An Acne Makeup Tutorial Is Going Viral - and Setting Off a Debate

Makeup tutorials can offer practical (and sometimes impractical) tips on how to use hard-boiled eggs as beauty blenders and turn food into lipstick. There’s no question that the tutorial leaves no trace of acne behind.

Makeup tutorials can offer practical (and sometimes impractical) tips on how to use hard-boiled eggs as beauty blenders and turn food into lipstick. But one of the more useful videos making the Internet rounds is by social media personality Lilly Ghalichi, who shows how to completely cover a full face of acne using foundation. There’s no question that the tutorial leaves no trace of acne behind. But fans are raising a concern: Is it healthy for your skin?

In just one day, the video has received half a million views. Some of those are certainly acne-afflicted fans who want to learn how to cover up their next zit. But others are critics worried about the toll of potential pore-clogging makeup. “She don’t need to be clogging her pores with that. She need to let her pores breathe and heal. You can’t cover the problem, u gotta go to the root of the problem and fix it,” one commenter wrote. “Chronic cystic acne is only cured by Accutane,” said another. While taking diagnostic information from Instagram comments certainly isn’t recommended, Yahoo Beauty checked with an expert to see if these well-meaning fans had a point.

The verdict: Certain products are A-OK. “As long as the products that are selected are non-comedogenic and oil free, it is absolutely fine to cover acne with makeup,” says Dr. Bradley Bloom, MD, of Skin Laser & Surgery Specialists. Dr. Bloom recommends staying away from “ingredients like glycerin, any type of oils, silicones, and alcohols. All of these lead to clogged pores by either adding in heavy moisturizers that are better for dry skin or by ingredients that dry out the skin which makes skin produce more oil to rehydrate.”
Don’t let that ingredient list make you nervous. In today’s skincare-conscious market, plenty of products are non-comedogenic and oil free. Dr. Bloom suggests bareMinerals Matte powder foundation, Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Foundation, CoverFX Pressed Mineral Foundation, and Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation as acne-safe options.
Those with acneic skin do have one more necessary step — removing make up. “The most important thing to remember is if you put makeup on, you HAVE to take it off,” says Dr. Bloom. “Make sure that a gentle soap free cleanser or gentle make up wipes are used to get it all off.”
Anyone who has suffered from acne knows the toll it can take on your self esteem. It can take a burst of confidence to leave the house with just one zit; if you suffer from severe acne and want to blend it away with a bit of foundation, we get it. More and more campaigns are encouraging people to embrace themselves — and their skin — no matter what it looks like.
Bottom line: Do what works for your skin, as long as it works for you too.

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