I’ve been plagued with acne-prone skin since my early teens, and now, over a decade later, I’m ready for a change. Well… I was ready for a change quite a few years ago, but I’ve been going through a lot of trial-and-error with skincare products that claim to heal acne for the last few years. I’ve even tried quite a few tea tree skincare products (including 100% pure tea tree oil), but I haven’t found anything that has fully cured my acne-prone skin. But I have found a few things that help, and they’re included in Glow Recipe’s Trouble Escape Trial Kit!

The Trouble Escape Trial Kit is carefully curated for combination-to-oily, acne-prone skin. I tried this skincare regimen for a week, completely throwing out my normal routine, and I was actually pleasantly surprised at the results.

Step 1: LJH Tea Tree 30 Cleanser

This cleanser foams up delightfully, which I love, but doesn’t strip the skin, which I love even more. Although there’s been a lot of hype around foaming cleansers drying out your skin, cream cleansers just don’t do it for me. Plus, while the LJH Tea Tree 30 Cleanser creates a nice lather, it doesn’t contain SLS/SLES – the very ingredients known to deplete the skin and hair of any trace of moisture or natural, beneficial oils. It’s also packed with 30% tea tree oil and other acne-fighting ingredients such as willow bark extract, witch hazel, and lavender oil, plus antioxidant-rich sea buckthorn extract. An awesome first step to a great skincare routine!

The LJH Tea Tree 30 Cleanser before and after, in all its foamy glory.

Step 2: Whamisa Organic Flowers Refresh Essence Toner

The first thing I noticed about this was the smell, so let me put it simply: It. Smells. Amazing. It’s floral, it’s herbal, and most importantly – it’s made with amazing ingredients to soothe and balance skin, such as aloe vera extract, green tea extract Don’t let the “fermented” part throw you off, either – Whamisa uses a natural fermentation process that preserves the power of the natural botanicals found in the formula. The only thing I didn’t like about this toner is that it contains alcohol – I never put anything containing alcohol on my face due to the drying effects, but I actually didn’t notice my skin getting any drier than usual, or overproducing oil due to unseen dryness. This could be because the alcohol isn’t very high in the ingredient list, which means there isn’t much of it in the formula to begin with.

Step 3: LJH Tea Tree 90 Essence

This was easily my favorite product of the bunch, and it’s one that I’ve been wanting to try for some time. Made with 90% tea tree extract, this essence soothes troubled skin, while the hyaluronic acid and trehalose impart moisture and hydration into skin, while still remaining totally weightless. This is a big deal to me because I hate heavy, sticky essences. Also deserving of some major brownie points – this essence is alcohol-free, water-free (no dilution of ingredients!) and virtually fragrance-free.

The weightless LJH Tea Tree 90 Essence, made with 90% tea tree extract to soothe and help heal troubled skin.

Step 4: LJH Tea Tree 80 Cream

The LJH Tea Tree 80 Cream has a lot going for it. It’s a lightweight gel cream formula that is free of parabens, synthetic dyes and fragrances, mineral oil and drying alcohols. It’s also formulated with 80% tea tree extract to treat and soothe troubled skin, while trehalose, glycerin and Shea butter help to hydrate the skin. I loved using the LJH Tea Tree 80 Cream for its beneficial ingredients and lightweight hydration, but I did find that my combination skin needed a tiny bit more hydration – particularly my dry cheeks, as the LJH Tea Tree 80 Cream was perfectly hydrating for my oily T-zone. Not to worry – I patted on a little of Primary Raw’s DoYou Azulene Gel Cream to help out the dry areas of my skin. I’d say this moisturizer would be perfect for hot, humid summer days and even the springtime.

LJH Tea Tree 80 Cream promises lightweight hydration in a gel cream formula.

Extra Credit: Blithe Patting Splash Mask in Soothing Green Tea

I can’t say enough about how amazing this splash mask is. 15 seconds to soothed, refreshed skin? Sign me up! Here’s how I did it: I emptied about half the sachet into my palm while in the shower, splashed onto my face, and patted it in for about 5 seconds. Then, I used the water from the shower and patted that in for 5 seconds. After a final round of patting the rest of the sachet in, and then rinsing, my skin felt instantly fresher and cooler, largely due in part to the amazing ingredients present in this splash mask – soothing green tea extract, brightening lemon extract, exfoliating lactic acid, refreshing tea tree oil, and more. I used both sachets three days apart (once in the morning and once at night), and I’m pleasantly surprised to say that more than one person at work told me my skin looked nice on both days. Say what? I never get compliments like this!

Extra Credit: Lindsay Modeling Rubber Mask in Vitamin

I was both confused and excited when I tried the Lindsay Vitamin Modeling Rubber Mask. It sounded awesomely fun and novel, but I also didn’t understand exactly how it turned into “rubber.” Well, here’s how: the powdered alginate in the formula turns into a sort of jelly when mixed with water, which then “hardens” into a rubbery substance over the course of a just 10-15 minutes. However, the formula doesn’t actually get hard – it literally just feels like you have a stretchy, rubbery substance on your face, and the best part (aside from peeling it off – SO fun) is that you can feel it working. The Vitamin mask in particular is packed full of vitamins, including vitamin C, to help brighten skin and lactococcus lactis, a probiotic that soothes and renews skin.

Mix the Lindsay Modeling Rubber Mask in Vitamin into a thick, pink paste.

Then, apply it and wait 10-15 minutes! The Lindsay Modeling Rubber Mask in Vitamin: wet (left) to dry (right).

Peel it off to reveal bright, smooth skin. And not a blemish in sight, thanks to the full Trouble Escape Trial Kit regimen!

All in all, is the Trouble Escape Trial Kit worth the investment? Yes! Especially for those with oily and acne-prone skin, this set is amazing and provides a full skincare routine for a week, plus three masks to be used throughout the course of the week. I saw less breakouts and blemishes through my week of using the Trouble Escape Trial Kit and I – and others! – noticed brighter, more even skin overall. I suspect that if I committed to at least a few products in this routine as a part of my regular skincare ritual, I’d be virtually acne-free, so the next skincare purchases on my list? The LJH Tea Tree 90 Essence and Blithe Patting Splash Mask in Soothing Green Tea. And the next purchase on your list should be the Trouble Escape Trial Kit – it makes a great, inexpensive gift for yourself or others that will help you find at least one (if not six!) product that you will love and that will benefit your skin overall.

Get your glow on,
Danielle