I have freckles. All over my half Vietnamese, half Caucasian face. It is a fact that I have always wished was untrue, and one that I often tried to cover up.
Throughout my entire life, people have always told me that my freckles are beautiful and make me look unique. But from my perspective, especially in my middle school and high school years, I have always felt like my face looked strange and different, and not in a good way. The last time I went to Sephora, I actually ended up testing foundations with the objective of finding one that would hide my freckles. I found one and bought it (shout out to the wonderful Kat Von D Lock-It Tattoo Foundation) but the amount of foundation required in order to fully conceal the little dots was not worth how my skin actually looked and felt with the make up on.
I am aware that the up and coming generation of American citizens (thats you, millennials!) are probably the most accepting of those to ever be a part of American history. I'm proud to be a part of the population fighting so hard for equality in all facets of life (race, gender, sexual orientation, body type etc.) and yet I can hardly find, inside myself, acceptance for my non-traditional facial features.
I have looked for years for make up tutorials made for a freckled gal like myself. When I was 16, they didn't exist. When I was 18, they still didn't exist. Now, I am 21, and, until this past week, I had given up on looking. In an age of contour make up and flawless, creamy and dreamy skin, freckles do not fit in, and initially, I thought that once again, the search for a freckle-friendly make up tutorial had left me high and dry.
Not only are there countless videos whose premise are to conceal freckles (which was quite discouraging) but also many many more videos who teach how to create faux freckles. And while I honestly don't care about how other people wear make up, it does feel strange to have freckles that I am trying desperately to embrace, but only finding information on how to hide them or how to give yourself fake freckles if you don't have any.
Having freckles means your face looks busy. It means that wearing colored eye shadow or lip stick often just doesn't work. It means that, at least in my own experience, wearing a normal amount of foundation doesn't block them out, but it does make them look grey, which is just weird.
But today, at last, I found some beautiful and freckle-confident ladies on Youtube.
And to finally see another girl embracing her freckles, filled one of the many gaps in my self confidence and I actually cannot wait to do my make up today. Posted below are some of the videos I have found, and I really hope to see more of these kinds of tutorials as time goes on.
If you are someone struggling to accept and feel comfortable in your freckled skin, I think it's time for that to change. The more we openly embrace our unique skin, the more we can inspire confidence in others.
