I have had a love/hate relationship with my skin my entire life. If it weren't the freckles in elementary school, it was the acne in high school. Now, at 33, I have skin I can't even identify on those handy "What is your skin type" charts. My skin is extremely fair and sensitive. I break out; my skin is dry sometimes; my skin is oily sometimes; I have large pores; I have blackheads; I even have fine lines! What the!? Gimme a break!

I've tried nearly EVERY cream, lotion, kit, gimmick, cleanser, and even dabbled in prescription-grade medication for a time. And, my skin remains the same. I had seen Murad in the lobby of the dermatologist I visit every so often when the moles on my body betray me and I must have them removed. When I saw this kit, I thought I could give it a try. I've been using the product for about three months and will give you my honest observations of each piece. I found the sample kit a wonderful size for travel and enough to get a real feel for the products themselves.

Clarifying Cleanser: This yellow cleansing gel smells a little strong at first whiff. You don't need much of this product at all. You are supposed to use this twice a day. For my skin, I found that to be too drying to start and even now, depending on the time of the month and my hydration level, I may not be able to use it that often. I find by using it at night and then using plain water in the shower in the morning, I am not experiencing nearly the dryness I did at the beginning.

This cleanser definitely feels like it is delivering on its promise to "reduce 99.9% of irritating surface bacteria in less than one minute" as the menthol is very cooling. I also find that this cleanser rinses away cleanly without leaving a waxy residue or a filmy feeling on my skin that I've experienced with some other cleansers.

Again, however, if your skin is not all out oily or you are nearing your skin's mid-life as I am, you'll need a little patience and some willingness to experiment a bit to find the right regimen for you.

Clarifying Toner: Depending on how you come upon your kit, you may very well receive this toner as a bonus gift. The bottle is labeled "2" so that you know it is considered the second step to your regimen.

I honestly only use the toner sparingly. I know it is considered an important tool, but with my skin issues, I pick and choose where I use it (T-zone mostly for me) and I only use it after cleansing at night. The most regularly I would use this product would be every other night. If I wore more make-up or if I were using this during the summer months, I would conceivably increase use.

Exfoliating Acne Treatment Gel: Wow-za! This stuff has some kick to it! Again, a little goes a very long way and although the directions suggest spreading this all over your face and neck, I wouldn't recommend that at first. And, again, if you skin sounds like mine, I wouldn't recommend that at all! I use this when I need a little extra boost to my regimen; I try to consciously keep track and use it at least three times a week, however, I don't make a habit of using it everywhere. I use it where I need exfoliating acne treatment...the t-zone.

In the literature that came with my kits, I noticed an "anti-aging" kit and have requested it be sent as my next automatic shipment. I want to see if the Anti-Aging Acne Treatment is more my speed.

Skin Perfecting Lotion: The more I use this product, the more I like it. At first, I found the product to be a bit too drying and stingy for my face after the cleansing and potential other work I'd done (the gel or toner). However, now that I use this more often than not, I am finding it to work just fine.

If my skin is a bit too dry, though, I have supplemented my moisturizing with products from a line from which I've always had good results without irritation. I am, however, scouring the Murad line to see if there are more moisturizing products available that I may want to try. Although I suspected the kit I received may be too much power for my aging skin, I wanted to give it a fair shake before swapping out products and moving on within the Murad family.

I use this product all over my face & neck. I consistently use it at night and almost always use it in the morning as well. I am still getting used to the idea that my acne problems now won't be helped by anything drying as I'm too old for that anymore!

Acne Spot Treatment: This is, by far, the best "bonus" of the lot. The spot treatment has worked wonders in blemish situations that used to drive me insane. A little dab will do the job in short order. I have also used this treatment on areas where there is an uneven nature to my skin tone--no erupted blemishes, but redness under the surface--and like the results.

There is a bit of grit to this treatment so applying it sometimes requires a few more passes with the fingertip than you might think you'd need. Not a deal breaker, though.

Again, I only use this as a search and destroy type treatment. I don't use it every day and I find using it sparingly increases its effectiveness. My husband has used this on occasion with amazing results as well.

Clarifying Mask: Another bonus in my kit. This mask contains 4.0% sulphur so the scent takes a bit of warming up to at first. This treatment is suggested for once-a-week, post-cleanser, pre-toner application. The directions call for a "thin layer over cleansed skin" and I took this to mean you didn't necessarily need to slather it all over your face. I choose to use this nearly once-per-week and only on my T-zone with a little expansion into the cheek area to keep my pores in check.

I don't find this mask to be too drying and it comes off very easily with warm water. There is no need to scrub and risk aggravating your skin. A simple warm washcloth held over the areas seems to resoften the clay-based mask and make rinsing it simple.

This is one of the better masks I've ever used and I can feel the difference in my skin even this afternoon after having used it last evening.

Overall, I feel I may be too old for the Acne-Treatment Kit as is. However, I have found products in the Murad line I will be trying soon to see if they better fit my needs.

Another big plus with Murad is Customer Service. I spent only 10 minutes on-line in a chat with a representative from Murad and was able to change not only the type of kit I'm receiving, but also the length of time between shipments. I went from every 60 days to every 90 days which will be a much better fit.

That's an important thing to note...although you will be paying $29.99/month for your kit, you only receive it once every two months. Not that you will be running out, but I had in my mind that I was paying $30/kit and needed to re-read my offer to have it make sense.

Recommended: Yes