How to get rid of spots and blemishes

Recently, in a moment of supreme recklessness and, let’s face it, hubris, I boasted that despite a total disregard for proper cleansing I had not had a spot for ages. Talk about tempting fate. The very weekend of publication, a terrible vengeance was visited upon me: not one but two large, painful and mercilessly prominent carbuncles.
As ever, I overreacted. “Look! I’ve got a spot. I must be ill or something,” I said to my husband, my voice high and urgent with self-pity. Quite what I was expecting him to do about it, I don’t know; but when he rummaged in his washbag and produced a small red and white tube, I was a little taken aback. “Try this,” he said, and went back to reading his book.
The tube in question was Dr Sebagh’s Breakout Spot-On (£35; from www.spacenk.com). I had no idea my husband even knew about Dr Sebagh, let alone carried one of his products around in his washbag. What else don’t I know about him, I fretted to myself as I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, dabbing on the pinkish cream. What else is he hiding? Is he having secret facials? Microdermabrasion? Botox? I eyed him suspiciously as I came out of the bathroom. He looked normal – in so far as a man engrossed in The Conservative Revolution in the Weimar Republic can appear normal.
The cream, as it turned out, was pretty impressive, especially for my skin type, which is that lethal mix of maturing with an oily T. As well as anti-bacterial and inflammatory components, it also contains ingredients to soothe and condition the skin and stop it from drying out. I used it at regular intervals for a little under a week, and not only did it succeed in stifling my blemishes (they seemed just to lose interest and fade away), the surrounding area did not suffer at all.
What Dr Sebagh sadly couldn’t do was hide them. No matter how hard I tried, nothing seemed to work – and, in fact, most of the concealers in my (extensive) collection just drew attention to the problem. This is where I could have done with a tube of Clinique’s Clearing Concealer (£11.26, available nationwide from May 1), which camouflages as it treats – something that spot sufferers will love. It comes in three shades, including a green tint that looks alarming at first, but which is surprisingly effective at toning down redness.
Not only is it much better for your skin than using a normal concealer (it contains a variety of inflammation-busting ingredients, such as salicylic acid and a seaweed extract that helps reduce sebum production), it also has an excellent non-slip matt texture which ensures it stays put for hours. At the risk of tempting fate again, it might just be the perfect solution for unexpected break-outs. sec:timesonline