Arbonne Clear Future Acne Skincare Review

Welcome to my Arbonne Clear Future Acne Skincare review! Throughout my school years, I was never one to really suffer with my skin in terms of acne. The occasional breakout would sometimes grace me with its unwanted presence, but after a little time and care from good old salicylic acid, it would clear up and disappear leaving my skin smooth and blemish free once again.

Entering my 20’s, I was still lucky enough to have great skin when it came to breakouts, I’d suffer the odd humongous spot (typically right before an important event or night out) but nothing out of the ordinary.

At the age of around 25, I started with adult acne. I was so stressed and upset and didn’t really know how best to deal with it seen as I’d never had this happen before. My confidence plummeted, I felt ugly and ashamed of my bare face. I tried acne medication in the form of Tetracycline but it didn’t work for me. I also tried numerous skin treatments from the likes of Dermalogica and Clinique. Slowly, with time and learning how to de-stress and changing my diet, my skin began to clear again. I felt such relief and was so pleased to have overcome it for the time being. If you’re an avid reader of my blog, you’ll have seen my post on my struggle with acne that you can catch up on here.

Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed, my happiness with my skin didn’t last long. Soon again, sure enough, the acne came back with a vengeance and once again I hotfooted it to the doctors surgery to get more medication, this time Lymecycline. It did help, but still to this day, my skin is so unpredictable and sensitive that I’m still trying to find a happy medium.

I recently switched to Paula’s Choice skincare which I feel has really helped my skin a lot, it’s helped to calm and soothe my breakouts immensely. However, I was recently given the opportunity to try some of the products from Arbonne’s Clear Future range, so naturally, I jumped at the chance. Clear Future is a brand new addition to the Arbonne range which helps to fight acne blemishes and restore balance to the skin in turn helping skin look smooth, clear and glowing and with controlled oil production. Arbonne claims that pore size will also reduce, but this is not something that can really be achieved – pore size is genetic, however, you can help the pores to ‘appear’ smaller by keeping them clear, exfoliating or using a product such as Retin-A which is available on prescription. All of the acne formulas are powered with salicylic acid, along with a unique blend of efficacious botanicals, to calm and soothe skin. It’s important to remember that Salicylic acid can cause sensitivity to the skin so please do remember to wear an SPF daily to protect yourself. The key ingredients from the Clear Future collection include:

White Willow (Salix alba) Bark
Boosts exfoliation to reveal a fresh layer of skin

Sage (Salvia officinalis) Extract
Skin conditioner; calms and soothes

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Skin conditioner; cleanses

Alpha-glucan oligosaccharide
Derived from bio-fermentation and natural sugars, helps mattify and moisturize skin

Exopolysaccharide
Derived from marine algae, helps mattify skin and control sebum by absorbing it at the skin’s surface

Naturally derived polysaccharide, rhamnose, glucose, glucuronic acid
Derived from bio-fermentation and natural sugars, protect the skin’s moisture barrier

First before I delve into the products, I want to share the images below with you to show you how my skin looked at the beginning of this week compared to how it looks now. Let me tell you, it’s far from easy to share these images – as I wrote in my last picture post on my skin, acne causes such a battering to your confidence that it’s almost like having a bully in your head constantly pulling you down, making you feel like everybody is staring at your face and thinking how disgusting you look. But I’ll tell you something else too; they’re not thinking that at all and they probably haven’t even noticed. As a makeup artist, it’s important for me to feel confident with my skin and my makeup and for it to look good in turn, after all, my clients look at my face first to get an idea of the kind of artist I am.

As you can probably see from the images above, there is a positive improvement to my skin that I attribute to a few things:

1. Less stress – as you may well know, I’ve just had a massive home and business move as well as a break up. My skin is starting to settle down now after the stress and upset caused by each of the above.
2. Better diet and water intake – getting back into the swing of healthy eating has helped me to feel healthier on the inside and look healthier on the outside. What we put into our body shows on our skin.
3. The products – of course, I believe that the products have absolutely helped in reducing the blemishes on my skin and calming my breakouts. I’m fully aware that five days isn’t long enough to give a thorough review or assess my skin, but I can certainly give you a good idea on how my skin has reacted so far.

So, here are the Arbonne Clear Future products that I’ve been using and what I think to them.

