Review: Mario Badescu Drying Lotion

Hello everyone!

Today, I have a review on the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. Recently, my skin has been breaking out on my cheeks. I had a couple cystic pimples and a couple regular ones. I was trying everything I knew, from going back to my Clinique 3 Step-System, which helped me in middle school, to toothpaste. Nothing was helping and they just kept coming back. So I decided to try out the drying lotion, which I’ve seen used quite a bit by Youtube beauty gurus.

The ingredients that make up this product are very unique. One of the ingredients is calamine and that might attribute for the color, which is pink. If you have itching or irritation, it will help soothe it. That’s why people use it for poison ivy, chicken pox, and other uncomfortable skin issues. Another important ingredient it has is sulfur. The sulfur helps the pore become unclogged by drying it up. The product also has camphor, which gives a nice cooling sensation. It also has salicylic acid, which is popular product in acne medication. It helps clear out pores, which prevents breakouts.

It is a spot treatment, that is to be used at night or on days when you’re only staying at home. The reason for this is that the product is very pink and obvious. The pink part is thick and almost sediment-like, and stays at the bottom of the bottle. But there is a yellow liquid (the camphor), that fills up the top half, and they are not meant to be shaken up. There are two different bottles, the glass one and the plastic one. In the plastic one, the top half may seem clear, but it’s not.

It has directions on how to use it on the back. All you have to do it dip a cotton swap all the way in, making sure to pick up the pink part, and just dab it onto your zits. This is to be done after you’ve cleansed and moisturized. The picture below is what it looks like after I’ve dabbed it on with a cotton swab.

It does have a scent, which I personally don’t mind. Since it’s only meant to be used at night, it doesn’t bother me. If you’re sensitive to smells, this has a strong sulfur/camphor type of smell. After I dab it onto my acne, I let it sit there for about fifteen minutes, before I go to sleep, so that it has time to dry and not rub off on my sheets. In the morning, the spot will still be there. Either wash it off with water, (which may take a little bit longer than usual), or exfoliate with a gentle cleanser. I prefer the latter method.

The pictures below are areas where my face had been breaking out, and what they look like now.

This was after eleven days of applying the drying lotion straight on my acne. I’m not wearing makeup in any of the photos. As you can see, it really helped calm it all down and lessen the redness. I was surprised after seeing my pictures side by side, how much it actually changed. Obviously, there are still spots that show where the acne was, but it doesn’t seem like dark spots. I’ve noticed them fading each day, so I’m not worried about it. I was impressed, especially with the pimple that was closest to my nose, because it was really large and inflamed. But after about the third day, I noticed it starting to going down and now it’s just a little blemish, fading away each day.

I highly recommend this product is you have mild acne breakouts. By that, I mean you have a couple pimples here and there, but they aren’t consistent and there all the time. Before I purchased it, I had looked up reviews for myself, and people had said they noticed a different after the first night. That didn’t happen to me, but I did notice a difference after the third day, which is still really good!

I don’t really see any negative about this product, except for the price. It is $17 at Ulta, which is quite pricey for 1 ounce. But, seeing as you only use a cotton swab and dab the product on, I think it will last a pretty long time, so it’s worth it. Another part of the products some people may not like is the smell, but like I said before, it’s only at night when you should use it, so no one but you will be smelling it. I think it’s worth it, seeing as it actually does work.

Let me know if you guys have tried this product out! Feel free to leave any comments or questions! Thanks for reading!