I need to give background. I am 39. I have always had dry skin, no acne, and I never had blackheads or large pores. Atleast they were so tiny I never noticed. To address the fine lines around my eyes, I decided to finally start a skincare routine. And this is when things went terribly wrong.  I use cetaphil gentle cleanser. I added Clinique's mild toner, their smart serum for eye and face, daily laser wear repairwear SPF, and smart night moisturizer, and after about 9 days, I had oily skin, super large pores, and blackheads. Then breakouts. This is so new to me-it's like I have new skin. That was a month ago. SInce then, I have been trying to get my skin back to how it was before-smooth, pore-less, blackhead-less. I  want my old pores back and to be blackhead free!  I feel like the moisturizer and serum are to blame, so now I am afraid to use moisturizers.  So, I ditched the serum and moisturizer. No change. I then tried alot of acne washes and salycilic acid pads, and it made it all worse. Got greasier, had more breakouts. I stopped all that. I added Peter Thomas Ross 1.5% retinol at night. No change in pores or blackheads. I started using Nucell 10% mandelic serum in AM. After 2 days I do see improvement! Less blackheads, smaller pores-slight change, but I see it, and i am encouraged. YES! Which brings me to my Q...I am just a tad flakey tho. I normally have dry skin, but currently it is combo since I still have greasy t-zone with big pores and blackheads. Should I use a moisturizer with the nucell? I am afraid to use one again, but I read that overly drying skin and cause more oil. I just don't know what to do-advise? If I do use a moisturizer I think I will try the cetaphil one for all skin types? Or do you have another recc if I need one?