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If you watched my DIY Pore strips video on my YouTube channel you will know I have been testing out the Clinique 3 step system. I’ve been suffering from acne for most of my life and it sucks. I’ve been experimenting with a lot of different remedies and seen some doctors about it. The only thing that has helped so far was birth control. I have been off of it for about 3 years and I’m going to try avoid it all together. I have been experimenting with different regimes for my skin and the Clinique one has been the most recent.
I purchased the combination skin type version if the three step system at the end of February and it has lasted me till now, well the cleanser anyway. The whole system comes with a gel cleaner, toner, and the dramatically different gel moisturizer. When I purchased this I got it for $78.00 on special which also came with travel sizes.
I used the three step system religiously for about 3 months to really get a good sense as to how it would work for me and give a quality review.
I realize everyone’s skin is different and we all have different needs. For me, having adult acne, I want to clear up my skin and find a regime that would eliminate or help reduce irritation.

My first impression of this system were positive. I found the bottles to be user friendly and quite easy to store. The toner had this pump you can press to distribute product onto your cotton pad which was super cool and easy. I found this process helped reduce accidental product waste. If any of you are a spazz like me, tipping the bottle over to soak the cotton pad only leads to accidental spillage. All three products had an “open and close” feature so nothing spilled if stored sideways. All you had to do was twist it one way or the other. My only suggestion would be to mark the bottle in some way. The cleanser and toner had their open/close twists in opposite directions. It took a few frustrating attempts to figure this out.

Aesthetics aside let’s get to the good stuff.
The cleanser was very mild and had very little scent. It lathered nicely and really left my skin feeling bare and cleansed. The toner, being the next step, was ok. The sales person at the Clinique counter told me the toner helped exfoliate the skin and would help absorb the moisturizer. I’m doubting the exfoliating part because I did not feel any differences with the dead skin and black head minimization. I found I would still have to exfoliate separately once to two times a week. I do have to agree with it allowing my skin to absorb the moisturizer. A couple times I skipped the toner all together too see if there was a difference and there was. The final step in the process was the “dramatically different” moisturizer. I must have been using the wrong moisturizers all my life because this honestly left my skin feeling great. It is a gel based moisturizer as opposed to a cream base and I think that was the key. It absorbed so quickly into my skin and did not leave a film over op like I had previously found with other moisturizers. I would have to blot my face to get rid of the extra oil on top of my skin. With this dramatically different moisturizer it was literally dramatically different. I loved it!

After using this system for three months my skin has not gotten worse and has not gotten better. I feel this system is best used for someone with little to no acne whatsoever. I feel it could do great things for skin with minimal problems unlike mine. I do not have anything negative about this system but have come to the conclusion it is not for me.

My gel cleanser is all done but I still have half a bottle left of the toner and moisturizer. I will try and use the acne solutions cleanser to see of the helps and I will keep you updated on the results of that in a few months.

Have you tried this system or any other Clinique products? How do you find it worked for you?

*I was not sponsored for this post. I purchased this with my own money and am sharing my honest review with you*