Skin Care Review: Perricone Pore Refining (acne reparative) line

I bought Perricone's Acne treatment travel kit after much mulling over whether the $85 was, indeed, really worth it. The kit includes a 1 oz. cleanser, 20 toner pads (facial pads soaked in toning fluid), .5 oz. acne cream, and .5 oz. concealer cream. All of this line includes DMAE.

The breakdown: *Cleanser: The cleanser is awesome, it leaves the skin feeling moisturized after it's washed off. Contains glycolic acid and DMAE. Cost for full 6 oz. is $35 -- an ok amount for how long it lasts, as you only need a very small amount (this bottle would last me a year or more, as the 1 oz. I have I've only used 1/4 of it and it's been over 3 weeks, thus far.) *Toner Pads: They work very well for getting the grime out of pores, but definately not worth the unit cost. He sells a jar of toner pads, as well as a bottle of toner fluid. Toner fluid comes in 6 oz. - fairly sufficient, and effective. However, he doesn't market the fluid as part of the acne line, only the pads. So, those who come for his acne line never know about the fluid, which is a much more cost effective deal. (full size toner pads come with 60). I compared the listed ingredients in their quantatative order, and the two were exactly the same. *Acne Cream: It's a 2.5% benzoyl peroxide composition with glycolic acid, alpha lipoic acid, and DMAE. This cream is the best benzoyl peroxide medicated cream I've ever used. During initial use, however (even after using Proactiv benzoyl peroxide for months upon months), my skin became reddened, and there was a burning sensation for awhile. After 3 weeks of use, those effects have subsided. Full size is 2 oz. at $55... and he offers two concentrations - 2.5% and 5%. Unfortunately, for the time being, I shall be using this costly, albeit effective, acne cream. *Concealer: Ok... I'm a gay man (19 years old), so I have no qualms about wearing concealer, but I have to say... this stuff is CRAP!! He only offers ONE tinted tone, and in order for my skin not to look like I have a really odd and large birthmark on it, I have to cover my entire face with it. And with how much you have to "feather it out", I figure there's very little concentration of active ingredients in any given area. It contains alpha lipoic acid and DMAE, which he claims works as an added catalyst of the benzoyl peroxide to deminish acne imperfections, but seriously... don't use it! it's a waste. And after a few hours of wearing it, it's hard to describe... but it's like the bond of it breaks down and it looks like I'm wearing a microfine layer of swiss cheese with lots of holes, thus needing another coat. I'm almost full german, so going for a persian skin tone when I'm a creamy pink isn't very appealing. Full size is .5 oz and I don't even know how much this worthless stuff costs. It also smells like bad eggs.

All in all... I think if you have any acne at all, go with what the Retin-A girl on here says... go for the Retin-A. Oh, and also... for anyone who uses Perricone products (or any on here whatsoever), download this site creator's DIY Anti-Aging Skin Care Infopack -- IT'S FABULOUS!!!!

To my mixtures I've added an extra dose of MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane, aka dimethyl sulfone (a non-stinky, natural form of sulfur derived from the bark of some kind of fur tree??? I think..)) when I found out sulfers are undeniably excellent treaters of acne. And since then, I really haven't had much acne whatsoever...

Also... another note on moisturizers: For acne sufferers, avoid oil-inclusive moisturizers, as excess oils beyond sebum (skin oil) will only irritate acne. And attempt to avoid products with parabans in them (methylparaban, propylparaban) as these (I think they're waxes?) tend to be be comedogenic (aiding in the creation of blackheads).

Ok, and one more thing... I read somewhere that washing your face in frigid water also helps calm and help alleviate acne breakouts, and though I don't know if this is just modern folklore or not, I do it anyways, just because.