STARFACE Blog Post

Brief/Challenge: Write a blog post for the brand STARFACE with a focus on self-acceptance and finding beauty and humor in the embarrassing moments that happen growing up with acne.

Insight: This blog post is a tribute to the kids who were always self-conscious of their acne and other face blemishes, and they tried everything to fix it but ended up making it worse.

Execution/Strategy: I have been dealing with acne now for over ten years and have made many mistakes trying to get it under control. I wrote about a time when I wished I had the same attitude towards zits and bumps as STARFACE when I ended up spotlighting my acne instead of concealing it. I decided that this would be a humorous and nostalgic look into the history of blemish coverings. The goal is to emphasize the novelty of proudly showing off your acne patches and finding ways to make an eyesore into a fashion statement.

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Title: Middle School Rudolf No More: My Journey to Acne Acceptance

There I was, bright and early on a Wednesday morning, getting ready for another day of middle school, when right as my eyes met their reflection in the mirror, a big-ol-honkin’ zit had grown bright, red, and oh-so oily right on the tip of my nose 😳

Panic and disgust were all too mild of words to express the horror I felt at this bright, juicy face-monster. However, in my bathroom, I had no way of covering the hideousness up; I ran to my mother’s bathroom and straight to her makeup bag.

Now, “ran” is definitely a strong word. It was much more like silently tip-toeing in the darkness so as to not wake my parents up. In the dim lighting of the windowless bathroom, I grabbed the first thing I could find in the pouch that wasn’t eye shadow or lipstick, a stick of "concealer," and covered the tip of my nose in the stuff. I remember that I put a ton on, and as we all know, more is more, right? I blended it in with my finger till I thought I was good to go, then off to the bus.

Five passing periods later, I waltzed into the school bathrooms to do my business and, glancing into the mirror, saw what I had looked like for most of the day: A bare-faced twelve-year-old save for the ungodly amount of glitter highlighter covering my nose and turning me into a prepubescent Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

…

Looking back now, of course, hindsight is hilarious 😅 But MAN at the time I just wanted to burst into tears and wear a paper bag over my face for the rest of the day. So imagine my surprise when I found out about STARFACE and their line of bright yellow acne patches, meant to be worn out and about as a fashion statement 💅

Why in the WORLD would someone want to flaunt that they are dealing with acne problems? Who in their right mind would want to draw MORE attention to their skin flaws by putting stickers all over their face?

🌟🌟🌟MEEE!!!🌟🌟🌟

FR tho, why is acne seen as so scary in the first place? Is "zit" really the end of the world? Something that needs to be rid of or we become incredibly unattractive and unloved ☠️?

STARFACE allowed me to take a step back and realize that it’s not true; you can be happy, loved, and beautiful with your acne. Everybody’s skin is different and gorgeous. And THAT’S the T 🍵

All that worry and insecurity was in my head and made me want to hide 😓 but I went my whole day without anyone mentioning my sparkle-schnoz; no one called me names or treated me any differently than before. There’s no pressure to choose makeup as the go-to for concealing acne (and in my case, making it even worse by caking it on 🎂).

Now, brands like STARFACE help me build confidence 🤩 and get me in the creative zone! The joy you get putting a fun star on your face to help your “problem spot” get better feels so much more empowering because it’s YOUR choice to take control of your appearance however you see best.

Sometimes, it’s more fun to turn your flaws into self-expression than just blending them into hiding. I decorate my face like it’s the only one I’ve got (because it is). I let my inner seventh-grader have a blast making my face into a beautiful starry canvas 🚀because hey, if you really think about it, I was a trendsetter lol!!