The 5 Best Makeup Products for Oily Acne-Prone Skin

Dealing with breakouts is never fun, but when it’s a constant problem, it might be time to look at your makeup routine. If your skin is prone to making an excess amount of oil, you might want to look for makeup products specifically designed to combat this or work around it. Stop making mistakes with the wrong products for your skin and ending up spending more than the average woman spends on makeup per month.

The five best makeup products for oily, acne-prone skin are:

  1. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation
  2. Neutrogena SkinClearing Oil-Free Makeup
  3. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer
  4. Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips All-In-1 Custom Nude Palette for Face and Eyes
  5. Origins Clear Improvement Pour Clearing Moisturizer

Here’s what you need to know about making up an oily complexion in the most comfortable, shine-free way possible.

How do you know if you have oily acne-prone skin?

Beauty professionals generally break skin types into five categories based on the amount of sebum – a substance with an oily, waxy consistency – that your skin produces. These categories are: oily, dry, normal, combination, and sensitive. 

Sebum is supposed to protect your skin from drying. In excess, as in people who have oily skin, it can cause painful and unsightly blemishes. Having too little sebum, as people with dry skin do, causes the opposite issue, making your skin overly dry and rough. 

People with normal skin produce an appropriate amount of sebum, while people with combination skin produce sebum unevenly, leading some parts of their face to be oily and others dry. Strangely, sensitive skin has nothing to do with sebum production, and everything to do with your skin’s proclivity to over-reacting to the chemicals present in products.

You can tell you’ve got oily skin if you recognize any of the following characteristics:

  • Your skin constantly looks shiny or greasy
  • Your pores are larger
  • You have frequent acne breakouts

What does makeup do to oily acne-prone skin?

Most makeup formulas are designed to hold onto the face and skin, to keep up your appearance for as long as possible. This can be a problem for those with oily skin; because your pores tend to be enlarged, there’s a higher chance that your makeup will sink into those pores and become stuck, causing acne.

There’s also a chance that the natural oil produced by your skin will simply carry the product off of your face. Many products that aren’t designed for oily skin will blend with the sebum and other oils to leave streaky, unpleasant finishes after only a few hours of wear.

Which makeup is bet overall for oily acne-prone skin?

When choosing makeup for your oily, acne-prone skin, you’re going to want to consider a few things about its ingredients and consistency.

Firstly, look first at lines specifically designed for oily skin. Many makeup brands have ranges tailored to different skin types, meaning their products intentionally work with the amount of natural oil on your face. Oily skin products tend to have better coverage and be made with skin-friendly ingredients to prevent clogging.

Second, avoid oil-based products of any kind and instead opt for oil-free options. This seems obvious, but it’s worth stating: oils don’t mix. Wearing oil-based makeup means you’re nearly guaranteed to have sliding and streaking.

Third, if you’re looking to keep your skin hydrated, make sure your products have hyaluronic acid in them, which can act as a natural moisturizer that doesn’t clog. If you want to fight acne with your product, look for one containing a small amount of salicylic acid.

The 5 best makeup products for oily acne-prone skin

Now that you know what to look for in your makeup, here are the five best makeup products for oily, acne-prone skin for you to consider.

1. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Powder Foundation

Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty makeup lines are designed with inclusivity in mind, meaning that not only are there options for every skin type, there are also options for every skin color. 

Her Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Powder Foundation is designed for breathable, light, and buildable coverage that stays above pores rather than in them. It comes in 50 shades and is best applied with a damp sponge or dry foundation brush. It’s also a vegan product. 

Don’t forget to always maintain clean makeup brushes at home to keep germs and dirt away from your face. 

2. Neutrogena SkinClearing Oil-Free Makeup

Neutrogena is a well-known acne-fighting name in the beauty world, with a line of skincare products specifically designed to fight off acne and treat oily skin to prevent acne from happening in the first place.

Now that power comes to their makeup lines, with the SkinClearing Liquid Makeup. This light-to-medium coverage foundation comes in 14 different shades and contains 0.5% salicylic acid to treat your skin while wearing makeup rather than waiting until after you take your products off.

3. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer

Urban Decay’s Weightless collection was created to combat the concept of cakey, heavy concealers that add to your acne instead of simply covering it. 

Their Complete Coverage Concealer contains moisture-retention ingredients and a flawless finish designed for all-day coverage. This product is cruelty-free and comes in 14 shades designed to match with their foundation line, but capable of blending well with many other brands’ foundations.

4. Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips All-In-1 Custom Nude Palette for Face and Eyes

Who says oil control has to be limited to your makeup base? Physicians Formula thinks you should be confident that every product you wear will work with your skin, so they’ve brought the acne-and-oil-control into their colorful detail products.

Their Shimmer Strips All-In-1 Custom Nude Palette is perfect for rounding out your look with bright, warm colors. The 12 featured nude shades work as eyeshadow, eye liner, bronzer, blush, and highlighter all in one pan. They’re hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic (non-caking), and approved by dermatologists.

5. Origins Clear Improvement Pore Clearing Moisturizer

Start your makeup application right by providing your skin with a protective layer of moisture. Since primers are primarily moisturizers anyway, using a specially-designed moisturizer instead just makes sense.

The Origins Clear Improvement Pore Clearing Moisturizer is a great choice for this. Containing 1% salicylic acid and witch hazel among other skin-loving ingredients, this vegan product is designed to gently clean and prevent breakouts from happening while keeping your skin hydrated and soft.

Conclusion

Having oily skin doesn’t have to be a makeup nightmare. It’s all about knowing exactly what you’re working with, in your skin and in the products you choose to put on it. Armed with the right knowledge and products, and adding esthetician extractions you can have the comfortably set, clear face you want for as long as you want.