Have you ever wanted a genie to grant you a wish to make the redness and irritation on your skin go away?? Well, this might be the closest thing to having that wish granted! 😱 This blemish cream is used like a treatment and is suitable for all skin types to help with preventing acne marks, hyperpigmentation, as well as soothing redness and irritated skin.

The active ingredient centella asiatica 🌱 is like a comforting friend who lends you their shoulder to cry on and builds you (or rather, your skin) up to feel better and stronger.

Price reduced! Use by 7/6/2024.

Suitable for: Combination, Oily, Dry, Acne-Prone, Sensitive

Main Benefits:

Reduces redness and irritation
Prevents acne marks and post acne hyperpigmentation (PIE)
Helps skin barrier to recover and replenish

Key Ingredients:

Centella Asiatica Leaf Water
Centella Asiatica Extract (medical grade)
Zinc Oxide
Zinc PCA

Claims: Vegan, cruelty-free, alcohol-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, hypoallergenic

Size: 30 g / 1.05 oz

How to Use

After moisturizing, apply a thin layer over irritated or inflamed areas of the skin as a spot treatment. You can also apply this cream on insect bites, angry breakouts, and post-acne marks.

Fel’s Tips:

In your nighttime routine, use after your moisturizer and apply over inflamed area to reveal *bing bing* skin in the morn’! It might leave a little white cast at first, but this slowly disappears.

Ingredients

Centella Asiatica Leaf Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Zinc Oxide, Dimethicone, Betaine, 1,2-Hexanediol, Viola Tricolor Extract, Elaeis Guineensis(Palm) oil, Elaeis Guineensis(Palm) Kernel Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Centella Asiatica Extract, Zinc PCA, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Xanthan Gum , Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract

Update (22/6/18): I’ve noticed there is such a thing as using this too much (i.e. both morning and night daily), because I started developing redness and itchiness on those areas applied. After stopping it completely, the redness and itchiness completely disappeared, however, my blemishes were healing a lot slower. After gradually introducing it back into my routine, and using it only when I need to, I’ve not experienced any redness or itchiness in the past month, and my pimples are back to healing at its optimum rate.

As someone who frequently struggles with acne breakouts, having a blemish-targeting treatment in my routine is of paramount importance. As mentioned in my previous post, An Introduction, I was an avid user of products specifically targeted at the prevention and management of acne. So, prior to using this cream by COSRX, I was religiously applying the Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel (yes, that tiny blue transparent bottle) as a spot treatment every night over the past decade. Its 1% Salicylic Acid was initially really effective at drying out my pimples, but as you probably can guess, its effectiveness gradually deteriorated over the years (but I continued with it anyway hoping that one day the product would work miracles again). Nevertheless, it didn’t. This may be explained by my skin building some sort of tolerance to it, or something else, but it doesn’t matter, because I am honestly done with acne-fighting products. While they are effective at the start, these products are often very harsh on the skin, and may actually be drying out your skin (if used too much). TBH, using this every single night for a bloody decade probably damaged the crap out of my skin barrier, thereby leaving my face in its super-sensitive state today. (Note: I don’t have anything against acne treatments, though I would highly recommend using them sparingly).

OK, that was a really wordy background to this review. But, correct me if I’m wrong, depleting my skin of these ‘acne-fighting’ products prior to introducing this cream by COSRX, makes for a pretty darn good review of it.

What it is/Who it is for

So, for those of you who don’t know about the brand COSRX, I suggest you google it. But a few words I will use to describe this brand is that it’s affordable (most of their products are <$20), effective, and freaking heaven-sent. Ok, the last bit was more of a phrase, but you get the point, I love this brand. It doesn’t drill a hole in my wallet, and my sensitive skin mostly loves its products (except for the pH Good Morning Cleanser).

The Centella Blemish Cream is marketed as an all-natural blemish control cream for acne-prone skin. It is designed to heal blemishes, reduce the size of acne scars, while also calming and soothing the skin by delivering hydration. Listed as its first and main ingredient, Centella asiatica has been shown to (1) facilitate the healing of wounds, (2) promote collagen production (hello anti-aging properties!), and (3) inhibit inflammation (courtesy of Madecassic acid) that can lead to scarring. As someone who is struggling with existing breakouts and acne scars, this product sounded pretty amazing. Moreover, this contains Centella leaf extract, which has a considerable amount of natural antioxidants such as vitamin C, A, B1, and B2.

