Anyone who's suffered from acne as a teen or adult knows how stressful it can be to always feel like everyone is staring at your skin. As if dealing with acne wasn’t challenging enough, sometimes you can be left with acne scars. And while you may have mastered your acne skin care routine, have you mastered your acne scar makeup look? That’s right—you can temporarily disguise the appearance of acne scars with makeup.
Acne scarring can make you feel self-conscious about yourself. Even though makeup won’t make the underlying acne scarring any better, it sure will boost your confidence when done properly and it’s a quick fix for makeup to cover acne scars.
If you have acne scars, it's okay not to cover them either, but if you feel better or want to cover your acne scars for any reason - here's a guide on how to apply makeup to cover acne scars.
- Cleanser - Make sure your skin is clean and moisturized to give your makeup the proper starting surface. Even oily skin needs moisture!
- Primer - A primer gives a smooth canvas for your concealer to go over. Primers can also smooth the appearance of textured acne scars by filling them in.
- Corrective Concealer - Green is good for redness, and yellow is good for the purple darker hyperpigmentation.
- Foundation - Blend your foundation or your usual skin toned concealer over the color correcting one.
Different Acne and How to Hide It
Whiteheads (Tiny Bump with White)
Use a thicker liquid foundation with medium, buildable coverage. His favorite is the Oxygenetix Acne Control Foundation, which contains two percent salicylic acid. Apply the foundation with clean hands, spreading it all over the face to reduce redness
Blackheads (Darken Clogged Pores)
Prep skin by applying a primer with smoothing ingredients, like cetyl ethylhexanoate , a skin conditioner that removes the appearance of dry patches/flakes. Use a medium coverage liquid foundation and dispense a pea-sized portion in your hand. Use a fluffy brush to pick up some of the product and move it in circular motions to sheer out the amount of product that goes into the brush.
Papules (tTny Red Bumps)
To tone down any redness, use the corrective concealer. Apply it with a flat synthetic brush to get maximum coverage on the affected area. Apply a cream solid foundation. Apply it with a sponge and dab into skin to get coverage while keeping a natural finish.
Cysts (Big Red Bumps)
Apply a soothing product. Using a moisturizer helps manipulate the skin texture to achieve a softer surface, making for a smoother foundation application. Use color corrective concealer. If your cyst has more of a purple tinge to it, use a yellow-toned concealer. Wait five minutes for matte foundation to set, Apply powder only where it's needed.