When I started wearing makeup, I wore non-comedogenic labeled makeup. When I started having terrible hormonal acne, it felt like nothing was working. When I looked in the mirror, I was so insecure about how my face looked, and it was the first time in my life that I felt I needed to wear makeup all the time. I learned that even with makeup, my skin looked awful, sometimes worse. I felt hopeless about having clear skin. Nothing seemed to be helping.

I did a lot of research about cystic acne and makeup. The primary and most surprising thing I found was that companies could put non-comedogenic on their makeup products when they are comedogenic. Comedogenic means pore clogging. I found nycacneclinic.com to check my makeup products. I copy and paste the ingredients of my product into their system, and they will tell me if there are any pore-clogging ingredients.

Need more acne-clearing advice? Read “My Journey with Cystic Acne.”

For me, when there are any oils in the product, the oils make me break out.

Here is my list of makeup products I use:

I am only listing my face products because I don’t find my eye makeup and eyebrow pencil contributes to acne.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Concealer (for extra coverage and under the eye): When using a powder foundation, you must put concealer on first. As of late, I have been putting my concealer on after I do my powder foundation and WOAH, it brightens up my undereye so much more!

Matte Bare Minerals Foundation (the original formula has pore-clogging ingredients). I also use this product in a darker shade for my bronzer- a little goes a long way.

Morphe Bake & Set (I bake with this. I let it set in and then blend once I’ve allowed it set for a bit). I wet a Beauty Blender and pat the powder where I get the most oily.

Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Setting Spray: I love this setting spray. I find that it is a great finisher to my makeup routine. I used Urban Decay Setting Spray forever but it now has pore clogging ingredients in it, so I found this Charlotte Tilbury one.