I've been using this for about 4 months, and it's taken some trial and error and some relearning about exfoliation to get it right. I'm so glad I pushed through! For context, I have dry, sensitive skin and am acne-prone around my chin. I also live in Colorado, where it's super dry. I've actually had two estheticians here tell me not to exfoliate at all but I felt like I was kind of stuck.

I started out using this once a week for two weeks, then moved to twice a week for two weeks, then to every other day. At first that was too much and I had some irritation, but I realized there were other actives and exfoliants hiding out in my routine - including glycolic acid in my vitamin C serum and something as benign-seeming as pineapple enzymes in a cleanser. Since pulling those out a couple of months ago, the mandelic serum every other night is working really well - maybe at some point I'll try every day. I leave it on for five minutes after cleansing (TY Charlotte Palermino of Dieux for that hot tip), then follow with moisture (also the Sofie Pavitt moisturizer is a dream come true). I'm not saying this serum has singularly cleared my skin because no one product or change is going to do that, but new breakouts are far less frequent and my overall skin tone and texture are so much better. I'm kind of liking my skin for the first time in forever.

TLDR, this serum is totally worth it. I'm an ideal candidate for the brand's approach to acne and it is in fact working spectacularly for…