These Pimple Patches Almost Make Me Look Forward to a Breakout

Traditionally, having acne is an experience that’s…less than pleasant. In addition to being embarrassing and literally painful, it can take a toll on your finances, your career, and even your mental health—something I’ve learned first-hand over the decade I’ve been dealing with it. Ever since I started fighting pimples, I understood it was something you dealt with in secret, and so I smothered my zits in concealer and hid my prescription acne cream in my medicine cabinet.

Thanks in part to the acne-positivity movement, some of this stigma is starting to lift, and acne is (hopefully) becoming less of a big deal. Acne influencers (yes, really) are posting makeup-free selfies, women are starting to talk openly, and brands are helping to normalize that we all get zits. One of these brands is Starface, an acne-friendly brand that exclusively makes the star-shaped pimple patches you’re seeing all over Instagram.

The brand, cofounded by Julie Schott, a former Elle beauty director, is a “positively not boring” skin care line, meaning it has a fresh approach to fighting acne. Pimple patches are nothing new, but the brand’s messaging is—from the shape of the patches themselves to the cheeky Instagram captions written from the perspective of the product, it flips the script on everything we’ve been taught about acne. Most patches are meant to blend in and be invisible, but these call attention to blemishes. By being so cute, they’re like a little reward, akin getting a gold star on an assignment.

Personally, I find acne positivity a little tricky to get behind. Acne is never something I will ever feel “positive” about, and so many brands get it wrong with this forced acceptance. It can also come across as a blatant marketing tactic, with brands trying to sell you something to fix acne while at the same time telling you to embrace it. But Starface seems to have the same feelings about acne that I do (which could be because Schott has also dealt with acne her whole life and knows the struggle). I’m learning it doesn’t define me as a person, but it’s something I would rather not deal with, were I given the choice.

That being said, when the Starface Hydro-Stars arrived to my door, I practically shrieked in delight. The packaging, a yellow hard plastic “pod” that houses the patches, is incredibly cute, as are the patches themselves.