The Ordinary The Acne Set 2.0: 3-Step Regimen

Most Helpful Critical Review

Skin responded poorly to this set

I have been using the squalene cleanser, niacinimide + zinc serum, and natural moisturizing factors w/beta glucan for the last 6ish months. This routine has been working fine for me and has balanced my skin tone, but hasnt helped my breakouts entirely. I still break out at least 1x a month on it so ...i thought I would try this set. Day one, everything felt fine, no burning, the salicidic acid serum felt a little soapy when i put it on and would leave a white residue if i rubbed it in quickly but i thought nothing of it. It just left my face a little drier than usual but this was advertised with the serum. Next morning, skin looked nice, existing breakouts dried out a little and calmed down so i was happy. Day two I applied it once in the morning and once at night, same thing no burning or visible irritation of skin. But the morning of day 3 I noticed some little red bumps in the corner of my forehead and knew that my skin was having an allergic reaction to the product so I stopped using it. That day I just used the cleanser and used the most basic moisturizer I could find that didnt make them more red and irritated, but even now that ive stopped using the product my whole face is now developing these irritated looking breakouts. The end of day 3 I went back to my normal cleansing routine and the next morning i looked less irritated, but after washing my face I am noticing more breakouts. SO, I am pretty disappointed. I gave it 3 starts because Im sure I could have followed the recommended usage better and just applied it 1x/day for at least the first week before applying it twice a day. But I feel that this is a very extreme reaction for using too much too soon, maybe not, i really don't know :'). Now, I would just like to know what to do to help the irritation and breakouts I am now experiencing. This has happened once before with another ordinary serum with acid in the name in the past, so maybe my skin doesn't handle acids well? I still trust ordinary products, this was just a major miss for me. Please help Ordinary :')