Acne Makeup: Five Acne Makeup Options Women Can Choose to Cover Up Acne and Scars

For women with acne, finding just the right acne makeup can be a real struggle. There are several makeup brands available at most malls, but some of these tend to break facial skin out even more, which defeats the purpose of the makeup. Additionally, most women are looking for makeup that covers well enough to conceal acne, but not so much they look like a melting mannequin.

Fortunately, there are several makeup options for women when it comes to covering up acne and keeping facial skin from getting even more blotchy. Ladies, take heart, you do have a choice! From skin-friendly mineral makeup to acne makeup specifically designed for scars, red marks, and pimples, you can decide which option is best for your skin. Here are several products I have used myself as well as some that have come highly recommended to me.

One: Jane Iredale Mineral Makeup

Jane Iredale mineral makeup is one of the best mineral makeups in the world. Their products have a zinc oxide base, which is anti-microbial and therefore good for acne-prone skin. Most foundations have at least an SPF 15.

They offer several varieties of foundation. For most, you will need to use their base coat, called Absence Oil Control Primer. This will help control sebaceous glands and keep the shine off of your skin. It also helps the mineral foundation stick to your skin better, as I have had some difficulty using plain mineral makeup on my skin, as parts are dry enough that it won't stick.

In addition to powdered mineral foundation, Jane Iredale also offers a liquid foundation variety. I personally like liquid foundation better, as I think it gives me more coverage, but this choice is completely up to the user.

The Drawback: Jane Iredale is not available online that I know of. You have to go to their website, janeiredale.com, and use the store locator to look for the closest store near you that carries it. Additionally, it is also one of the most expensive mineral makeups, but you don't need to use as much product with Jane Iredale, so it will last longer than mainstream makeup.

Two: Merle Norman Total Finish Compact Makeup

Merle Norman carries a thick foundation that is usually used for wedding photos, modeling shoots, and commercial filming. However, the Total Finish Compact Makeup offers maximum coverage for women with acne-prone skin, make this foundation a good acne makeup.

If you don't ordinarily like Merle Norman makeup, you don't have to buy their entire line for your whole face. Your typical eyeshadow, mascara, brow shaders, etc. work just fine on top of this foundation.

I once needed to use this foundation for a special event, and at the time I had about 30 breakouts on my forehead alone, not to mention my chin and jawline. After I applied this foundation, you couldn't even tell I had one pimple on my face - that's how well it covered. While you might not need to use this every day, this is a perfect, affordable option for women suffering from acne, as it's less expensive than choosing a mineral makeup route.

The Drawback: After about six hours, the makeup has a tendency to start looking somewhat cakey. Although it's easy to touch up, it can be somewhat annoying if you were hoping for 12-hour coverage.

Three: I.D. Bare Minerals Makeup

Bare Minerals, a subsidiary of Bare Escentuals, is much like the Jane Iredale makeup in that it's natural and provides good coverage for skin. However, I've found you need several different powder types as a foundation for your skin. There's a whole kit full of foundation, skin warmth pigment powders, and so forth that you need to apply in a particular order to get the full effect of the makeup.

However, it is less pricey than Jane Iredale, and you can order it online for $60 plus shipping and handling. This price covers the five different powders, all necessary brushes, bonus travel compact and a blemish concealer, as well as a how-to DVD to get you started.

The Drawback: I didn't find the makeup to last on skin all that long before it starts wearing off and soaking in. However, if you don't want a lot of coverage, but you would rather just cover up some freckles, blemishes, or red marks, this might be a better and more affordable option for you.

Four: Dermablend

Dermablend acne makeup is designed specifically for women with sensitive skin, acne-prone skin, scars, birthmarks, and more. They offer several products to cover up scars of any kind, bruising, veins, and more.

Depending on the severity of your acne and acne scars, you have several options with Dermablend. On their website, you can choose between varieties of mild to medium scarring, and medium to severe scarring. You are given much the same options for blemishes and other imperfections. This is also the same makeup some women use for rosacea and psoriasis.

Dermablend also offers a good concealer that comes in a tube looking much like lipstick. If you find the foundation is not enough coverage, you might choose this as an addition to your acne makeup bag.

The Drawback: None that I know of. Their prices are fairly competitive, and from the size of the containers I've seen on the website, it should last a good long time depending on how much you need.

Five: Clinique Makeup

I have used the Clinique Perfectly Real foundation for quite some time now, and I keep using it because it's one of the most available makeup brands that doesn't break out my skin. My dermatologist told me it is noncomodogenic (I'm sure that's what the clerk at the counter says, too, but I wanted to confirm that with a more reliable source), so it will not actually cause any breakouts on your skin.

It also comes with an SPF 15, if that's important to you.

The Drawback: You won't get any real coverage with this foundation. I have found it blends my red marks into the rest of my face pretty well, but it's not very thick. It also has a tendency to surface my skin's oils to the top of my T-zone within 4-5 hours as well, which isn't all that handy.

Armed with these acne makeup options, you should feel empowered about your ability to find the best acne makeup to love that will love your skin back. You can even call around to local salons and dermatologists; many of them carry these products and are more than happy to give you a free consultation and light makeover so you can try them out before you commit to buying them.

Happy shopping, and may I wish you the best of success finding an acne makeup that works for you!

Sources:
janeiredale.com
bareminerals.com
dermablend.com