During the sixth month of my last pregnancy my skin decided it didn't like this state of affairs and revolted. It was mainly my facial skin, pretty much overnight my usually clear skin erupted into a mass of redness and (eugh!) spots. As if my rapidly increasing weight and heartburn wasn't enough for me to contend with. Sigh. I needed something to nip this in the bud, I'm the first to admit I'm vain about the skin on my face - my whole adult life I've been blessed with decent skin, and I was NOT about to let that change so hotfooted it into town to see what I could do about it.

I'd been to just about every beauty counter on Birmingham, studiously ignoring Clinique as I'd recently had some problems with one of their products. So guess where I found my miracle product? Yep, Clinique after hours of searching. The Anti-Blemish Solutions Clearing Moisturiser ticked all the right boxes for me, clearing up the spots and vastly reducing the horrible redness within days and keeping it at bay for the remainder of my pregnancy.

The moisturiser comes in a 50ml tube; the design is typically Clinique, understated yet elegantly plain. Even as someone who is not a huge fan of Clinique packaging I can say I do actually like this and think it looks great in the bathroom. The tube is designed to stand on its lid, this being ideal in my opinion as it means the product will always dispense easily even when the tube is more or less empty.

The product has a lovely consistency; it's a definite pampering product with a totally non-greasy but creamy texture, yet it's extremely light and spreads across my skin smoothly and easily. Despite the relatively high price the light, almost lotion-like, consistency makes it a very economical moisturiser as you only need to use a very small amount for each application. 

Clinique advise using this moisturiser in the morning and again in the evening, I did this religiously and my skin did settle very quickly. Remember I was having specific problems with my skin and was more than happy with the way this moisturiser (as well as a general skin care detox) solved these depressing issues. The first thing I'd noticed was the redness reducing over the space of just a few days, the spots lingered a bit longer but then I wasn't particularly expecting a disappearing act from them!

This is much more moisturising than you'd think from the light feel of the product, it absorbs quickly into my skin and instantly leaves it feeling softer to the touch. I also think my skin *looks* smoother after I've applied the Clearing Moisturiser; I'm sure it's not wishful thinking and this isn't a long-lasting effect anyway, but I can definitely see a difference and am 'skin confident' (to paraphrase good old Cosmo) for at least an hour after application. The way this moisturiser absorbs also makes it perfect for applying my foundation over, it feels like I've bothered to apply a primer and gives me a smooth base to work on.

After a few months of semi-regular use I'm just about coming to the end of my 50ml tube and my skin is looking great. I'm torn really about how to rate this moisturiser; it worked wonders when my skin was misbehaving but can I honestly say it's worth the price now my skin is back to it's normal self? Ummm...  I'm not sure. I suppose I'd buy it again but to be honest I like trying out new moisturisers and there's nothing on a personal level to tie me to this Clinique one. I would however use it as a fall back if my skin ever starts acting up again, although there are no more pregnancies on the horizon so hopefully I won't suffer like that again!  Saying that, I think this moisturiser is part of Clinique's 3-Step system so they have a core market and probably aren't too fussed over whether us more casual users buy it or not!

£25-ish from Clinique counters and online. You can sometimes blag a tiny one-use sachet sample but Clinique are notoriously tight with their samples so it's usually best to wait until there's a skincare 'free with purchase' offer as they'll usually include a small tube of this moisturiser.