I Tried Kiehl’s Viral "Liquid Pimple Patch" on My Hormonal Breakout

I have acne. Like, a lot of acne. I’ve been in a valiant battle against horrible hormonal acne on and off since I was 22, so this isn’t a review from someone who gets one zit a year. This is a review from someone who has two months-old cysts on either side of her chin, like Urusula from The Little Mermaid and her eel sidekicks. (Not even a shot at the derm could kill ‘em.) My journey with acne is a long story that I won’t bore you with here, but the CliffsNotes are that because I’m actively trying to get pregnant, my treatment options are pretty limited and thus, I’m stuck dealing with near-permanent acne on my chin. It sucks, but the bright side is I really know my way around a good acne treatment.

I love the idea of pimple patches. They’re so cute and fun and silly that they practically demand you smile and laugh at a breakout, which can be a great thing when you’ve been crying about your skin for days. However, they’re not particularly effective for my specific acne, which is typically pretty stubborn deep cysts and pustules. I’ve tried all sorts of topicals, serums, spot treatments and pretty much everything else under the sun on my quest, so Kiehl’s Truly Targeted Acne-Clearing Solution was definitely on my radar as a product to try—add in a viral TikTok, and it skyrocketed to the top of my list. The name intrigued me; the brand was billing it as a liquid pimple patch, which felt a bit like marketing-speak to hop on a trending moment, but Kiehl’s has long been one of the most beloved, trusted skincare brands on the market, so my acne and I had to see what this new launch was all about.

The Product

The Truly Targeted Acne-Clearing Solution isn’t really a pimple patch in the traditional sense of the world. It’s not shaped like a cloud or a star, and it’s not an invisible sticker. The brand calls it “liquid patch technology,” which creates a “breathable seal” you can layer under sunscreen or makeup; in short, it’s more like a serum than a spot treatment or a pimple patch.

The product is formulated with maximum strength 2% salicylic acid to reduce zit size, calm angry red color and help fade the post-acne marks once the zit is dead and gone. Kiehl’s also added 4% niacinamide to help visibly brighten and keep skin balanced, plus 0.2% licorice root to soothe and calm stressed-out acne. The product claims to visibly calm zit color in two hours, reduce size in 24 hours and reduce post-blemish marks in four weeks. Sounds great, right? I put it to the test during a rough mid-cycle breakout to see if it could stand up to the prescription-strength stuff.

Kiehl's Truly Targeted Acne-Clearing Solution $30.00

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My Review

Application is just as easy as a spot treatment or pimple patch. Kiehl’s recommends applying one drop of the product to your fingertip and dabbing it directly on the pimple in question, or spreading it in a thin layer as the last step in your skincare routine. (Just don’t get too overzealous with the rubbing!) Because I have quite a bit of active acne on my chin right now, I did both: a direct application on a few particularly nasty pustules and a light layer on my cyst sidekicks.

I know enough by now not to expect magic with anything related to my acne situation; I use a few prescription products to tide me over until I can go back to my tried-and-true anti-acne regimen and very rarely experiment with anything else. When I tested this product, I was mid-cycle, so things were pretty unpleasant in the lower region of my face. I applied the liquid directly to a few broken-out areas on my face, including a standalone zit on my upper lip and the under-the-skin cysts on my chin.

Yes, these before-and-after pics still look pretty intense, color-wise, but one thing in particular really impressed me about the Acne-Clearing Solution. After a few nights of use, both enormous, stubborn, never-leaving-even-after-a-dermatologist-shot cysts looked and felt much smaller, and the rest of the active acne on the lower half of my face had shrunken in size too, making it a lot easier to cover with concealer. I may not have experienced a miraculous acne transformation, effectively erasing all my acne overnight, but I didn’t expect a miracle; I just wanted to see something, and I’m totally impressed at what this teeny bottle could accomplish with my big, bad acne.