This June is Acne Awareness Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing some of our personal stories with you. Six Skin Cupid team members – including our founder and CEO! – opened up about their experiences with acne, from teenage zits, to early-20s bacne, and mid-30s dermatitis. We’re sharing our skincare tips and some of our favourite products, but we also wanted to be especially candid about our struggles, because the effects of acne on your confidence and mental health are still hugely underestimated by society as a whole. 

If your skin is troubling you right now, and your self-esteem is suffering – we have been there! These stories are for you. 

Agnes, Brand & Marketing Co-ordinator

I actually only started getting acne when I entered the world of work – up until then, I didn’t have any problems with my skin. I never had teenage acne, but now I feel like I’m having adult acne, or a second puberty, which I have to admit is pretty stressful. I think it’s mostly hormonal, but also it just breaks out apparently at random, especially on my cheeks and chin. I can’t really track it. 

I never wore foundation before, but I started doing it after experiencing these breakouts for the first time a couple of years ago – I feel better if I can cover up the scarring. I guess I’m just a really melanin-rich person, because for me acne always leaves these dark spots. Even if the zits are small, and I keep them hydrated, I’ll end up with hyperpigmentation afterwards, so that’s what I want to cover up mostly. Sometimes, I have to say, I will pick at them because they’re so annoying – but more often than not I’ll use a pimple patch instead, to kind of start sucking out the fluids and speeding up the healing process. I’ve always just used topical treatments for my acne – I’d rather not take medication because it’s not natural and, just personally, it scares me a bit. I’m happy to take the long road to clear skin. 

It definitely affects my confidence though because it feels like I should be over acne at this point in my life! And obviously I work for a beauty company and am in our videos a lot [on social media], and people expect your skin to be good if you work for a beauty company. Sometimes people will leave rude comments about my skin on our videos and to be honest, hearing things like that is not the life I wanna live! I guess I want people to understand that having access to more skincare and more knowledge about skincare doesn’t mean your skin is going to be perfect. Skincare isn’t magic, it’s just there to help you along your journey. 

One of the things I think is nice about being Gen Z is that there’s much more acceptance of imperfections. I love Starface, who make the colourful pimple patches, so it’s like you’re drawing attention to the zit even as you’re covering it, and kind of celebrating it at the same time? Like it doesn’t have to be something miserable or a big deal or anything – it’s just a spot. And I feel confident when I’m wearing them – it helps you heal the acne beneath but also, you look cute. It’s like, you can turn acne into an accessory, rather than pretending it’s not there. And I think there are a lot of trends for imperfections, like playing up your under-eye puffiness and dark circles and things. 

To people with acne, I’d say there’s a lot of tendency to blame yourself – and I think culturally there’s still this sense that if women, specifically, have acne, it’s because they’re doing something wrong, not taking care of themselves properly. But you really might not be doing anything wrong! If I try new products, I’m always really careful and integrate them slowly, but there’s always something that makes me break out. Honestly, some people also look cute with acne! I was talking with Hannah [Skin Cupid’s graphic designer] the other day, and she said, “your acne scars look cute – they’re like freckles”. But having had clear skin, and then experiencing acne problems later in life, I do understand why people aren’t necessarily cheered up by hearing things like, “it looks cute”, “I didn’t even notice”, “it’s not bad at all”. I think wanting clear skin isn’t just a societally conditioned thing; it’s a natural desire. 

Which Skin Cupid products have helped you the most on your acne journey?

ANUA’s TXA serum actually made a real difference. Melody [Skin Cupid’s CEO] brought it back from Korea last year, and she knew I wanted to try it, so she gave it to me. It’s quite a strong formula so I had to integrate it slowly, but it’s really helped to fade my hyperpigmentation. It’s the scarring that takes forever to go for me, but this lightens up all the dark sports. 

I also apply Dr.ALTHEA’s 345 cream all over my face morning and evening. I have combination skin so it’s not too oily but it’s also thick enough to seal everything in. It brightens dark spots but it helps to soothe as well, which is good because my skin will get quite red. 

Bolbba, Graphic Design Intern

My skin is sensitive, and I’ve always had redness on my cheeks, but it was at its worst in high school because of study-related stress. I’d get pimples all the time, and of course it made me really insecure. 

I ended up taking some medication for it when I was about 16. The only skincare I used was this toner and this cream that were both prescribed by my doctor, and my skin started improving gradually after that. 

