Image via Clinique

Clinique just launched a new line, Redness Solutions, that's devoted to us sensitive types who, for various reasons (allergies, exercise, extreme weather conditions, intense morning-after shame), flush red at a moment's notice. I had kinda been waiting for a prime flare-up to try this out, and oh luck of luck, I woke up today with an intense, pounding sinus infection. You know, the kind that makes your eyes red-rimmed and puffy, and makes your nose and cheeks Bill Clinton-level swollen and rosy. The remarkable results (from the product, not my cold), after the jump.

There are four products in the new line: Soothing Cleanser, Daily Relief Cream, Daily Protective Base SPF 15 and Urgent Relief Cream, which has hydrocortisone in it, meaning it's for more serious beauty catastrophes like bug bites and rashes. My sinus-fueled moment wasn't that intense, but I did need the face wash, followed by a hearty application of the slightly green-tinted (it matches the jar!) Daily Relief Cream.

Now, when you're highly irritated (whether it's from a rosacea outbreak or repeatedly blowing your nose), water plus cleanser spells disaster. Usually, it'll sting to high heaven. Apparently, you can tissue this stuff off, but then you get that not so fresh feeling. I recommend dabbing it off with a wet, soft cotton rag, which you can easily make out of an old T-shirt.

The Daily Relief Cream is soothing. It mixes white, yellow, green and red tea with other soothing ingredients, plus mica and a very subtle, and I do mean subtle, green hue to deflect your red appearance.

Normally, way-too-specific products freak me out, like for example, does anyone really need a bust cream!? But if you are prone to episodes of the Mean Reds, it's at least a good idea to buy the emergency Urgent Relief Cream, which is hydrocortisone after all but formulated for your face, unlike the stuff you'll get at the drugstore, which tends to be pore clogging. Uhhhh, okay, time for my next Sudafed dose...