Makeup & Acne

In terms of wearing makeup and having acne it can be a really tricky situation. We’ve been told time and time again that we are not supposed to wear makeup because it can clog our pores and cause acne. Yet, we see Youtubers, celebrities, and some of our own personal friends who wear makeup everyday and have flawless skin. Of course this can be because they are naturally blessed with blemish free skin or are on a rigorous diet but I wanted to do some research for myself. I’ve noticed that when I wear makeup for a few days in a row, my skin almost instantly clears. Then when I have a three day weekend and decide to stay in and allowing my face to breathe I almost immediately breakout! How frustrating! But before we get into all that I want to talk about how I apply my makeup.

Once again I just want to quickly mention I am not a dermatologist or a skin expert in any way, these are just my personal opinions of have to deal with acne for over a decade. 🙂

MY MAKEUP ROUTINE

This may come as a shock but I never wear foundation. Even on days that I’m going somewhere where I have to dress up, I still skip the foundation. The reason for this is because my skin is just too oily! Even when I get a foundation that’s supposed to have a matte finish, it just doesn’t work. It actually does the opposite and causes my skin to produce even more oil, it’s beyond frustrating.

The way that I conceal my blemishes is with a great concealer that is the EXACT color of my skin. I use the Maybelline Cover Stick Corrector. I know it’s such an old concealer but it honestly works amazing on my skin. I use the e.l.f. Cosmetics concealer brush, it’s $1, yes I’m serious, $1! It’s super tiny and is perfect to apply a small amount of concealer and dab it into your skin with your ring finger. I follow up with some blush and bronzer and call it a day.

WHY I BELIEVE MAKEUP HELPS CLEAR UP MY SKIN

I have a serious problem in terms of picking at my face. I do it any chance I get and believe me I know how bad it is for your skin. It can cause serious inflammation, irritation, and further infection to your acne. Knowing all this I still do it! When I wear makeup it completely stops me from picking at my skin throughout the day and I believe that makes a huge impact of clearing up the acne. The more you leave it alone the quicker it will heal.

Not only does it help me stop picking, it also causes me to stress out much less about my breakouts. Every time I go to the bathroom or just walk by a mirror in general and see my breakouts I immediately feel stressed out. I truly can’t help it. I just want them off my face and don’t want to look at them. If I put the makeup on and I don’t see them I feel much better in my skin and am no where near as stressed as I normally would be. I feel like the levels of stress I feel throughout the day when I do not have makeup on causes even more breakouts. This is why I believe that if you put the makeup on and allow yourself to feel confident and know that’s not the first thing people see, it really helps out quite a lot.

MAKING SURE YOU KNOW WHAT MAKEUP YOUR SKIN CAN HANDLE

You need to make sure that your makeup is not the reason you are breaking out in the first place. See if finding a makeup with acne fighting ingredients help. You can also try applying thinner layers of makeup or just less of it to get the desired effect. That way your skin can breathe more. Any little bit helps!

In the end I don’t believe there will ever be a clear cut answer as to whether makeup is good or bad for your skin. However, I do think that if something makes you feel confident in your own skin, it de-stresses you and helps keep your hormones level down, then that’s a plus!

Let me know in the comments below if you feel that makeup surprisingly helps keep your skin clear, I’d love to know!