Korean skincare, though - that saved my life! I started using it when I was about 18, when my skin was a bit more under control. It heals your skin quite slowly, so it took a while, but once it started working my confidence was upped so much. 

I actually first learned about it from watching K-dramas! The actresses have such great skin, obviously, and then you often actually see them doing the different skincare steps in the shows. This was around the time that Korean culture was really booming, too, which made it easier for me to find out more about their skincare. I spent a lot of time researching different ingredients and learning how they helped cure different pain points. For me, I’ve landed on really mild skincare. I like Centella-based ingredients, because they’re really gentle and help strengthen your skin barrier. 

I’m 22 now, and I just get predictable, hormonal breakouts now – mostly on my cheeks, and some on my chest (but not too much). My skin is still very sensitive and dry, but now I know how to treat it much more effectively.

Which Skin Cupid products have helped you the most on your acne journey?

I just finished a whole bottle of ZEROID’s Soothing Cream, which I only got a couple of months ago. It’s perfect for calming your skin down when you feel a breakout coming – all the redness just disappears. 

Hannah, Graphic Designer

When I was growing up, 15 [years old] was the peak time for acne. It didn’t really affect my confidence, though – I had this amazing BB cream that I used, and that covered the acne and the redness. So I just put this BB cream on whenever I went to school, and everything was perfectly concealed. Even though I grew up in Daejeon [in South Korea], where the summer is really hot and humid, this BB cream would stay in place – it was amazing. 

Lots of people around me had really good skin, but there were definitely a couple of girls and guys with lots of acne. My sister had it, too, but she didn’t really care that much. And then when she was about 20, she just went to this beauty counter at a department store nearby, and got this magic treatment, and her skin became great! For me, my skin just got better on its own, naturally. I’d say that now my skin is quite oily. I don’t really get acne, but I do get the occasional hormonal zit just before my period. 

I started to get interested in skincare when I was 20 or 21, and I remember everything. But my concern wasn’t acne; I wanted to prevent wrinkles. I tried so many anti-ageing creams, and there was this rumour that if you used eye cream all over your face, it would prevent wrinkles, so I tried that, too. Now I just get filler whenever I’m back in Korea. I do it straight after getting there. Seriously – I make an appointment ahead of time, then I land in Seoul, and the next day I go to a clinic. I get it around my nasolabial folds and my undereyes. There’s really no recovery time for filler, so you don’t have to stay inside waiting to look normal again or anything. Lots of my friends also go to clinics; it’s a very general thing there. I think it’s because there are so many clinics, so there’s a lot of competition in terms of offers and events, which makes it really affordable. 

In terms of acne, though, my problem has always been the top of my back. It first appeared when I was 18 – I think because I was so stressed about university – and then it gradually spread, you know. I would always touch it, and pick at it – it didn’t hurt, but it always left scars, whether I picked at it or not. And it’s so annoying because it means I can’t really wear dresses or tops with open backs in the summer. I actually ended up getting this big tattoo put over it when I was 23, to cover all the scars. But now I hate the tattoo instead! On the whole, though, I am much more confident in the UK than I was in Korea. In Korea, the older generation isn’t very open to new things and people are very vocally judgmental. 

I actually did something crazy and got a chemical peel on my back when I was in Korea a couple of years ago. It was the worst pain I ever had! Because it was on my back, I couldn’t lie down or even put clothes over it for like, 48 hours or so. It was really swollen – and the sensation afterwards was like there were a million needles pricking my back. The clinician I did it with said that I’d need to do it another 3 or 4 times to completely get rid of the dark marks, but I’d never do it again. Still, it is really good for treating scarring. After 3 or 4 days, you start feeling this itchiness and then all the old skin comes off and you can see the bright new skin below. 

Right now, I just make sure to keep that area clean – I don’t use a special shower gel or anything, just a foam cleanser. I think that helps because it gets rid of any excess oil, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I am really just a very oily person. 

Which Skin Cupid products have helped you the most on your acne journey?

SKIN1004’s Centella ampoule is really light and not sticky. That’s the most important thing for me whenever I choose an ampoule or a cream - it has to be very lightweight. But sometimes if an ampoule is too light, it doesn’t hydrate enough – that’s not the case with this one. It keeps my moisture levels high and soothes my redness without adding oil, which is good, because I’m an oily enough person as it is. 

