Murad Acne Treatment Concealer ($21, amazon.com) promises the desirable combination of treating acne and also covering it up. The company’s own research found that 86% of users saw an improvement in acne after two weeks. While this is on the better end of the treatment concealer spectrum, it serves as an excellent example of why sometimes combination products fall short.
Daytime makeup doesn’t lend itself particularly well to acne-fighting ingredients, which, in this particular case, might require a certain pH or be photosensitizing. Still, Murad’s product manages to balance these conditions out pretty well to create a concealer that could, with the use of other acne treatments, certainly help acne. However, it definitely suffers in ingredient effectiveness, and might sufferer in cosmetic use by being a combination concealer-treatment.
2% Salicylic Acid Help Keep Pores Clear
Acne results from pores getting clogged, not just by oil, but also by dead skin. Salicylic acid, a beta-hydroxy acid, helps to minimize this problem by softening the keratin, or protein that forms skin, which in turn, causes the dry, dead skin inside the follicle to loosen and shed. In this way, it increases cell turnover (DermNet NZ).
The ideal skin care preparation with salicylic acid has 1 to 2% of it, and since Murad Acne Treatment Concealer has 2%, it’s got plenty to categorize it as both a cover-up and an effective acne treatment, but its cream formula might not allow for the optimal pH of 3 or 4 (Dr. Brannon, MD).
Retinyl Palmitate: Vitamin A Reduces Sebum
Retinyl palmitate is both in age- and acne-fighting products. It’s a combination of retinol and palmitic acid, that’s about 10 times weaker than retinol. But it still has a lot of potential to be effective. Because of its acidic to neutral pH, it works well with acidic ingredients, such as salicylic acid (Journal of Cosmetic Science, Clinics in Dermatology).
This ingredient undergoes a process in the skin that helps to control sebum production. Retinyl palmitate is a retinyl ester (it’s been bound to a fatty acid) and through a series of steps it gets converted into all-trans retinoic acid in the skin. Once this process occurs, the trentinoin works in the skin to prolong the maturation of basal sebocytes, reducing sebum production, and shrink the size of sebaceous glands (Dermatology).
The Pros and Cons of Using Retinyl Palmitate
There are benefits and downsides to using retinyl palmitate, which is less concentrated and thus less powerful than other forms of retinol. The upside to its lower potency is that it’s more acceptable for daytime wear.
Retinol makes the skin more photosensitive, which, without proper protection, can cause more sun damage. While retinyl palmitate will also do this, as Dr. Steven Q. Wang, MD points out in a critique of a study to determine if retinyl palmitate decreases the effectiveness of sunscreen and causes more cancer. He brought up that the study didn’t look at how retinyl palmitate functioned in a network of antioxidants, which this product has (Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology).
[Read More: Retinyl Palmitate is Safe in Sunscreen Now?!]
The downside to this lack of potency is that retinyl palmitate, and even retinol, aren’t the very tops for treating acne. Isotrentinoin is the only acne-fighting ingredient that has been shown to fight all four causal factors in ance — hyperkeratinization (this is what causes the skin cells to clog pores), increase sebum (or oil) production, excess in the local production of bacteria, and inflammation. Retinoids and trentinoin are less effective in this regard.
But remember: You wouldn’t want to use these powerful ingredients during the day, so while those may be best for nighttime use (with a sunscreen during the day, please!), retinyl palmitate is really the best ingredient in this family for a daytime product. Still, I would have liked to see some physical blockers in this to help protect wearers.
There is another downside, though. Retinyl pamitate starts to degrade about a month after opening a product, so you should try to use it within that month.
Full of Stellar Antioxidants
This spot treatment also benefits from the inclusion of green tea, as well as network antioxidants vitamin C and E. These help to mitigate some of the potential damage of using retinyl palmitate in daytime.
Green tea extract contains the polyphenol EGCG, which is an anti-carcinogenic free-radical scavenger. When rubbed on murine skin regularly for 18-20 weeks, it was found to reduce the number of UVB-induced tumors (Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology). It’s also been shown to have photoprotective benefits.
Vitamin E and C are both known for being stellar antioxidants that work together, synergistically borrowing electrons from each other when their own are depleted. While vitamin C works better against UVA rays, vitamin E works better against UVB rays (Acta-Dermato Venereologica). Together, they help prevent oxidative damage and also improve the efficacy of sunscreen when layered underneath it (Cosmetic Dermatology).
Bottom Line
Overall Murad Acne Treatment Concealer is good for a treatment-concealer combination ingredients-wise (I cannot speak to how well it works as a makeup). And if you suffer from acne, this could serve as a supplemental ingredient to a routine created with anti-control in mind. However, putting acne medication in makeup can have its downsides, making both the makeup and the ingredients less effective for their individual purposes. But, overall, this one manages to strike a balance in terms of what it uses, and make for a decent, if not stupendous, formulation overall.
IngredientsÂ
Active Ingredient: Salicylic Acid 2%.
Phenyl Trimethicone, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Stearyl Dimethicone, Octyldodecanol, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Propylene Carbonate, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax (Candelilla Cera), Beeswax (Cera Alba), Tridecyl Stearate, Neopentyl Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Dimethicone, Allyl Methacrylates Crosspolymer, Ozokerite, Polyethylene, Cyclomethicone, Dimethiconol, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Water (Aqua), Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Phenoxyethanol.