For a more in-depth understanding of the benefits of Centella asiatica, I highly recommend reading this post: https://theklog.co/centella-skin-benefits/

Suggested Usage

It is recommended to use this product daily in the PM, after cleansing, toning, and applying your serums. Apply an adequate amount to areas prone to acne, dryness, blemishes, and/or scarring. Gently pat in the product for best absorption, and follow with a moisturiser.

Ingredients List

(According to CosDNA: Bolded = Potential acne trigger; Italicised = Potential irritant)

Centella Asiatica Leaf Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Zinc Oxide, Dimethicone, Betaine, 1, 2-Hexanediol, Viola Tricolor Extract, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Kernel Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Centella Asiatica Extract, Zinc PCA, Xanthan Gum, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract.

Thoughts/Review of product

Packaging: Simple and minimalistic. While I don’t love the fact that I have to stick my fingers into the tub (as mine didn’t come with a spatula), I’m not too bothered by it as long as I wash my hands before using it (which we all should be doing anyway).

Smell: It has a very light herbal and tea-tree oil scent, that’s not very noticeable unless you stick your face into the tub. It also has no added fragrance, which is great for sensitive skin folks like myself.

Texture and application: It’s texture is similar to that of a rich and thick cream. Although, similar to other bloggers (such as Yanrula), I found the product’s absorption ability to be slightly lacking. I honestly gave up on patting it into my skin (as several online retailers suggested), and found gentle rubbing motions to be way more helpful. And the reason why you want to rub it in, is because of the significant white cast it can leave on your skin. So, because I use it in the daytime as well, I usually have to rub the product in for awhile before the white cast disappears. Here’s how it looks when applied on:

Product application (before rubbing it in)

2. After rubbing it in for about 15 seconds (I actually had to take off half the product prior to rubbing it in because I applied way too much on my hand)

3. After rubbing it in for about 30 to 40 seconds

Performance: Honestly, compared to my previous acne spot treatment gel, this actually made significantly more noticeable changes to my blemishes. After applying this as my only blemish treatment for the past month, the (extremely) stubborn acne-prone area on my right cheek (see the previous post for pictures) was much less inflamed (so, yes to it’s anti-inflammatory properties), and was noticeably less red (& yes to its soothing and calming properties). Moreover, I noticed I haven’t been getting any additional acne there. But, while it didn’t eliminate the existing acne blemishes I have in that area, it did get rid of other pimples that popped up on other parts of my face. However, in terms of reducing the size of my existing acne scars, I honestly don’t think it did anything, although it did make them less noticeable (considering that they are less red and inflamed now).

Conclusion: Based on its soothing, healing, and anti-inflammatory properties, I would highly recommend this product for those who are struggling with inflamed and red acne-prone areas. As for reducing the appearance of existing scars, using this alone probably isn’t sufficient. Hence, I think it’s best to continue using the Centella Blemish Cream in conjunction with my chemical exfoliators and Vitamin C products, as part of my long-term quest to rid my face of these heinous PIH and PIE scars.

Rating: 4/5

Guide to Rating Scale:

5/5 – Holy grail item, it does everything it claims to do. Will repurchase again and again and again.

4/5 – Does most of what it claims to do. Likely to repurchase it again unless I find something better.

3/5 – Neither good nor bad. It did something, but nothing really noticeable

2/5 – Product did nothing for my skin, could have saved myself some $$

1/5 – My skin did not like it (i.e. reacted badly to it), or it just really sucks. Would not (ever) buy again.

Where to buy

I bought mine from a local retailer in Singapore. You can find them at Lucky Plaza,

02-73, or online (their delivery was amazingly quick, like it came two days after I ordered it online) at http://mybeautymoments.com. Alternatively, there are quite a few online retailers that sell this internationally (e.g. https://www.wishtrend.com).

Centella Blemish Cream COSRX untuk apa?

COSRX adalah brand skin care asal Korea Selatan yang diformulasikan khusus untuk membantu mengatasi permasalahan kulit seperti jerawat, kulit kusam, blackhead dan whitehead.