Haruka, Senior Marketing Associate

I struggled with acne a couple of times when I was at school – the first phase was from the age of 13 until about 16. Something just happened to my skin when I went to middle school – there were all these bumps under the surface, especially on or around my nose, and they were really painful and angry – like the kind of ingrown acne that doesn’t come to the surface properly. It happened so many times, and of course it happened the most when I had something I wanted to look good for, like when I was planning a day out with my friends or going to be hanging out with boys.

So it took about three years, but that got better on its own, and in high school my skin was fine, until the final year. That was definitely stress-related – I had a lot going on in my home life, and I ended up putting on weight, too, because I felt bad, so I would eat, and then I’d feel worse, so I’d eat more… that became a vicious cycle. Things got better when I went away to university, and moved out of the prefecture (I grew up in Japan) – my family lived in the this close-knit community in the south and everyone knew each other, so you couldn’t really get away with anything, or do anything without everyone else knowing – I think that was stressful, too. 

In terms of treating my acne… well, in middle school I tried a couple of different products. Only dermatological products, and no actives – my mum (who had great skin) was scared of me using actives like BHA on my skin, or any other harsh chemicals. I’d look for information in magazines, or on the internet, and it was hit and miss – some things worked, some things didn’t. But I wasn’t consistent, you know – I’d use certain products for some months, then when my skin cleared up I’d stop using it, then it would get worse again, and I’d have to start from scratch. 

In high school, I started using spot treatments, specifically, and I was really selective about those. Obviously, there were financial limitations on what I could buy, but I would do chores around the house to get an allowance, and then I’d use that money to buy skincare and makeup. 

Most of the people I was surrounded by at school had nice skin, which definitely made me feel a bit worse. I remember one time when I was 14, it was photo day for my grade, and I had a massive zit on my nose. And I couldn’t even use concealer or anything on it, because my school had rules against wearing makeup – it was a very strict, traditional Japanese school; you couldn’t wear deodorant either. Anyway, there was this girl, and she made fun of my pimple in front of everyone in the grade – like, “Wow, what is that on your face?” – and I was so furious. I got home and told my family, you know, I want to curse this girl! But, whatever – now I’m living in London, and I’m really happy with my skin and my life. 

It was definitely a culture shock moving from Japan to the UK when it comes to skincare. Obviously skincare in Japan is very evolved like it is in Korea, but I remember when I came to London for the first time 4 or 5 years ago, I wanted to go and buy a toner. I went to Boots [ a British drugstore] and I picked up this toner – the one with the red cap, you know? – and I was shocked – it had so much alcohol in it! And it was so expensive! I called my mum that night, actually, and told her about it – “I just wanted to pick up a toner, and this is all they have!” I think Korea, Japan, and France are the best when it comes to skincare products. 

But I do like that in the West there’s been this increasing normalisation of having acne, and celebration of real skin. Companies like ERBORIAN, for example, which are South Korean but very popular in the West – they don’t use any filters on their photos, it’s all natural. In Japan, I don’t feel like that has happened yet – I wouldn’t go out wearing a pimple patch there. Things are changing, though, and I love the fact that Asian and Western beauty are impacting each other. I think it’s really important to make having zits more – can I say ‘enjoyable’? You don’t want to just be waiting until your skin is good to live your life. And it’s especially important for teenagers to feel like that, because everything is so dramatic when you’re 14 and 15 anyway.

I started loving my skin even more after starting at Skin Cupid, which was also when I started to do actual, consistent skincare. I don’t wear much makeup, and sometimes pimples come and go, of course – especially when I eat Korean noodles at night! – but it doesn’t feel like the end of the world any more. 

For those people reading this that are struggling with their skin right now, I’d recommend a few things. One – double cleansing. Do it even if you haven’t been wearing makeup during the day! That really helps to clarify my skin. I really love the ANUA one – everything just comes off in your hands, it’s incredible – and the S.NATURE rice one. As for foam cleanser, I don’t have a specific one I use – I just try whatever I get at the office or buy online. 

I’d also highly recommend pimple patches! I really love using them. When you feel something start to happen on your skin, like, you can feel the zit is just about to form, then put one on. So you’re already preventing it from getting to its worst. I like the clear COSRx ones, and the SOME BY MI ones, too. And it’ll stop you from picking at the zit, which just causes scarring and enlarged pores. 

And then I also advise exfoliating once a week. Really, the most important thing is consistency. Pimples now are the results of the way we treated our skin in the past – there’s often this delay in the things you do showing up on your skin. So if you want clear skin, you can’t just always be spot-treating blemishes when they show up. You have to stick to a routine, even if you feel like you don’t need to. 

