This Sage Spot Treatment Clears Acne — & Bad Vibes

Last month, I bought a bushel of sage for $10 at a semi-sketchy shop in the West Village, which I found ranked on a list of the best occult shops in New York. Long story short, I was desperate to cleanse my life and space of all the negative energy that had invaded it. After about a week of living in a room that smelled like somewhere a tarot card reader might work out of, my mind and personal life felt cleansed — whatever that means.

My skin, however, did not. (Can bad relationship energy penetrate the dermis?) I'd recently gone off my birth control and I was paying the price in the form of nasty hormonal breakouts all over my chin and jawline, the kind I hadn't experienced since I was 14. I started to rethink my whole skin-care routine; I needed to cleanse my complexion the same way I had my room. So, naturally, I went looking for sage again. Only this time around, it was in the form of a spot treatment by Tata Harper.

I normally swear by a drugstore spot treatment that smells like a vodka distillery, so when I found this option made from essentials oils (like calendula and sandalwood), lactic acid, and sage, I was more than willing to give it a try, if only so I could take a break from smelling like Lysol. But it did way more than that: Similar to my bundle of the herb, this stuff got to work — and fast.

The first night I used it, I was two days into a massive, inflamed invader on my chin. It was at the painful, angry phase, when not even a system of primer, concealer, powder, and more concealer can fix it. So I dabbed on the treatment and by morning, the tenderness was gone. Another night later, and the redness had seriously diminished. After four days, the spot was practically invisible.

Sure, some other competitors could kill a pimple in two nights with a big dose of benzoyl peroxide. But having a natural option that works (even if it takes a tiny bit longer) and smells this good makes me feel a whole lot better about what I'm doing for myself — and right now, that's what I'm focusing on.

Tata Harper Clarifying Spot Solution, $32, available at Tata Harper.