There’s been a lot of talk lately about ditching makeup, but from the sounds of your responses to this video, many of us are not ready to give it up. And that is perfectly understandable!

If you are going to wear makeup though, you might as well try and find something that isn’t going to irritate or make your acne worse, so here is a guest article from a Québécois reader named Noémie who finally found something that worked for her after years of searching.

Hiding a problem is never a solution. I know that. But sometimes, hiding your acne can be really helpful to lower your stress levels and make you feel more confidant.

There’s a lot of different view points about it, but for me, the most important thing in the process of getting rid of acne is to try to be less self conscious about it. And sometimes, the best way to do that is to hide it with a little bit of makeup.

However, you don’t want to make it worse by piling tons of products on your face. It will only irritate your skin because makeup products are often made with lots of chemicals, like BHA and BHT, PEG compounds and Parabens. Those products are used as preservatives in almost every foundation and concealer, in addition to silicones which clog your pores. That’s why I don’t recommend using those products.

So What is My Makeup Trick?

You are probably asking yourself what you can use to cover your pimples if both concealer and foundation are not recommended, right?

Let me introduce you to BB cream – also known as blemish balm or beauty balm. That was the only thing I could use on top of my acne without breaking out from it.

BB creams were first used in Korea to help hide and heal marks left from a laser surgery. That means it’s very gentle on the skin, more than every foundation in your local drugstore. And the coverage is simply amazing.

But we have to be realistic – BB creams also contain chemicals. It’s very hard to find products that are completely free of it these days. However, in my personal opinion and experience, I could tell you that it’s at least much better than regular makeup products. And because the coverage is so great, you have to use less of it.

How to Use BB Cream

So now you know what BB cream is, but let me explain how to use it.

You don’t have to cover your entire face with it – I would recommend to use it only where you need it. For example, if you have a bad breakout on your forehead, but your cheeks are pretty clear, try to just put it on your forehead. In fact, BB cream, if applied in a thin layer, will take the exact color of your skin. But when we apply it only on the spots we want to hide, we tend to put it on way too thickly, and the colour will not match your skin.

So remember, use a thin layer only were you need it. With BB cream, less is more. Oh and the most important thing about it is that you will get ultimate result by applying it with CLEAN fingers. It will warm up the product and make the application smoother. I really want to insist on the CLEAN word, cause you don’t want to transfer bacteria onto your face.

Which Brand to Choose?

There’s a brand in particular that I highly recommend. I have used it for years now and it works wonders. It’s the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream, and I used it in both of the shades 21 and 23. I order mine online from this website www.yesstyle.com. I also recommend the BRTC Blemish Recover Balm and Skin79 Super Beblesh Balm.

Now, if you don’t want to buy BB cream, there a little trick you can do with concealer. But as I said before, I don’t recommend it because concealer is highly comedogenic. But if you only cover your spots, it shouldn’t be that bad.

You can apply a bit of green pigmented concealer on top of a pimple with a small concealer brush. The green will neutralize the red of your pimple and make it less visible. Green concealer could be found on makeup stores like Sephora or you can sometimes find some in your local drugstore.

So that’s pretty much it!

I hope this was helpful in letting you know how to cover your acne the right way!! And remember, don’t try to hide your entire face with makeup. Simply use the least amount that is possible to make you feel comfortable, without covering every tiny imperfection on your complexion.

Which type and brand of makeup has worked for you?