6 Must-Know Makeup Tips for Freckles

Could Erin Heatherton BE any cuter here? Or glowier? I've been looking at this pic for a few days now, and I'm obsessed with her skin, her hair, her brows, her eyes… and the way her hair/brows/eyes all match.

But mostly it's the skin. Erin needs to be the poster woman for embracing—not hiding—your freckles. Look at the close-up:

Freckles everywhere! But she still looks hawt. I think they're part of what makes her hawt! It's like they tone down the overt bombshell-ness a bit, giving her a more unique and cute appeal.

Have I ever mentioned that I once knew a girl who matched her foundation to the shade of her freckles? Actually, I only knew she HAD freckles because we were at the beach one day and the water/sweat must've washed off some of her makeup. Otherwise, she looked kinda like this always, except in reverse:

Actually, it was even worse than this Lindsay Lohan situation, but I can't even find any images that represent what was happening. This chick was very pale, and blonde, so her neck was super-white… but she literally had one of those orangey masks of foundation that ended at her jawline. It was almost fascinating, it was so bad.

And all to cover up her damn freckles. WTF? Please never do that.

Makeup tips for freckles

1. Don't match your makeup to the freckles. You need to work with the skin in between the freckles. That's your real skin tone, not the dark freckle spots. If you use them to match your skin makeup, it's gonna be way too dark and end up looking obvious that you're trying to hide 'em. Plus, it creates a whole other makeup challenge: The reverse Eagle. (That's when your face is too dark for your neck. It can be blended a bit with bronzer, but it's probably best not to deliberately go about creating that situation when it didn't exist in the first place.)

2. Sheer formulas are best. Unless your foundation is very sheer, opt for a lightweight tinted moisturizer or BB/CC cream that lets the freckles shine through. You want just enough to even out your skin tone, but nothing too heavy. The same thing goes for concealer. People without freckles can get away with applying heavier coverage in some areas and not others… but with freckles, you need to be much more careful. It could backfire and end up drawing even more attention to what you're trying to hide.

3. Brighten up with blush. You want to add some colour to your cheeks—but nothing too brown, since that's in the same family as your freckles and could make you look a bit muddy. A pink or peach cream blush will add a nice contrast.

4. Cut the ashiness with bronzer. Not TOO much. But a dusting of the lightest, non-sparkly bronzer shade (like the one I talked about here) can help tie everything together as the last step in your makeup. It just helps give a more natural look after you've applied skin makeup, which might lend a slightly ashy tone if it's quite a bit lighter than the freckles themselves. Make sure to use a light hand, focusing on the high planes of your face.

5. Wear SPF. Duh! It's the sun that brings 'em out in the first place, so if you don't want more, either protect yo'self—or “be like a Ninja and hide from the sun,” as my friend Jill likes to say.

6. If in doubt, draw them on! Runway makeup artists do this all the time, so why not? The product they always use is this guy:

MAC Lip Pencil in Hodgepodge

Or I've sometimes seen them use MAC Eye Brows too.

And if you hate all this freckle talk and just want yours to go away?

Well, good luck with that. I have freckles, but not the Erin Heatherton kind—mine aren't so evenly dispersed, so they're not “cute.” (They're more on the sides of my cheeks, although if I go out in the sun again, they'll come right back on my nose—I just refuse to do that.) You can use things like Retin-A and Lustra (or both) to try and lighten them, although personally mine haven't budged with these treatments!

Intensed pulse light (IPL) at the derm's office is probably the way to go; I've had it done just once and it did work, but I'd need at least three or four sessions to really make a noticeable difference. Right now, I'm trying the TRIA Beauty Skin Rejuvenating Laser, which is supposed to be like an at-home Fraxel treatment. It takes about three months to start seeing real results, so I'm in for the long haul! Stay tuned.

In the meantime, tell me:

Do you like Erin Heatherton's freckle-faced makeup look?

Got any makeup tips for flaunting—or hiding—your freckles?

Has anything worked for you to fade freckles?