(Beauty Report Card)

This TikTok Viral Powder Foundation Is The Key To Covering My Hormonal Breakouts

No cakiness here.

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Originally Published: 
Catherine Santino
hormonal acne makeup routine
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Among its many other inconveniences, hormonal acne can throw a serious wrench in your makeup application. While there’s certainly no need to cover breakouts with makeup, it’s preferred by some in order to help boost confidence as well as avoid stares and unwanted advice in the form of infuriating questions (“have you tried washing your face?”). Because of texture, redness, and flaky dryness, covering up blemishes isn’t as simple as slapping on some concealer and calling it a day. After years of trial and error, I’ve found what I consider to be the best hormonal acne makeup routine that keeps pimples covered without packing on layers of product that inevitably causes cakiness.

The key, I’ve found, is using as little product as humanely possible. Personally, I prefer my makeup to look more natural (even if some blemishes are visible) than go full coverage with heavy layers of foundation that end up crumbling off my face by the end of the day. My main goal is to just reduce redness and even out my complexion so that my makeup looks balanced. Some key products include Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin Foundation and concealer (they have the perfect amount of coverage while being lightweight) and a rosewater setting spray from Fresh that keeps everything locked in place.

As much as it sometimes may feel like it, acne is not a shameful secret, and it’s perfectly okay for it to show sometimes — or all the time. For the days when I feel like wearing a full face of makeup and don’t want to draw attention to my acne, here’s the routine that I’ve found works the best for me.

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L'Oreal
Infallible 24HR Fresh Wear Foundation In A Powder
$17
If I’m having a particularly bad breakout, I love to set my concealer using this powder foundation from L’Oreal which had a viral moment on TikTok last year. It sets the makeup in place while adding a final layer of coverage. With a small dense brush, I pick up some of the powder and gently pat it on top of any extra red areas.

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