From the heavy and opaque ‘pancake makeup’ in the 1930s to the barely-there ‘skinimalism’ trend in the 2020s, we have come a long way when it comes to embracing our natural skin. What began as a base that was meant to conceal imperfections like texture, hyperpigmentation, spots, and scars, has now evolved into a base that looks like your-skin-but-better. With the rise of ‘skinimalism’, comes a penchant for embracing spot marks and benign pigmentation. One such feature that we’re now sporting, as a part of our new-found love for authenticity, is freckles. From Mika Abdalla to Pratibha Ranta, freckles are quickly becoming a celebrity favourite too, and we are here for it!
Anybody with freckles who has had to conceal them in the past with makeup (thanks to unrealistic beauty standards dictating the norms) deserves an official apology. Because not only is flaunting your natural freckles in trend right now, but we’re going as far as creating faux freckles as people who don’t have them naturally. Minimalistic makeup looks work beautifully when paired with these tiny little dots on the bridge of the nose and the cheeks.
We don’t know about you, but we would totally wear faux freckles for a haldi this wedding season. A beautiful, sun-kissed makeup look with freckles, paired with a flowy yellow outfit—perheps a sharara or gharara—and a pair of super chic sunglasses sounds like our idea of a perfect, effortless haldi look.
On that note, here’s everything you as a beauty enthusiast need to know about faux freckles…
There are a bunch of different ways to create faux freckles. From freckle pen to brow pencil and brown liquid eyeliner, you might have to find your perfect way of drawing faux freckles through trial and error. “I have seen other make-up artists use a freckle pen or brown eyeshadow to create freckles. However, personally, I like to use coffee powder,” explains Choezom . “What I do is mix coffee powder with a small amount of water to make a paste with the appropriate consistency. Then, I use a toothbrush to splatter the mixture around the cheekbones and across the bridge of the nose, which creates very natural looking freckles,” she adds.
Natural freckles aren’t uniform. So, to achieve truly natural-looking freckles, you must vary them in size and shape. Don’t chase perfection here. Additionally, don’t space them apart. Naturally, freckles appear in clusters, and in a haphazard manner. So draw them very closely to each other. Lastly, freckles are translucent. So, if you’re using something that gives you an opaque finish, like a brown liquid eyeliner, remember to dab the dots lightly to soften the colour and give a sheer finish.