I've had acne for 25 years and so has my little brother. He had painful cystic acne. Turns out he was allergic to any and all soap. When he stopped using anything but warm water on his face, it got drastically better. For me, it was salycylic acid moisturizer morning and night. My skin was apparently dry, so, it was overproducing oil to overcompensate for the dryness. It would get trapped under my $3.99 foundation and cause blackheads that turned into pimples. Then I would put a whole lot of drying acne stuff on it, which would just irritate it and make my skin produce even more oil! SO, the salycilic moisturizer both kille the bacteria and moisturizes, so, now im good. Just a little white head or 2 when I pms. The foundations that I found did not cause acne for me - Clinique, Estee Lauder, and Mary Kay. They are a little more expensive, but, if you wait until "free gift" time, it's not a bad deal at all.