I grew up with dry skin. I had monthly trips to the dermatologist and prescription creams to help my eczema. Not until recently did I realize that… holy crap. I don’t have dry skin anymore. I was getting a million break outs and was no longer dry and flaky. Duh. I don’t have dry skin. I suck.
My whole routine had to change. I think last July was when it all happened – more breakouts than I knew what to do with. My body was retaliating. I went from never having to wear foundation to needing both foundation and cover up. My skin has been so sad. And since it took me too long to figure it all out, I now have a face full of acne scars. Hot, right?!
So my daily makeup routine has become something I pretty much hate. It’s a necessary evil, though. As much as I’d love to be the girl with naturally flawless skin I am not. I need makeup for oily, acne prone skin whether I like it or not. So here’s how I cover everything up and fake the whole “I woke up like this” thing.
Step One: Prime and De-Oil.
I have a bunch of the Benefit POREfessional samples, so it’s been my go-to primer for a few months now. I love the matte, silky feel it gives my face, making my concealer and foundation glide on with a lot more ease. Primer is important AF. I never realized how important it was until one day I forgot to put it on, and noticed on my makeup found every single bump and imperfection in my freaking face.
If I’m going with a powder based foundation, I’ll put on a little AGENT ZERO SHINE from Benefit as well. I love it – it makes my forehead look so much less disgusting. You know?
Step Two: Conceal
I use two different kinds of concealer to cover my acne scars and redness. Even skin tone changes everything, amirite?
The Korres Concealer has a more malleable consistency in comparison to the Benefit boi-ing concealer. I use it the Korres concealer on the lighter areas of my face: usually my chin and around my nose. For darker areas, such as my cheeks and my forehead, I use the Benefit concealer since it is in a darker color and harder to blend.
Benefit is great about having makeup for oily, acne prone skin like mine. I notice so many other bloggers using their products, which is the main reason I picked up the concealer. When I first purchased it in high school I didn’t have acne scars and was just trying to cover dark under eye circles. Fail. The Boi-ing concealer is perfect specifically for covering up acne marks, scars, and redness.
After applying the product with a concealer brush I’ll use a beauty blender sponge to tap and blend it all in. It is usually at this point in the routine I start to feel like a bad ass. Something about even skin tone really gives me a boost of confidence, man. I can’t explain it.
Step Three: Foundation
I love the Hello Flawless foundation – it’s the only one I use. All other brands never seem to truly stay or truly match my skin. I usually blend two different shades of this foundation (depending on how tan I am) and go from there. What’s nice after using concealer is that I don’t need as much foundation – it really just evens everything out, giving me a “flawless” look.
I normally use a foundation brush with my liquid foundation, but lately I’ve been wanting to find new techniques to make sure it doesn’t smudge my concealer. I feel like the foundation brush literally wipes away all the hard work.
After everything is even I’ll add ZERO AGENT SHINE again for fun – because my forehead sucks and this is the life I now live. It really does control oil throughout the day, so I’m really looking forward to using it this summer.
Although I’m newer to the whole oily combination skin routine thing, I’m loving this particular group of products right now. It’s a lot more time consuming than what I’m used to, but it makes me feel so much more confident throughout the day.