Here's the ultimate trick to cover acne marks

Make-up artist Sandy Alexis explains the tips needed to disguise the acne marks that appear now in summer due to excessive sun exposure.

Broadly speaking, marks appear when we have deep acne outbreaks that damage not only the skin, but also the tissue underneath it. Our body tries to repair the wound and produces collagen. If the body produces too little or too much collagen, then a scar develops. The type of scar depends on how much collagen the body produces. If you don’t treat them in time and also don’t resist touching them, the chances of scarring increase.

Andy Alexis, a professional Mexican make-up artist, explains: ‘I prefer to prepare my skin as hygienically as possible with products that don’t give me too much shine, because that makes marks and breakouts stand out more. The most important thing is to apply moisturising products such as a lotion or a hyaluronic acid serum. After that I like to apply a mattifying primer, Tom Ford’s is one of my favourites,‘ the make-up artist explains to Vogue Mexico.

The next step is to identify what type of acne mark you have and do a colour correction. There are more reddish marks and others that are pigmented brown. For the former I like an olive or green concealer to neutralise over the area’. If it is a dark or brown mark, the expert recommends a salmon-coloured concealer. These should be applied before foundation, after prepping the skin to cancel out the colour. I prefer to put a light layer of powder over the correction that was made and then apply the foundation’.

If you have acne marks, it is common that applying bronzers to problem areas will make them even more obvious. The artist believes that: ‘One of the most common mistakes is to buy contouring or bronzers that are too dark and stick to the acne pigmentations. This will only make them look even darker,’ he says. She also warns that this can happen even if you already have foundation on.

In those cases I recommend looking for a powder foundation that is two shades darker than your natural skin tone. As these are not as pigmented as a bronzer or contouring powder, they prevent marks from being more visible and will give more coverage to the cheekbones’. Another tip from the expert is to do contouring with foundation, as these are higher coverage formulas that will give you a bronzed effect and cover acne marks at the same time.