Which Skin Cupid products have helped you the most on your acne journey?

My skin doesn’t break out that much any more, but when it does, I always turn to ZEROID’s Pimprove Gel Cleanser. It’s such a unique take on acne care, because it contains Salicylic Acid to control sebum and blemishes, but it also keeps your skin barrier strong with Ceramides and other more gentle, hydrating ingredients. 

Stephanie, Copywriter

I only had the occasional zit when I was in high school, but my skin started getting really bad when I was about 19, at university. The problem was, I think, that I had really low body fat growing up because I was a gymnast, and so my period stopped for a few years, from when I was around 16 or so until I was 19. And I’d only gotten my period pretty late in puberty anyway, when I was around 14. So my period came back when I was less competitive in gymnastics, and had put on some weight – actually, it came back the day of our Varsity gymnastics competition, when I had to wear a leotard all day. Sometimes fate really just knows, doesn’t it? So I had to run out and buy tampons for the first time in forever. After that – I guess because of the explosion of hormones that had been suppressed? – my skin went totally haywire. I would break out all the time, and it seemed completely unpredictable to me. 

I’d never really done anything to my skin before that. Like, I think I used a drugstore cleanser to wash my face, and occasionally used a moisturiser in the summer, but that was it. It was really a different time back then, I think. I felt really ashamed of my skin, because I’d already been a shy kid growing up, for different reasons, and then just as I was getting confident in myself, my skin turned awful. 

Finding skincare to tackle the problem didn’t feel so intuitive to me. I think I’m the kind of person who wants to start with the nuclear option, so I went to the doctor to see if there was any medication I could take. They gave me antibiotics at first, but they didn’t do very much. So eventually I ended up on a contraceptive pill, Dianette. It’s been withdrawn from the market now because it actually caused thrombosis in a few people. But honestly, even though they told me about all the side effects before prescribing it, I really couldn’t have cared less. I was just really desperate for my skin to look better. It did help – I suppose because my acne was very hormonal – but it took a while, and I still got acne. The problem was also the scarring, though. I think my skin got a lot thinner during this period – even now, I flush so much more easily than I did when I was a teenager – and so whenever I got hot I’d go red and the marks would show up even more. I can’t tell you how much I hated it!

At the same time, I was also trying to find ways to cover it up. I had to buy foundation for the first time, but everything looked so orange on my skin. It was annoying also because I did a lot of sport – including gymnastics, still – so I felt like I had to wear it while I was training, then wash my face afterwards to “stop” more acne forming, then put makeup back on again to go out to the pub or a bar after. It was so tiring. 

Eventually, I had to stop using Dianette when I was around 24. I was so nervous – it was really such a safety net for me; I can’t even remember how I coped with not having this thing I’d come to rely on so much. But I don’t think my skin was affected that much when I came off it; I guess my skin had cleared up a good amount naturally.

Even after that I really didn’t think much about skincare, not until my late 20s and early 30s. I was definitely into Glossier for a while, which was such a big brand for my generation. A friend introduced me to their Milky Jelly Cleanser when I was on vacation with her, and I really liked it, so I bought one. And I think I wanted to buy into their aesthetic, too, the kind of no-makeup makeup look. Although obviously you have to be really naturally pretty for that to work for you. But to be honest I think skincare always felt too indulgent for me, or something I’d rather not spend money on. I was in academia for all of my 20s, pretty much, so I didn’t make much money, and I’d always rather spend my money on travel and clothes. Cleansers were really the only thing I used regularly. And then I’d sometimes try stuff that I’d see my friends had when we were on vacation together or I was visiting them, or I’d buy stuff when I was traveling. But at that point, my skin was pretty good and I didn’t need to cover it up, so I never really thought about skincare or makeup. 

When I was living in Paris, I started trying skincare from different brands a bit more – all the French pharmacy stuff. I really liked the whole French attitude towards beauty – I never see anyone wearing makeup to cover up their skin. It’s pretty much just a bare face and lipstick – everybody looks very real. I did get some mild perioral dermatitis when I was living there, though – I don’t know what that was about. This redness and dryness on my nasolabial folds. It would sometimes nearly totally disappear, but it always came back. That actually didn’t disappear until I joined Skin Cupid and started using Korean skincare.  

