Mario Badescu Drying Lotion Review

Hey Everyone! I'm back with another review of a product that I tried and tested for 2 weeks now, and that is the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. I've seen certain Youtubers and people say this worked for them, while others say it made their acne breakouts even worse, so I decided I'd give it a try since I needed something to control my hormonal breakouts every month. I found this at an Urban Outfitters in New York City for $17! I'll keep this review short and sweet so I'll jump right into it!

Background on my skin type: Diagnosed with severe acne for several years, now left with scarring and occasional small breakouts.

Current skin type: Oily/Dry Combination skin, Very sensitive, Acne-Prone

Price of the product: ~$17

What the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion claims to do:

• "helps dry out blemishes"
• "balance oil in the skin"
• "formulated for troubled complexions"

Tested product for: 2 weeks

What it did for me: 

• It DID dry out my blemishes overnight (very small ones) and the medium-sized ones went down by a little. If it were any large pimple, I would say give this a 2-3 nights application trial.

• It smells STRONGLY of rubbing alcohol to the point it hurt my nostrils as I opened the bottle but you won't smell it on your skin, so don't worry.

• It DID NOT balance oil in my skin, in fact my skin felt very stretched and dry in the areas I applied this product. So you definitely need a moisturizer after applying this drying lotion.

Side notes/Tips:

• "Formulated for troubled complexions"...hmm...I find this a bit misleading because I personally feel like anyone with large pimples/breakouts that are spread out across the face would not benefit much from this product. Yes it can make smaller breakouts disappear overnight, but for larger pimples it'd take more than 2-3 days.

• I personally feel like prolonged use of this product would simply irritate sensitive skin and it definitely dries out the skin a lot. So I highly suggest using a good moisturizer.

• I would only recommend using this product at night after your skin care routine, and before moisturizer.

• Do not touch the bottom pink part of the bottle when using a Q-tip dipping into the bottle. 

• Do not shake the bottle. If you did, wait for the pink and yellow liquid part to separate completely first.

• You don't need a lot of this product, a little bit is fine. The more you apply, the more it will sting.
• A little goes a long way

• I've included some pictures of my skin after I used this product on smaller breakouts...I had a medium-sized pimple on my forehead 2 days ago but now it's gone! (Excuse my scars..I did not want to cover up my face with foundation as it would be inaccurate photos!)

Overall rating: 3.5/5 - While it did help make my smaller/less troublesome pimples disappear, it is still a rather harsh product (that's how I feel about it), and I don't think it's a product you can rely on in the long run if you have acne-prone blemished skin. I'd say this product is best for people with occasional breakouts, normal skin or oily skin. If you have dry skin, I hope you have a heavy duty moisturizer!

Koji xx