Review: Andalou Naturals Blemish Vanishing Gel

Cost: ~12.00
By: Meg


I first found out about Andalou Naturals from an article profiling Renee Loux, the creator of this Natural Beauty line. I was eager to try their products but at the time I read the article, no stores near me carried them yet because they were so new. However, I came across them a few weeks later at the perfect moment.
I was in a Whole Foods Market in our neighborhood and I was desperate to find a natural acne treatment with a little more umph than the one I was currently using. I just come back from a trip and had a HORRIFYING break out, I think because I was exposed to cigarette smoke the whole trip.
The spot treatment I usually use for little unexpected dots was not cutting it at all. I was even thinking of (gasp) buying one of those drugstore brands I used in my high school days...I needed industrial strength!
While looking through the body care department at Whole Foods, I saw they now were carrying Andalou! I reached for their acne treatment and I found just what the doctor ordered. Andalou carries a spot treatment that is mostly natural but still contains Salicylic acid, an ingredient used in many conventional acne treatments. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so although the treatment contained something a little less natural than say, tea tree oil, I was ready to try it.
I applied the treatment to my breakout morning and night for three days. It comes in a small tube and actually has a pleasant smell. I dabbed it on and let it soak in a bit before applying my normal moisturizer. I did get a little tingling in the area after it was on, but you now how people say "that's how you know it's working"? In this case that's how I felt - reassured that it was going to get this job done.
I didn't see immediate results like I hoped I would. Day one my skin actually looked a little worse. Day three though, my skin looked much better! The spots I had had shrunk and were no longer red and attracting attention. I was so happy to have found this and even happier that I didn't have to break my devotion to natural products in order to find something that works great.
Andalou seems like a great company and I look forward to trying more of their products soon. They have a website that is still under construction right now, but hopefully in the near future that will be up and running. For now, look for their products at your local Whole Foods Markets.