the after month of old breakouts

Heal raw, red skin with good ol’ Vaseline

You used All The Things in an attempt to wage war on your breakouts, and now? The top layer of your skin is dry, flaky and sensitive. Smooth on a thin layer of Vaseline Healing Jelly Original, £2.99 – it’ll create a protective shield over your skin, helping it to rebuild – and then wait. Your skin takes about 28 days to regenerate, so healing will be a process.

Smooth a crusty old pimple

Run a clean flannel under warm water and hold it over your flaky spot to soften the skin. Then, dab a little moisturiser on top to prevent any make-up from clinging to the flakes. Use a small, thin make-up brush to apply concealer just to the red mark in the centre of the old blemish (avoiding the dry skin around it). Wait a minute, then use your clean finger to pat the concealer, diffusing it into the skin.

Replace your acne actives with brightening actives

Once your breakout has healed and, annoyingly, left you with a dark mark, put away the salicylic acid and start treating said mark with niacinamide or azelaic acid instead. Both are anti-inflammatory and help regulate melanin to fade hyperpigmentation.

Load up on sunscreen

Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (AKA the dark marks from old breakouts) gets way darker/more noticeable when exposed to UV rays. Your best bet: SPF30 or more every morning (yep, even when it’s cloudy). Try La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Aquagel SPF30, £34.50

– it’s fast become our beauty team’s favourite SPF for acne-prone skin.