eyebrows for the first time. I remember my debut breakout less enthusiastically. I was 12, and a group of acne clusters rudely decided to throw a party on my face. The day after, my mother brought me to a Macy's beauty counter, where she introduced me to another cherished friend: Clinique foundation, my OG favorite that I still wear today. Twelve years after first testing it, I still get unwanted breakouts (it never ends, people), and I'm the type of person who doesn't feel super comfortable leaving the house without any base on.

Whoops, I should say I was that kind of person — until this week, when I've been going gloriously makeup-free. Truth be told, I'm testing a lot of new skincare products right now that have brightened up my face in general, but I suspect one reason I'm so comfortable baring my acne-prone face is due to the Blume Meltdown Acne Oil ($28). The tiny dropper's packaging promises to "take down pimples overnight," and after reading that, I actually huffed a "yeah, right" to no one in particular in my empty apartment's bathroom. The treatment is a mix of mostly celebrity-approved oils such as rosehip (responsible for Kate Middleton's glow), olive (Chloë Grace Moretz is a fan) and tamanu (many influencers swear by the Farsali iteration). That said, adding oils to a greasy complexion can be somewhat ill-advised, and it's not recommended to treat cystic acne, so I wasn't sure if it would make my face worse.

Blume Meltdown Acne Oil

From

$28

$28 at Blume

To be very careful, I used only one drop — not a bit more — for my entire face. It sort of works like the liquid version of an acne patch, sucking the gunk out of your face like a magnet. I went to bed with a little bump forming on my face, and when I woke up the mark was still there, but it looked much less threatening. In less than a week, all active breakouts were gone. I still have some light scarring that I'm treating with other products, but my new complexion is clear enough that I'm willing to trot it around town uncovered. (TMI alert: this formula also works great on stubborn ingrown hairs.) I'll still keep my Clinique base close — I'm not ready to go full Alicia Keys just yet — but it's great to prove the cliche of "feeling comfortable in your own skin" true.