Clearly Clear

So with the recent spate of hot and humid NYC days, I've been wearing very little makeup. But I have noticed my skin looking better lately, which got me wondering - which one of the eleventy million skin care products that I use have made the improvement?

I can't say that I'm diligent enough to use a product regularly -- I've got product ADD! -- so I was definitely a bit perplexed. But the answer hit me while I was in the shower this morning. There's one product that I've actually been using according to the label directions, and it appears to be making an extremely positive difference in my skintone and complexion.

I present to you: Clean & Clear SOFT In-Shower Facial. No, really. Clean & Clear. I swear. The same brand that many of us were introduced to in the mid-nineties when Johnson & Johnson introduced a gentler, more feminine approach to skin care. They've apparently been evolving the brand offerings over the past decade, and I picked up this product based on some glowing reviews on other beauty blogs.

And boy, they weren't kidding. C&C In-Shower Facial contains a combination of glycolic acid (AHA), clay, natural fruit acids, and exfoliating beads. The bottle instructs you to spread all over your face, and wait a minute while allowing the steam from your shower to activate the formula. After the minute is over, you massage into your face, and the gentle beads allow for a little bit of physical exfoliation. The instructions say to use this 1-3 times a week, and I've managed to keep that routine up, reaching for the bottle while I'm taking a shower.

The result is simply soft and glowing skin that's not tight or over-dry. I"m talking 'touchably soft' and 'pregnant woman glow' here. (Not pregnant, I swear!)

I'm really loving this product. My skin has achieved a smoother texture overall, and my acne scars have faded pretty significantly. Now, I count that as a miracle. I've been fortunate to have reasonably good skin my entire life, but a particularly heinous bout of hormonal acne in my early 20's left some hyperpigmented scars on my cheeks. Of late, I had been using foundation to cover them up; however, since I started using this product 3 months ago, I find that I don't mind going without.

The best part is - it's cheap! It retails for $6.99 and as part of JNJ's marketing campaign for this line, they've been running coupons on their brand site. With these kind of results, I'm definitely going to try out some of the other products in the SOFT line. I'll report back when I do!

$6.99 @ Drugstore.com