How To Cover Severe Acne And Still Get A Natural Finish (Day 22)

#30dayglowup - Day 22

My tips from suffering with acne for years for how to cover acne without it looking cakey or unnatural 

From suffering with persistent acne for many years I picked up some useful techniques for how to cover spots without looking cakey or emphasizing the texture. I’ve never been especially good at makeup and I’m by no means qualified to educate in any way, so these tips are just my experience and worked for me and my skin. I’m by no means saying that if you have acne you have to cover it up and if you feel confident without makeup that’s great, but I know that when my skin was at its worse I couldn’t leave my house without makeup, and even when I wore it I felt that it was so obvious I was trying to cover up my acne. Also, makeup is so personal to you and you’re free to disagree with anything I say, so take my tips with a pinch of salt.

 

With these tips, hopefully you’ll be able to achieve natural finish to your makeup even with texture and pigmentation created from acne and scarring If you’re interested, then keep reading for my 10 tips to achieve a ‘glass finish’ makeup look without needing perfect skin to start with.

 

Colour correct

Using complementary colours on the colour wheel in moderation in your makeup routine can be a very effective way to achieve an even skin tone without applying thick, full coverage concealer. When you want to cover red pigmentation for example, green concealer is going to be the best for cancelling out the red tones.

 

Underneath your foundation try applying a small dot of green concealer (I like the Collection one because it’s so cheap) and gently blend outwards with a clean finger or brush. You want to try and focus the coverage over the spot and not blend out too much, and you should find that the redness of your skin has been cancelled out. Be sure not to over do it though – you don’t want to end up looking ill.

 

Spot conceal

This in on the same vein as the previous tip but using a higher coverage spot concealer such as the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer under your foundation will stop you from needing to layer up your coverage and make it more difficult to get a natural finish. You want to try and get rid of any strong discolouration so that your foundation is used more to get an even skin tone and a natural finish than to cover up imperfections.

 

Set concealer with powder before applying foundation

This step can work really effectively if you do it well but could also bring more attention to a particular imperfection if you’re not careful. Applying a very light layer of powder over your spot concealer can help to keep it in place and not smudge when you apply your foundation. For this tip, ensure that you’re not caking it on too much and definitely don’t bake because that particular mattified area of your face may be more obvious.

 

A good colour match is key

For a lot of the tips I’m giving the principle is that you apply product only where you need it and try and show as much of your own skin that you’re comfortable with so that it’s more ambiguous whether you’re wearing makeup or not. In order to achieve this though, you need to have a good colour match of concealer and foundation otherwise you’ll have discoloured patches from the rest of your face. Make sure you try different lighting so that you’re clearly seeing the colour match and try and get it as accurate as possible.

 

Only apply foundation where you need it

As I mentioned before, only applying foundation where you need coverage is a great way to make sure your makeup looks natural. For example, for me I tended to get a lot of acne on my cheeks but not along my jawline, so I would’ve put more foundation on my cheeks accordingly. This was, so long as I blended the product in well, my skin coming through looked more natural and it was more difficult to tell if I was wearing makeup.

 

Use a sponge not a brush

To keep that spot concealer underneath your foundation in place, it’s important that you’re pressing product in and not swiping it away. By using a sponge not a brush you can get a higher coverage in the areas you need it without taking away some of the coverage you’ve already applied.

 

Use cream products

I’ve always found cream products much easier to blend than powder and from that it’s much easier to get a natural finish from them. Regarding acne and texture, sometimes using powders can give that cakey look which draws attention to the skin texture instead of covering it up and making it look natural.

 

Don’t go too matte

This tip relates to the last one in that not fully mattifying your skin can make it less obvious that your skin has texture and raised areas. What we’re going for is coverage where you need it but trying to get it as natural looking as possible, so you want to keep the slight dewiness of any cream products you apply.

 

I recommend powdering areas that tend to get more oily such as the T zone and using a good quality foundation which won’t slip off your face if you don’t set the whole thing with powder.

 
Don’t highlight textured areas

This may seen contradictory to the last tip where I said we don’t want to go for a fully matte look, however having a reflection on something can also draw attention to it so you want to be careful where you place your highlight. For example if you have more spots around your forehead you may want to avoid highlighting your templates to not draw attention to the texture there.

 

Use a setting spray

Setting sprays are a great way to help the longevity of makeup, which was very important for me when my skin was at its worse, without changing the finish too much. Especially if you’re not powdering your entire face as I recommended before using a setting spray can be a great way to keep makeup on for longer as well as feeling refreshing to apply. As with everything you put on your face, patch test it before to ensure that your skin doesn’t respond badly to the ingredients.

 

In conclusion

I hope this article was useful for you, some of the tips may seem obvious but I know I could’ve done with them a good couple of years ago. This gist here is less is more and just because you suffer with acne it doesn’t mean you need a full coverage foundation all over your face, because this can in fact make it appear worse and doesn’t help your skin in any way.

 

If you’re curious as to how I cleared my skin check out my Accutane journey here, and my skincare routine here for clearing acne scars. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions feel free to reach ouch, and sign up using your email down below if you’re interested in following my glow up journey.