Bad skin. The bane of teenagers the World over. If I had a dollar for each time I looked in the mirror and wished to my fairy Godmother that I had a less greasy forehead after a hard day grafting (yeah right!) at work, that my fringe didn’t make my skin shine like a Drag Queen’s Mardi Gras costume. The men’s cosmetic market has exploded over the past few years, with celebrity endorsements from the oddly feminine sounding David Beckham and the Nadia Almada-a-like (and slutty Charlotte Church’s boyfriend) Gavin Henson. And where celebrities lead, vain trendy Queens follow...

Neutrogena Blackhead Elimination Daily Scrub. Neutrogena’s new Blackhead Eliminator is the first of four products under the microscope. Promising to remove all blackheads from your face, seems like an impossible feat, and I was quite sceptical before picking up the gender-ambiguous squeezy bottle. The Blackhead Eliminator has an ingredient called salicylic acid. Salicylic acid makes it easier for the anti-septic ingredients to kill the germs around the blackhead and prevents the blackhead from reforming.

Blackheads, like syphilis, herpes and Jordan get notoriously bad publicity. Blackheads are unpleasant, but they are a natural occurrence. The Blackhead Eliminator totally worked because it prevented any blackheads from forming, however it did not give my skin the same smooth soft feeling, it was also really gritty.
 

Clearasil Ultra Deep Poor Treatment Scrub. In the Clearasil hydrolyzed milk protein, which sounds healthy, as milk is healthy right? In this case it still applies (bet you thought that the milk brought you out in Grotbag-esque warts, well it doesn’t, its ace). Not everyone will know what hydrolyzed means, and to be honest if it wasn’t for chemistry lessons at school, neither would I. Basically it just means that the hydrogen atoms have been removed so they have dried out the milk proteins so they can add them to the concoction. The protein reduces oil build up and controls shine, which this certainly does. I’ve never ever known my skin to feel this smooth and look this good. Don’t want to brag but my skin is generally good but this stuff is great! I made sure that everyone had a feel, and I do believe, although he wouldn’t like to admit it that my boyfriend was quite liking the soft skin.

The Clearasil also lathers up nicely. When its squeezed out you can see the little granules, which reassured me for some reason. I think this was because it felt like there was something special going onto my skin. Its easily applied, and easily washed off and the affects can be seen on day two, fresher, clearer skin.

Biore Pore Perfect Unglogging Scrub. Rough on the skin, but that is the point I suppose to help get dead skin off, which is quite a nasty thought. It smells very strongly of kiwi fruit, if this is a good or bad thing depends on your view of the smell of kiwi. I personally like it so enjoyed using the product. My skin is certainly looking and feeling a lot cleaner, my only problem is remembering to use it. My cheeks are especially nice looking and the few spots I had have cleared up too, now if this is due to washing better and making sure I do it, or because of the product I don’t know. However I am looking a lot better and haven’t had to put any cover-up on all week so I’m pretty happy.

My skin feels really clean and fresh and feels really soft though I’ll take any excuse to annoy him. I would (and have) recommend it!

Simple Oil Control Regulating Exfoliator Wash. Very smooth on the skin compared to the Bioré product, it felt like rubbing baby oil onto myself so very nice and relaxing. Smell wise it doesn’t have a distinctive smell, but if I had to put a name to it I’d say it smells like a bit like baby oil, but overall not a distinctive smell, which I suppose is better than the other one if you‘re not a fan of kiwi fruits.

It cleansed my skin really well and he felt really smooth and fresh after using it, it even made the area around my eyes feel really smooth and refreshed. (Be gentle using products near your eyes).