Meet Peyton. Peyton works on our Customer Insights team here at Glossier. She's also an avid beauty product user (catch her in all of our team-wide Things We Finish empties round-ups). Useful for you, because she's here to review the best thing she's found recently: a budget-friendly, acne-busting cream that's so unchic, it's circled back around and become chic again. Sold yet? Good. If not, here's why you should care:

Dear ITG,
I've been suffering with cystic acne for about five years, and the only thing that's ever helped is a cortisone shot. At this point, I actively ignore recommendations for topical fixes for cystic acne because nothing ever works. Just be patient and see a good dermatologist is my plan of attack. This works—just not on vacation. The last time I went home, I had a few spots brewing (the worst feeling), but no access to a derm for a quick shot. With zero hopes or expectations, I tried the one relevant thing I could find in my mom's medicine cabinet: an acne cream she bought after reading some rave reviews online called De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment. I applied to two problem areas—one was just a normal, small pimple on my cheek and the other was a two-days-old, red and enlarged cystic spot on my chin. The directions say to apply the cream for 10 minutes and wash off, but I went rogue and left it on overnight. Not always the best laid plan, but desperate times, right?

Lucky for me, the sulfur did not burn my skin off during the eight hours it was on my face. It wreaked havoc on the zits though. Good havoc—both were virtually gone by morning. The only trace left was some soreness near the cyst, an irritation only noticeable to me. For context, my cysts tend to develop over the course of a few days. On day three that baby would still be getting bigger and redder. If that's not a total and complete skin win, I don't know what is.

Maybe it's the afterglow of using a product that actually works, but I'd go as far as to say that this treatment is even better than a cortisone shot (and the scars they leave behind). It left me a little dry in the spots where I applied it, but that might be on me. To be fair, the directions did say to remove it after 10 minutes. Either way, I'm pumped that with a single $7 Amazon purchase I can now avoid both manic trips to the dermatologist and the copays they require. Maybe you can, too?

Love,
Peyton

Photographed by the author.

More unchic acne recommends that work right here.