When my skin is acting up—especially before a big event—there’s almost nothing I won’t do to stop a breakout in its tracks. In fact, while I won’t speak for everyone, if wearing a clay mask out of the house was socially acceptable, you’d never see me with a drop of makeup on ever again. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and the most serious skin rehab is often reserved for after-work hours. But what if that wasn’t the case and you could fight your skin care woes all day long? Neutrogena just made fighting a blemish battle that much easier with its Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Daily Leave-On Mask ($9).
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So much more than just a spot treatment you can somewhat hide under your concealer, this invisible mask works like your usual at-home face mask, allowing you to treat every pore on your face—here’s the kicker—under your makeup (or alone) throughout your usual day. While I was weary of how “clear” this mask really was, it truly did vanish onto my skin, almost like a blurring primer, and it’s so thin that I forgot it was even on. It dried almost instantly and I was left with a perfect canvas for makeup (it applied exactly like it would without the mask), but with a ton of benefits. Benzoyl peroxide (the ingredient that’s in almost every acne medication or product) works deeply to clear pores as you wear it, fighting current breakouts you want to get rid of and preventing new ones from ever surfacing. Plus, as crazy as it sounds, the mask gave my skin a glow in all the right places that made me rethink whether or not I applied highlighter that morning (I didn’t).
After using if for a full week under my makeup (the formula is gentle enough where you can use it both a.m. and p.m.), not only were my breakouts gone, but my pores looked smaller too. An acne treatment, blurring primer and instant luminizer for less than $10? Now there’s no excuse for not giving your skin a little (or a lot) of TLC.