At first, I wanted to try everything. I did the whole 10 steps. It was just so fun and novel to me. But I think that was stressful to my skin because I hardly used anything on it before, and the novelty wore off, so I ended up going down to just cleanser, toner, serum, and a moisturiser or SPF (I’m still not good at using SPF every day when I’m in England). And it was after about 4 months of this that I noticed, oh, that dermatitis is gone. 

I really like double cleansing but my skin is kind of sensitive so it’s too much to do to my skin every day. Cleansing balms are great, and I like things that are easy to travel with. Toners are my favourite discovery! Moisturisers honestly feel so heavy to me, even gel ones, so I like something that can deliver hydration but feel light on my skin. 

I’d say to those experiencing acne right now – and it’s easier said than done – but please don’t wish your life away waiting for your acne to get better! Life is too short (and too long, too), and I promise you that nobody cares as much about your skin as you do. When people say, “I can’t even see anything on your skin”, they probably mean it! 

Which Skin Cupid products have helped you the most on your acne journey?

Like I said before, I absolutely adore toners, and ANUA’s Heartleaf toner is one I tried recently and loved. My skin is pretty thin and sensitive, so Heartleaf is a good ingredient for me – I always look brighter and healthier after using this.

Melody, Founder & CEO

My skin has always been oily and acne-prone. During my teenage years especially, I would break out, and I just when one pimple finally disappeared, another one would come up. Even though everyone around me was nice about it, having acne really affected my confidence. I used to break out on my forehead a lot, so I got a pair of scissors, went to the bathroom and cut a fringe to cover my forehead acne. Little did I know, this trapped in more sebum, dirt and grease, making the acne even worse!  

I used to get really hopeful about anything new that I could try that might help me fix it. I remember when I was about 12, I was with my dad in this local department store, and we went into the beauty section. At this point, I’d tried a lot of drug store products, and all they did was make my skin really rough and textured. So there were these ladies at this beauty stand – and they were so beautiful. They asked me, “Do you want to try these new products? They’re really good for acne.”, and proceeded to give me a skincare consultation. I ended up walking away with a full skincare routine, and I thought - hmm, maybe this time it will work? Maybe I just have to pay the price – literally – to get good skin?

Well, that didn’t work well! Many of the products had fragrance and alcohol in them which irritated and dried my skin. At the time, I wasn't too familiar with skincare ingredients and really just took their word for it. But when my skin didn’t get any better, I had lost my last bit of hope. 

A couple years later, I started really enjoying K-dramas. Something that constantly stood out was how beautiful the actresses were. I was thinking, how is it possible to be filmed in HD and still have this perfect skin? What do they put in the water over there? This led me into a rabbit hole of researching Korean skincare, and it opened my eyes to how different the philosophies were. I really loved how K-beauty was all about prevention and using strengthening and hydrating products to keep your skin barrier strong. This made a lot of sense to me, as I learned that my skin was very reactive and my barrier was becoming thin from all the harsh exfoliants and actives I had been using the years prior. For the first time, I finally felt that I was understanding what my skin needed. 

I decided to try some Korean skincare products, but I made the mistake of buying too much and using them all at once. Since I was using many different new things, I couldn’t differentiate between what was helping me and what wasn't. But over time, through a lot of trial and error and research, I had finally begun to see real improvements in my skin, which was both a validating and liberating feeling.

Barrier repair is really vital and powerful. And it’s so mysterious at the same time – it’s not an instant thing that you can see improving like you can with acne, or fine lines. It takes several months and sometimes years to really heal, and then if you break the cycle, you sometimes end up having to do it all over again. I’m really glad that the rise in popularity of Korean skincare means it’s being discussed more, because a compromised skin barrier is often the root of so many skin concerns. 

At the end of the day, skin and skincare are a constant journey full of ups and downs. I still get breakouts from time to time, because skincare is just one piece of the puzzle. Diet, hormones, and stress all play a role too. What I love about working in K-beauty is that it keeps you in student mode. There’s always something new to learn, from breakthrough ingredients to the latest innovations in this ever-evolving industry.

Which Skin Cupid products have helped you the most on your acne journey?

Lately, I've been obsessed with toner pads, and I often use them as targeted sheet masks. My favourites are the ultra-thin kind because they stick onto the skin much better without budging and help your skin absorb all the active ingredients. Right now, I am a big fan of MOLVANY’s artichoke toner pads. They’re super soothing and protective, and easy to put on while you’re working or watching TV.