Deep Pore Acne Cleanser £25 for 118ml
What Arbonne says: “Start fresh with this gentle cleanser that removes excess oil and reduces shine without stripping skin of natural moisture, leaving it feeling soft. Salicylic acid reduces the number of acne blemishes by exfoliating dead skin cells and penetrating pores. Over time pores can appear minimized, creating a more even-toned complexion. Sage extract also soothes and conditions.”

My thoughts: A really gentle slightly foaming cleanser that helps skin to feel soft, supple and cleansed. It does have the scent that most products with salicylic acid contains but I think this adds to the ‘clean’ and ‘good for my skin’ feeling so I quite like it. Arbonne recommends that you use this product just once daily at first to introduce your skin, however, my skin is already used to treatments containing salicylic acid after changing my skincare so I went ahead and used it morning and evening and didn’t have any excess drying or discomfort to my skin. There is some debate over whether cleansers using salicylic acid actually work – the theory being that the salicylic acid doesn’t stay on the skin long enough to have any impact. Arbonne don’t state just how much salicylic acid is present in the cleanser on the tube, but usually, it would be between 1-3% which research suggests just isn’t strong enough to make much difference to the skin, it would need to have contact for a much longer time which is why it’s better to use salicylic treatments after cleansing.

Exfoliating Blemish Pads (Part of the Clear Future set which retails at £113)
What Arbonne says: “Exfoliate dead skin cells, wipe away surface bacteria, and penetrate pores to clear up acne blemishes and reduce excess oil, which can result in diminished pore size. Contains soothing botanicals to calm skin.”

My thoughts: A nice addition to the Clear Future products – this is almost like a toner in a usual three step routine and really helped my skin to feel extra clean. The pads remind me of the Oxy pads that I used to use as a teenager which I actually really like. Each tub comes with 60 pads and there’s plenty of product on one pad to sweep across the entire face or to simply concentrate on problem areas.

 

Intensive Acne Spot Treatment (Part of the Clear Future set which retails at £113)
What Arbonne says: “Target blemishes with a fast-acting formula that penetrates pores to dry up acne blemishes, resulting in improved appearance of skin tone. Salicylic acid exfoliates and reveals new layers of skin without over-drying, while helping keep skin clear of new blemishes.”

My thoughts: Another nice addition to the collection – a targeted formula made specifically for problem areas that will help to dry up acne blemishes. Again, I didn’t experience any excess drying after using both morning and evening.

 

Mattifying Acne Treatment Lotion £29 for 50ml
What Arbonne says: “Salicylic acid in the formula dries and clears acne blemishes, joining forces with a lightweight, non-oily lotion to add moisture without shine, absorbing oil while soothing and preventing dryness.”

My thoughts: Sometimes mattifying products can feel a little drying on the skin but this lotion doesn’t have that same effect. I found it to stay quite dewy which I thought might disrupt my foundation or cause it to look a little shiny on my skin, so I waited a good 20 minutes to apply my makeup after using this in the mornings. My face felt a little tacky for a while, but smoothed out quite nicely and didn’t look any more shiny than it usually would throughout the day. I think the treatment lotion is a good addition because it’s important to add a little moisture back to the skin to keep it hydrated and plumped. The best part about it is that you only need the tiniest amount so the lotion will last well.

Overall, I have really quite enjoyed using this skincare. Although I feel the products have helped my skin in terms of calming the redness and blemishes, it’s important to note that other factors do contribute to the appearance of our skin such as keeping hydrated on the inside, a healthy balanced diet and staying as stress-free as possible. A lot of breakouts are caused by hormonal factors so sadly, whatever we put on our face won’t make a great deal of difference until the underlying cause has also been dealt with – but for keeping skin on an even keel, reducing redness and ensuring the skin is hydrated, I feel that the products really help.

 

Cons: I prefer to start with the cons first so we can end on a positive note. The biggest disadvantage to me is the price – the Clear Future set retails at £113 which is around £47 more expensive than my current skincare products. 

Pros: Gentle and effective skincare with ingredients proven to help improve acne and blemishes. Nice packaging and easy instructions on how to use. Plenty of extra information online for those who would like to know more about their skincare.

As I’ve only been able to test these products over five days rather than months, I can’t give a comprehensive review, but I can say that they have only improved my skin rather than caused any extra problems. I’m interested to see how the products go down amongst other beauty bloggers and acne sufferers alike as I think they’re very gentle yet effective.

To find out more about the Arbonne Clear Future range, see here.

© This post is copyright of Rachael Divers 2015.