This condition can seem like a constant battle – so you need the best tips and tricks up your sleeve to help you keep your skin confidence high. Here are our top tips for helping you to flawlessly cover your condition without making it more noticeable, while allowing your skin the courtesy of a little air.

It’s tempting, but don’t skip your primer

This is the foundation for your foundation, smoothing out problem areas and helping to give the make-up a smooth surface to adhere to. The Perfecting Primer from Airbase is particularly good for acne prone or scarred skin as it allows the skin to breath, smooths out imperfections and most importantly has no shimmer. 

Colour correct your acne first

As you’ll know, concealer and correctors are your magic weapon, particularly for troublesome areas. For areas of particular redness, use a green corrector to counteract the red colour. We recommend a formula that is creamy in its texture, like Airbase Corrector (plus you get all the colours in one wheel at your dispense). Once you’re happy, apply your concealer to those areas that are more problematic. Dab on, don’t rub.

Fluid foundations excel in acne coverage

Keep it fluid, liquid foundations (like Airbase Ultra foundation) afford you the time to blend and build coverage. Choose a creamy consistency for greater coverage or opt for building up your foundation with an airbrush.

Top tip: Bear in mind that powder foundations have the tendency to cling to problem areas, accentuating pimples and scars. Worse still, if you over apply for more coverage, it can appear ‘caked on’.

Try airbrushing your foundation

Spray it! That’s right, spray on your make-up - sounds complicated but it really isn’t. When spraying close to the skin individual areas or spots can be targeted to camouflage the complaint without emphasising any raised skin bumps.

A fine application of foundation through an airbrush, like our HD Home Use System, offers you the opportunity to build coverage by adding layers to enhance further - perfect for acne and scarring.

You might not have thought about this, but when applying your make-up via a spray application (like an airbrush), you are reducing the need to touch the skin and spread any bacteria – this means unrivalled coverage AND better care for your skin.

Top tip: Airbrushing your make-up has huge advantages for acne sufferers; both in hygiene and superior application.

Using a brush to stipple cover your acne

If you are using a brush to apply your foundation, our top make-up artist recommends that you stipple and don’t swipe. This allows for better blending and concentration on the more problem areas. Lightly does it, build coverage as you go.

Keep your make-up matte

Acne prone skins are typically oily by nature, so whether you’re still suffering from the condition or are covering acne scarring, this is the best option for you. As we know, the more coverage the better, so we’re looking to adopt highly pigmented foundations – these are generally more matte. Put simply, don’t go for glow!

Airbase foundation is high pigmented giving great coverage of both acne and acne scarring, BUT the formulation containing silicone means a more-dewy finish, great for longevity – but you’ll want to dust over lightly with our mattifying powder.

Should I contour and highlight?

When you have your base done a little highlighting won’t hurt – just to the areas you want to accentuate – those high cheekbones for example. Highlighting does exactly that – highlights areas, so only use shimmer on areas you want to bring to the forefront. Just avoid foundations with glow built in.

Top tip: You can contour and highlight using an airbrush! Simply use a pale shade to highlight (such as Airbase Porcelain) and contour using a shade or two darker than your matched colour. Hygienic and swift!

The Airbase range of foundations are available online at with a RRP of £36.