To clear skin!

    If you've been reading my blog for a long time, then you already know my devotion to tea tree oil. It's the only product I use to treat and dry out my breakouts and I'll always sing praises about it just because of how effective and reliable it is. Ever since I was introduced to it, I pretty much never looked back and tried out other products for my breakouts- that's how much I loved it!

    Last Christmas, my sister, who knows I love tea tree oil, gifted me two boxes of The Body Shop's Powerfully Purifying Tea Tree Skincare Gift Set. Initially, I was only interested with the tea tree oils but last March, I had a pretty inflamed and painful breakout and I was looking for something to relieve the inflammation. I remembered I had this set so thought I'd finally try out the facial wash and toner alongside my tea tree oil!

    The Body Shop's Powerfully Purifying Tea Tree Skincare Gift is an iconic collection specifically for cleansing, toning, and targeting oily and blemish-prone skin. Included in this set are the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Face Wash (60ml), Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner (60ml), and Tea Tree Oil (10ml). All three products are enriched with organically grown tea tree oil from Kenya that's expertly crafted by The Body Shop's Community Fair Trade partners at Kutoka Ardhini.

    The products in this set are 100% vegan (as certified by The Vegan Society), dermatologically tested, and their packaging are recyclable.

  The Powerfully Purifying Tea Tree Skincare Gift set retails locally at ₱1,195.

    Let's break down this set, shall we?

    The first step in this set is cleansing, which is where the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash comes in! It is a "blemished skin-friendly cleanser that removes excess oil and impurities that leaves the skin purified, mattified, and refreshed." Aside from the Community Fair Trade tea tree oil, this gel to foam facial wash is also formulated with salicylic acid which exfoliates dead skin cells, and clears away dirt and excess oil.

I think this is my first ever facial wash with tea tree in it and I gotta say, I quite like it! This facial wash works really well on inflamed pimples and zits as it not only cleans them, it also soothes them. I mean that in a literal sense because this facial wash has a eucalyptus-like cooling effect that's quite a surprise, especially when you use it for the first time! I was honestly taken aback by that cooling feeling but now I'm fond of it and even enjoy it (just be careful on your eye area as the cooling feeling feels weird on that part.) I also like that it feels gentle and light on the skin and that it doesn't dry my skin at all. 

    Next is the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner, which "gently removes any grime left behind after cleansing and purifies the skin, leaving it looking mattified and feeling smoother, without any tightness or dryness." Just like the facial wash, this toner has Community Trade tea tree oil and salicylic acid in its formula.

I don't know if you can see it clearly but there's some solution at the bottom of the toner bottle that's meant to be shaken for it to infuse with the rest of the toner liquid. I thought I'd mention this because it reminded me of Barrenbliss' Pimple Warrior Lotion!

I'm really not a toner user on a daily basis but I now realize that it's an important step to add to my routine whenever I'm breaking out. Emphasis on the breaking out part because I personally can't use this toner for everyday because I found it a bit too spicy on my skin. However, I have to say that this toner helps a lot with my break outs as it also reduces inflammation and even dries them out a bit. I use a Q-tip to apply this toner directly on my break outs to spot treat them and I let the toner dry down before doing the last step!

    Lastly is my OG, the product that I always use to treat my breakouts: Tea Tree Oil! I already featured this product years ago but for a refresher, it's a pure and potent oil from tea tree leaves that were steam-distilled within 12 hours of harvest. This makes this oil  the best product to use to battle and reduce blemishes. And what's great about this oil is that it's non-greasy, dermatologically tested,  and made specifically for blemished skin.

If you use this oil for the first time on blemishes, it may feel a little tingly, spicy, and hot on the skin but trust me when I tell you that this is probably the gentlest pure tea tree oil you'll ever use. I'd say it's a great intro to tea tree oil because it's not as drying and spicy as other tea tree oils. Instead of letting breakouts ripen and burst, this tea tree oil dries them out to the root and in no time, your blemishes will be gone and dealt with. A word of warning though: tea tree oil can be drying on the skin the more you use it so make sure you moisturize your skin (or at least the skin surrounding your blemishes) every time you apply this oil on your face.

    If you're like me who deals with breakouts and want them gone quick, I think this set is the perfect addition to you skincare roster. Tea tree oil really helps a lot in reducing inflammation and treating the blemishes and the products in this set got you covered from cleansing to treatment. This is also the perfect set to get if you just want to try and see how tea tree oil is on your skin, or if you need a travel-sized skincare products that'll effectively cleanse and treat your skin. Overall, I think this set is value for money and one that is greatly appreciated by tea tree oil lovers like myself! So happy I got this in my stash!