Earlier than I got here throughout the Skinceuticals Silymarin CF Serum, I'd been apathetic about my pimples for almost 10 years. A decade of attempting each dermatologist-recommended cream, gel, and benzoyl-peroxide-soaked pad as a young person made one bleak actuality painfully clear: Completely nothing may contact my pimples. I ultimately gave up, permitting the painful, volcano-like cysts to invade my again and jawline like a hell-bent military.
Time and contraception proved to be the acne-clearing cocktail my physique craved, and by some divine miracle, I loved most of my 20s comparatively acne-free. However going off the tablet chilly turkey after 14 years final June poked the hibernating bear; I'm at the moment a 30-year-old girl trapped in a young person's oily dermis.
My jawline and again are as soon as once more peppered with painful cystic zits, and I really feel simply as jaded as my 14-year-old self. I'm hesitant to take a position any time or cash into dermatologist appointments or topical therapies and proceed to carry out hope that my pores and skin will clear up as my physique adjusts post-B.C. Sadly, my intestine tells me that nothing wanting a hormone blocker like spironolactone or going again on the tablet goes to clear my pimples solely (a therapy route I'm not but keen to contemplate).
However I’m happy to report that the extremely anticipated Skinceuticals Silymarin CF Serum has me singing a much less cynical tune. In reality, it's one of many few topical pimples therapies I've tried which have truly labored in any respect. This potent salicylic acid serum has been waging a gradual however hopeful battle towards my jawline breakouts for the final month and a half, and I'm actually impressed.
Earlier than & After Skinceuticals Silymarin CF Serum
Formulated with 15% L-ascorbic acid, 0.5% silymarin, 0.5% ferulic acid, and 0.5% salicylic acid, the Skinceuticals Silymarin CF Serum is an acne-focused follow-up to the model’s cult favourite vitamin C serum, C E Ferulic (a hero product for fading darkish spots and night complexions).
Blemish-prone pores and skin tends to have increased ranges of sebum and decrease ranges of antioxidants. CF's secret is within the silymarin, a strong antioxidant derived from milk thistle that “inhibits the oxidation of the pores and skin's sebum—a course of that causes micro organism to enter the pore, resulting in irritation and blemishes,” in keeping with the model.
It's Skinceuticals's first antioxidant launch in a decade and has been six years within the making—and for my part, it reveals. Minutes after the “earlier than” picture was taken, I dabbed a couple of drops of Silymarin CF alongside my jawline and hoped for the very best. The subsequent morning I used to be stunned to search out that my very infected zits had been, in a way, dormant—not gone solely however now not lively and indignant. The serum primarily expedited the therapeutic course of, placing me far nearer to the end line than I used to be 12 hours prior.
Intrigued, I continued utilizing Silymarin CF two to 3 occasions per week for the subsequent month and a half. Whereas I added a couple of zits to this jawline cluster round my interval, my breakouts are far much less aggressive and painful. The zits themselves are smaller they usually heal quicker, if they arrive to a head in any respect.
Whereas I’ve but to see whether or not Silymarin CF may even reduce pore look and refine my pores and skin texture as promised, tempered breakouts and fewer irritation general are greater than sufficient for me to maintain this serum in common rotation. I hope that the mix of Silymarin CF, an oil-free moisturizer, the occasional P.M. retinol, and a contact of scar-fading CE Ferulic will preserve my breakouts at bay—with out oral meds (fingers crossed!).
The value tag on Silymarin CF is a bit steep, however I undoubtedly advocate it to anybody with pimples who has been promised “miracle” options earlier than. If this did a fairly critical quantity on my cystic hormonal pimples, I believe it may actually assist individuals with much less extreme breakouts.
Skinceuticals Silymarin CF
$166Skinceuticals
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Kelsey Clark is a Glamour contributor. Comply with her @kelseymclark.