La Roche Posay Effaclar Collection Review

I used to suffer from hormonal cystic acne which covered the entire surface of my face. As much as I’d like to tell you that it didn’t impact me in any way, it did. I had terrible self-confidence that stunted my adolescent experience and contributed to feeding my social anxiety. I was constantly teased and bullied throughout elementary and high school and a bulk of the bullying was targeted to my acne.

I’ve tried every treatment that was available on the market that wasn’t a prescription. A few years back, I underwent an extremely painful procedure called RF micro-needling to treat my acne and it showed promising results, but even after layers of numbing cream and pain killers, I can still remember the shock my skin went through from how painful the treatment was.

After going through major changes in my lifestyle, skincare, and diet – I can comfortably say I’m happy with where my skin is at today. While I no longer get cystic acne and hormonal breakouts, I still get a pimple and zit here and there. My skin isn’t perfect, but the progress is what’s important. Whenever I travel, my skin tends to get these tiny breakouts from weather change and stress. With my recent trip to the states, that’s exactly what happened to my skin. It was the perfect timing and chance for me to try out La Roche Posay’s Effaclar Colletion.

The first week I was here, I had some minor breakouts around my chin area. My skin type is combination, leaning towards the oily side, and is rather sensitive so I had my reservations before trying out this collection. You can see below what my skin looks like a week after using La Roche Posay’s Effaclar Collection.

Using 4 of their core products in my routine to treat my problematic areas really helped clear up my skin over time. From their entire collection I only had to use the Purifying Foaming Gel, Micro-peeling Purifying Gel, Effaclar Ultra Concentrated Serum, and Duo (+) Global Acne Treatment.

To be completely honest, I found using both the Purifying Foaming Gel and Micro-peeling Purifying Gel together was redundant, as the formula felt very similar. The Micro-peeling gel was the tiniest bit grittier yet still foamed and cleansed the skin. I was hesitant on trying out this collection as first considering how sensitive my skin is and I was nervous it would dry out from an acne cleanser. I did reach out to several friends on social media for their thoughts before using, and one of my friends who works at Shopper’s Drug Mart reassured me that this was a great collection for acne. Specifically at the start of the pandemic when everyone was breaking out with mascne, it quickly became a best-seller in treating breakouts!

As you can see the texture of the two formulars looked relatively the same and applied on the skin in a similar manner. You can see me use the entire collection in action in my TikTok video below.

@kwital the Effaclar line actually cleared up so much skin congestion from travelling @larocheposay @larocheposayus #StrikeAPosay #skintok #skincareroutine #acneskincare #skincare ♬ Strike a Posay – La Roche-Posay (feat. Hannah)

My skin was soft after cleansing but did feel quite tight. I had no irritations and did not break out any further from the cleanser. Checking the ingredient list, it’s major callouts were the use of Zinc Pidolate and Thermal Spring Water to help purify, remove excess oils and calm the skin. As someone with combination skin to begin with, anything that helps combat excess oils tend to feel tight on my skin.

My skin felt more or less the same using their Micro-Peeling Purifying Gel which introduces Salicylic acid to your routine. I wouldn’t combine the both in a routine and would recommend selecting either or as your starting cleanser! I stopped using the cleanser once my acne cleared up, I think it’s a great cleanser to use in-between travel or when I’m on my cycle but it’s too harsh for me to be using on a daily basis. I did not enjoy that they had fragrance added into the cleanser as well. I would rate 3/5 for both cleansers from my personal experience.

Moving onto the serum – this would be your best friend if you have congested skin and wanted to slough off excess skin. I found this serum drying and didn’t fulfil any needs outside of treating acne. It featured three key ingredients Salicylic acid, Glycolic acid and Lipo-Hydroxy acid which blended and performed beautifully.

Yet it wasn’t meant to be for my skin type as prolonged use ended up drying my skin out. I found the formula gripped onto the skin and absorbed quickly, but left a tacky film all over which you can see in my video. I wouldn’t use this serum on its own and would recommend pairing it with a hydrating serum or intensively hydrating toner beforehand. I would give this a 3.5/5 and would use again when I have breakouts but not on a daily basis.

The last product to review in their collection is the star of the show, their Effaclar Duo (+) Global Action Acne Treatment. While it claims it can also be used as an all over moisturizer AND a topical treatment, I would not advise it for two reasons. One, it’s a really small tube, you get 40mL of product for $26. Using it as a treatment will get you more uses. Second – it does not hydrate the skin enough for me to consider it a moisturizer.

The first time I used this, my skin felt dry all over and needed help as a moisturizer. I found the formula to be too strong on my skin and on day two, switched it over as a spot treatment instead. As a treatment, I would give this a 5/5, it was effective and helped diminish my pimples and lightened up scars. As a moisturizer, I would give it a 1/5. Unless you suffer from extremely oily skin, you’re going to need a whole lot more to avoid tight and dry feeling skin.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the La Roche Posay Effaclar collection. It did what it promised to do and cleared up my acne – but I would not recommend this collection for anything outside of that. It’s not suited for prolong use, once your acne clears up I would recommend only using the spot treatment when needed and switching to your regular skincare routine, bringing this back seasonally when needed.

If I was using this collection as a daily routine, I would give the overall collection a 2/5. If we’re talking about using the collection as an acne treatment to target and heal acne, then YES!! Definitely a 5/5 if used properly. Please note I’m not a dermatologist, and what may work for me may not work for you and vice versa. If you have had the pleasure of trying out this collection for yourself, please leave a comment about your personal experience, I’d love to know how La Roche Posay’s Effaclar collection worked for you!

* This blog post contains gifted products from La Roche Posay and We Are Middle Child. However, all reviews and opinions are unbiased and remain my own. Please reach out to me on the contact page if you would like to use my images or collaborate on a post.