A while ago Cosrx sent me a box of goodies to take care of my acne prone skin. I’ve been using Cosrx before this and really enjoy using their products.

For me, Cosrx has always been about acne care, but their line of products don’t just stop there as they have other products that uses ingredients like propolis, snail, and so forth. Depending on your skin concerns, Cosrx has some form of solution for it!

They’ve sent me 3 products: Original Clear Pad, and Pimple patches (original and clear).

The original clear pad has 70 pads in a tub, soaked with products that help exfoliate your skin and contains some tea tree oil to help keep the skin clear. I’ve ran out of an exfoliating toner so this was a great replacement for it as I do enjoy a mild chemical exfoliation after cleansing in the evening. My skin is no stranger to acids/chemical exfoliants so this my skin can tolerate everyday - if you have sensitive skin then you may want to reduce the number of times you use this if it’s causing some redness.

Ingredients: Slaix Alba (Willow) Bark Water, Btylene Glycol, Glycerin, Betaine Slicylate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Arginine, PEG-60 Hydogenated castor oil, Panthenol, Allantoin, Ethyl hexaneiol, Citrius Aurantium Dulcis (Orange Peel) Oil, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Hyaluronate

There is no water in there! Which is always nice - the bark water is an astringent and whilst I’m really not a huge fan of astringents, this hasn’t done badly on my skin at all. My skin also doesn’t feel dried out like other astringents i’ve used previously and it really does a good job in toning the skin after a double cleanse.

I like to use the textured side to swipe across face and neck, and then use the smooth side to do it again.

This is a great and affordable product for daily maintenance of acne prone skin. This is not going to END your acne problems - no products will, really, especially if your acne is hormonal (mine depends on diet!), but it does help to control the situation.

The pimple patches everyone is familiar with. Cosrx are really popular when it comes to pimple patches and there are many more pimple patches on the market these days, with different formulations, potentially.

Let’s be real here - I squeeze my spots 100% of the time. It’s bad, I know, but sometimes I can’t help it. It may have come off during a cleanse, or if I knock my hand against it, or it’s just bugging me (and my husband). I’ll be honest, I’ve not met pimple patches that you stick on the white head and it goes away. Not at a lower end of the price range.

There are a couple of ways I use these patches:

1. when I try not to pick at my spots or to protect them at night, I will cover them with the patches to create a barrier between spots and harm

2. more often, I will squeeze my spots and stick a patch over it help with the healing, swelling and the scarring

They have worked for what I needed them to do - barrier creation and healing assistance. Of course I will absolutely use other products to help with the scarring/healing, but these will be my absolute go-to when it comes to “first-aid”-ing the damaged part of the skin.

There are different opinions on these, but my preference is the clear ones - they are thinner and seem to adhere better to my skin (no water contact) than the thicker ones. The only problem really is that it comes in the same size, whereas the OG pimple patches come in a variety of sizes. I tend to use the largest size anyway so it’s not a deal breaker for me.

They have recently launched their AC collection - I’ve not had the pleasure to try them, but those patches contain more ingredients formulated to really heal and calm down the skin so I’m really looking forward to trying them one day! They’re also sized differently as well (oval shaped) which looks like it will adhere to the skin better.

Let’s be honest, the circular patches don’t always stick and stay on the skin well because of how the face/skin/curves are.

If you’ve heard of Cosrx, then none of these are new, but if you haven’t and looking for a new product to add in your routine, these are great products to start with. The clear pad doesn’t necessarily just be useful for acne prone skin, this could be for textured skin as well and a gentle daily exfoliant would help slowly improve skin texture - all-round product that helps you in the background!