Tea tree is my saving ingredient. I suffer from mild hormonal breakouts and spot irritation breakouts. This is super gross and probably TMI, but obviously I have a dog. Who likes to sit on my pillows. With his unwiped paws, butt, and junk, because he hasn’t evolved opposable thumbs or discovered that toilet paper is not for eating. So while I wash my sofa pillows and bed pillowcases pretty regularly, I’m still often coming into contact with ick. Not to mention that when I’m grading, I have a habit of propping my face on my hand. Oh, and I have herpes simplex Type I around my mouth — thanks, high school telemarking job and those filthy phone headsets!

Anyhoodle, tea tree is a natural antiseptic, so it’s wonderful for clearing up all my blemishes. I snapped up this box hoping for some LJH Tea Tree products, since those are basically miracle workers; no luck on that, but I got six great products that I’m happy with.

The rating system is going in reverse this time: 1 zit is good and 5 zits are bad. 🙂

Shara Shara Bee Tox Spot Cream (15mL)
A concentrated blend of bee venom, white willow bark extracts, and 6 varieties of herbal extracts for relieving, clarifying, and controlling blemish spots and excessive oil on acne-prone skin.

Willow bark is basically aspirin; a tried and true remedy for zit redness is to make a paste of crushed aspirin and water and apply it for a few hours. This is a cream, not a gel like most acne spot treatments I use, and I’m not sure that it’s as effective as some other remedies like pink powder. Sometimes I mix this with my moisturizer to combat all over redness, and it works really well with that.

Verdict: 3 small zits – not bad

DD’ell Moisture Facial Mask
Formulated with tea tree extracts, tea tree oil, green tea extracts, deep ocean water, allantoin, and orange peel extracts, it instantly cools, hydrates, and alleviates blemishes.

This mask feels ultra-soothing and definitely took redness and patchiness out of my skin. I tried it when I had a hormonal outbreak and the blemishes were much smaller the next day and much less red immediately. Allantoin is one of the active ingredients in diaper rash cream; it moisturizes and soothes skin.

Verdict: 1 zit – nice!

Purederm Tea Tree Pore Freshner (170mL)
Enriched with tea tree extracts, witch hazel water, sage extracts, lemon balm extracts, and peppermint extracts. Wet a cotton pad in the formula and wipe it over a clean face to soothe skin and remove impurities.

This is the tea tree formulation of the toner included in the Apple Mojito box. Witch hazel is a natural antiseptic, and I’ve long used it as a toner, so I’m thrilled to use this product. I can see any dirt that didn’t come off in cleansing on the cotton pad after I use it, and it really does help to control redness and soothe skin.

Verdict: 1 tiny little zit that you can’t even really see – awesome!

Tosowoong Teat Tree AC-Control Soothing Lotion (100mL)
65% tea tree leaf water and 3% tea tree extracts, it alleviates red skin while treating it for an overall healthier complexion. It’s also anti-aging and firming.

I haven’t tried this lotion yet, but I have high hopes for it.

Verdict: unknown

ProYou Tea Tree Oil (10mL)
Pure tea tree oil has antibacterial properties that help treat red spots effectively without drying the skin. Apply one or two drops directly on troubled spots or blend in with a face cream.

I use pure tea tree oil for stubborn pimples, so I was happy to get this product. Undiluted tea tree oil does have a strong smell, so if you’re sensitive to odors, you may want to stick to blended creams and treatments.

Verdict: 1 zit – great!

Purederm Tea Tree Make-up Remover Cleansing Towelettes (30ea)
Soaked in tea tree extracts, vitamin E, green tea extracts, and alow vera extracts to effectively calm and comfort the skin while removing stubborn lip and eye makeup.

Make-up remover wipes are great for on-the-go or when I’m in a rush and will fully wash my face later. These do a good job of removing my foundation. They’re less good with my mascara and eyeliner, but I don’t really want to rub these into my eyes. Sometimes if I’m super gross (like at the gym), I’ll rub one under my pits so the antibacterial extracts will cut some of the sweat smell. TMI, I know. That’s how I roll today. 🙂

Verdict: 3 zits – not bad.

Overall, while this box didn’t contain the specific brand I expected it to, it had six nice products for controlling blemish-prone skin. I consider it a good buy and I’m currently using five of the six products, so it was a good value for me.

Memebox is slowly releasing new boxes again, so if you’re interested, check them out.