When In My Routine Should I Apply An Acne Spot Treatment?

Updated 5/6/23. For those that use blemish spot treatments (along with all of your other skin care products), it can be hard to determine at what point in your skin care routine to apply them. Should a spot treatment be applied to blemishes under a moisturizer or over? How long should you wait for the product to dry? Should an acne spot treatment be used once a day or twice a day?

In this post, I’ll share the best way to use your acne spot treatments in your skincare routine to get the very best results to ensure the blemish goes away fast.

When should my acne spot treatment be applied?

The easiest and most efficient way to use an acne spot treatment is at night as the last step in your skincare routine.

How to apply a blemish product at night:

1. Perform your regular nighttime skincare routine. (This usually includes cleansing, toning, applying a serum and followed with moisturizer and eye cream. Of course, you’ll always want to use products exclusively for your skin type. Take the Skin Type Quiz.)
2. Take a damp cotton swab or tissue and wipe the blemish or broken out area to remove the skincare products that were just applied.
3. Apply the acne spot treatment and let it dry. Done!

The goal is to get the spot treatment to work directly on the blemish and not have any other product interfere with the performance. Doing this as the last step makes it easier than applying it before your other products so you don’t have to try and prevent it from smearing all over the place.

Recommended nighttime acne spot treatments: Anti Bump Solution is formulated for sore blemishes under the surface that haven’t come to a head. Night Time Spot Lotion is a powerful treatment that will quickly dry up infection associated with whiteheads.

Should an acne spot treatment be used during the day?

It depends.

Use an acne spot treatment during the day IF:

• the product goes on clear and won’t be visible
• the product is recommended for daytime use

How to apply in the morning:

1. Perform your regular morning skincare routine. (Cleanse, tone, apply a vitamin C serum and follow it with a 2-in-1 moisturizer/sunscreen formulated for breakout-prone skin. Daily Protection SPF 30 is an excellent one to use since it doesn’t clog the pores or cause problems.)
2. Take a damp cotton swab or tissue and wipe the blemish or broken out area to remove the skincare products that were just applied.
3. Apply the acne spot treatment and let it dry.
4. Lightly pat a tiny amount of sunscreen back over the affected area.
5. Proceed with concealer over the blemish, if you choose to wear it.

First and foremost, the goal is to ensure sunscreen is properly covering the blemish. It might come as a surprise, but sunscreen is a key component to getting a post-breakout red or dark scar to go away faster. When your skin is exposed to UV daylight (in spring, summer, fall, and winter), this keeps pigment cells awake and prevents a blemish scar from fading as quickly.

The second goal is to use the appropriate type of treatment that is formulated for daytime use to encourage a quicker recovery.

Recommended daytime acne spot treatments: Daytime Blemish Gel provides a soothing barrier to calm the inflammation while preventing makeup and environmental irritants from aggravating a breakout during the healing stage. If your blemish is a cystic one, you can dab on Anti BumpSolution underneath your sunscreen.

How can I get my blemish to go away fast with the least amount of scarring?

As you well know, it’s hard to control blemishes from appearing in the first place since they are often driven by hormones, but what CAN be controlled is how you handle it the moment it appears. The key to getting it to go away fast is to first understand that every type of blemish you get has a life cycle and goes through certain stages in its natural healing process. The biggest mistake that people make is to immediately apply a drying spot treatment the moment a blemish appears to attempt to make it go away. This is completely wrong and only makes it worse. Read how to treat a blemish at each stage as well as purchase this comprehensive Zit Care Kit that gives you the exact tools and products to ensure a quick recovery with the least amount of scarring. You always want to work with Mother Nature and never go against her.

So there you have it, the perfect time to apply your acne spot treatment for maximum results is just a quick step in the quest for clear skin.

Renée Rouleau

Celebrity Esthetician & Skincare Expert
As an esthetician trained in cosmetic chemistry, Renée Rouleau has spent 30 years researching skin, educating her audience, and building an award-winning line of products. Her hands-on experience as an esthetician and trusted skin care expert has created a real-world solution — products that are formulated for nine different types of skin so your face will get exactly what it needs to look and feel its best. Trusted by celebrities, editors, bloggers, and skincare obsessives around the globe, her vast real-world knowledge and constant research are why Marie Claire calls her “the most passionate skin practitioner we know.”