To those people who said that you’d stop getting pimples once you hit your twenties and, soon for me, thirties, I’d so love to smack you on the head if I could. I’m 28, and I still get pimples. They result from hormones going amok or using products with irritating ingredients for my skin.

In order to combat my zits, when prevention methods are not quick enough for the darn things to appear, there are two products which I use to zap those bad boys – Clearasil’s Vanishing Pimple Treatment Cream and Garnier’s SOS Blemish Clear Pen.

Now I don’t use them simultaneously; there is a place and time for them, in which I’d explain in detail.

Here are the description and differences in both products:

Clearasil Vanishing Pimple Treatment Cream

• Active ingredients: Triclosan 0.1% w/w, Sulfur Precipitated 8% w/w, Bentonite 10% w/w.
• Smells chemical-y
• Grainy texture
• No skin reaction upon application
• 20g tube

Garnier SOS Blemish Clear Pen

• Contains zinc, salicylic acid, eucalyptus, menthol and vitamin B3
• Smells of menthol
• Gel-like texture
• Cool, tingling feeling on pimples
• Smaller tube than the the Clearasil, very easy to slip into the purse
• 10ml tube

Which do I prefer? I don’t have a particular favourite, as both do a good job in drying pimples out. I use the Clearasil at night, or when I’m at home and do not want to go out. The reason is that when the Clearasil cream dries up, it leaves a yellowish powdery patch on your skin (something like “bedak sejuk“, for Malaysian readers who remember what that is like). Not a good look when you want to go out.

Before spreading the cream and gel evenly on the skin

After the cream and gel have dried

As for the Garnier Blemish pen, it’s a clear gel which does not leave such an obvious patch on the skin. However, if a lot of it is applied, and on a larger surface area, it would look pretty obvious. It’s a matter of adjusting the amount. Of course, I don’t think you’d want to go out with pimple cream on your face, but just in case you do forget you’ve got it on, and you have to run out to run an errand, you wouldn’t look as though a bird just pooped on your face.

What I’m trying to say is – use the Clearasil at night, and the Garnier gel during the day. There you go.

The Garnier gel tends to sting the skin as it contains menthol. If you are not all right with that, do stick to the Clearasil, as it does not react with the skin when applied.

These pimple treatment creams are available at all pharmacies.

When those cursed bumps appear, do not, and I repeat, DO NOT squeeze them lest you want unsightly scars on your face. No matter how tempted you are to do so. Keep your hands busy, stay away from the mirror, do whatever you want but do NOT touch that face. Cleanse the skin with a gentle cleanser, and apply your preferred pimple treatment cream.

And then hope that it dries up soon enough before that big date 😉