One of the main reasons I love makeup so much is because I do have acne and it can be bad. With the right makeup acne and scarring is super easy to cover up.
Start with a primer always. It prevents your makeup from melting off or fading throughout the day. I enjoy the Smashbox photo primer, or the Benefit pore primer, which does help at reducing the size of pores.
For anyone with dark scarring or discoloration I suggest using a color corrector. For really red areas, use a green color. For dark under-eye circles, an orange.
Then I go in with the foundation. Depending on how bad my face is I will use a BB cream or a full coverage foundation if need be. For these I use my L’Oreal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream, or a full coverage foundation would be either my M.A.C Studio Sculpt foundation or my Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation. I apply this using a stippling brush and then go over it with a buffing brush. For anyone looking for a good BB cream, a friend showed me this about a year ago and I’ve been using it since it’s easily the best BB cream I’ve ever used and it’s about $10.00 for a bottle. I’ve purchased more expensive BB creams like the Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream, and I hated how thick it was. I definitely recommend L’Oreal’s BB Cream for the summer.
Next I use a concealer. The reason I use my concealer after my foundation is because when you apply your foundation after your concealer you can buff away some of the applied concealer and it’s a total waste. Applying it after allows for full coverage. I also pat this on using a sponge or a beauty blender instead of buffing it in. When you pat it you wipe off less product and get more coverage. For this I love my NARS radiant creamy concealer, which is honestly one of the best concealers I have ever tried.
Before I start my highlighting and contouring with my powders I go over my face with a translucent powder, most likely Makeup Forever’s Setting Powder. This way nothing is sticky and when you go to blend your powder contouring it doesn’t look patchy. This also helps to set your foundation in place even if you don’t plan on contouring your face.
When it comes to covering acne I have learned that the more makeup you cake onto something the worse it looks. You’re not going to be able to cover something completely but you can reduce the appearance of it and the best way to do this is by using just enough product to cover it while not going overboard.