Our Ultimate Guide to Breaking Up With Your Breakouts
July 10 | 3 minute read
Words by Lisa Marie Corso
Breakouts occur when sebum, dead skin cells and bacteria clog pores and hair follicles. In most cases, they have a relatively short lifespan and will start to heal and shrink within a week, but for some acne can be chronic.
We love seeing real skin and real texture, but for those occasions when you’re willing your breakout into extinction and need to speed up the ‘be gone’ process, MECCA’s Makeup Education Lead, Sally Axford, shares her pro tips. From minimising redness to evening out your skin’s texture, these are the products that will almost banish your breakout from existence.
For fast-acting relief for new blemishes
“If you have a newer blemish that you want to get rid of while you wear your makeup, the Kiehl’s Truly Targeted Blemish Solution works like a liquid pimple patch, reducing the size of the blemish and helps to fade post-breakout discolouration.”
For covering up older, flaky acne
“A technique I picked up years ago for a crusty healing blemish is cover it with a good amount of an oil-based balm (it could be a lip balm, or ideally a multiuse product like the kit: Wonder Balm). Let it soften the skin while you work on another area of the face, and then exfoliate it off with an AHA product on a cotton tip (the REN Clean Skincare Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic is great!), and buff until the flakes disappear. This will create a good, smooth base for your concealer.”
For taking the edge (and shine) off hormonal acne
“If your breakout looks raised and shiny, ideally you’d conceal it with a concealer that is more matte and sometimes even slightly darker than the rest of the face (anything too bright or light will draw attention to it and won’t ‘cut’ the redness as effectively). I like the NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer for this.”
For concealing a cluster with minimal intervention
“Don’t let a cluster breakout trick you into thinking you need full coverage everywhere; it’s often only on the chin or cheeks, and keeping your base light on the rest of the face makes it far less noticeable. It’s all smoke and mirrors!”
For evening out skin texture with a breakout
“I recommend using a tiny liner brush – my favourite is the Rae Morris Jishaku #14: Perfect Eyeliner Brush. It means I can do precision concealing without adding too much product, and it ends up looking practically imperceptible on the skin.”
For precise coverage apply concealer with a brush
“I still see people concealing before applying foundation – this works sometimes and is great if you have a deeper skin tone and you need to colour-correct areas of the face first, but as a general rule your foundation should do most of the work of evening out the skin and your spot concealer should do the rest afterwards.”
The ultimate breakout coverup starter kit
“The products I always have in my kit are Dr. Jart+ Cicapair™ Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment for minimising redness, NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealers, RMS Beauty “Un” Powder, the Rae Morris Jishaku #14: Perfect Eyeliner Brush, the NARS #20 All Over Eyeshadow Brush for stippling concealer on larger areas, the REN Clean Skincare Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic and kit: Wonder Balm.”
