The other day, I had to go to a band banquet which had me doing a face of makeup because I knew that I was going to be in pictures with my friends as we celebrated a successful marching band season. When I got back home and took off my makeup, I did notice a big difference. For the past few hours, I have been looking at my face looking almost perfectly flawless (my foundation is medium coverage) and now here I am bare-faced with visible acne and blackheads and discoloration under my eyes.

In the past, I would normally just use concealer to cover up the acne on a normal day. But as of lately, I have not been covering up anything at all. I know that acne is very common when you're in your teens (I had it very bad and so has my brother), but adult acne is also something that is common. I might not have as bad as an acne problem as I did when I was in middle school and high school, but I know that I can still get it.

The difference between then and now? I'm more confident being bare-faced in public.

It, of course, has taken a few years to finally accept that acne will never go away and that I will never have a perfect bare face, but I can accept that this is a part of my face and who I am.

That, along with my blackheads, undereye discoloration, and acne scars.