Best Foundation for Acne Scars: Makeup for Scarred Skin and Blemishes in 2021

If you’re like us, a new-and-improved skincare regimen is at the top of your list for your New Year’s Resolutions in 2021. We don’t blame you – taking care of your skin is essential for so many reasons. More than anything, though, it improves your self-confidence. Part of improving your skincare routine might mean upping your makeup game to cover scarred and blemished skin due to the ghost of acne’s past. Lucky for you, we’ve created a whole list of the best foundation for acne scars.

Acne scars makeup doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to be heavy and feel cakey. We want you to go out and face the world, looking your best. If that means hiding acne scars, we understand. Over time, some of these products can even help get rid of acne scars, making them extra valuable.

So keep reading to find the perfect foundation to cover scars and other problematic blemishes.

The Best Foundation for Acne Scars

We’ve scoured the internet, tried tons of products and read hundreds of reviews to bring you this list of makeup for acne scars. Remember that you may have to try a few products to find one that does everything you need!

• Editor’s Pick – Dermablend Smooth Liquid Camo Foundation
• For Deep Acne Scars – Too Faced Peach Perfect Comfort Matte Foundation
• Foundation to Hide Acne Scars – BECCA Skin Love Weightless Blur Foundation
• For Pores and Acne Scars Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation
• Best Full-Coverage Foundation for Acne Scars – Dermablend Cover Creme
• For Acne Prone Skin and Scars – Neutrogena SkinClearing Oil-Free Acne and Blemish Fighting Liquid Foundation
• Best Drugstore Foundation for Acne Scars – L’Oreal Paris Makeup True Match Super-Blendable Liquid Foundation
• For Oily Skin and Acne Scars – Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup
• For Wrinkles and Acne Scars – Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

What Is The Best Makeup for Acne Scars?

Editor’s Pick

Dermablend Smooth Liquid Camo Foundation

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Foundation Highlights

• Provides SPF 25 sunscreen to prevent further sunspots and scarring
• Dermotologist tested to prevent breakouts for individuals with sensitive skin
• Offers buildable coverage, making it the perfect foundation to hide scars while remaining lightweight
• Scar makeup offers seamless coverage and a natural finish
• Includes hydrating vitamins and minerals to nourish the skin while you wear it

This makeup to cover scars provides everything you could possibly ask for from a scar cover up makeup and then some. The Dermablend Smooth Liquid Camo Foundation for acne scars is super affordable, compared to other brand-name makeup to hide scars and blemishes. However, you’ll see a visible change in the quality of your skin. We tend to think this is one of the best foundations to cover spots, as it combines sunscreen with coverage to minimize scarring and prevent further blemishes.

Why We Love It

• This foundation for dark spots won’t cause breakouts for people with sensitive skin, thanks to allergy testing
• Dermablend makes it easy for you to find scar coverage makeup perfect for your skin tone, thanks to their “find your color” tool that focuses on base colors and undertones
• Easily blendable makeup makes it one of the best scar coverup makeups on the market. You’ll barely be able to tell you’re wearing makeup when you have it on

The Best Foundation for Deep Acne Scars

Too Faced Peach Perfect Comfort Matte Foundation

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Foundation Highlights

• Infused with peach and fig oil to help keep the skin hydrated and natural-looking
• Offers full coverage while remaining buildable, completely obscuring dark spots on the face
• Transfer resistant by nature, making it some of the best makeup for deep acne scars
• The best foundation for pitted acne scars, as it provides a velvety, natural finish that does not dry out the skin and cause irritation
• Oil-free foundation is perfect for hiding acne scars

We love this makeup for hiding acne scars! Your skin will stay hydrated all day thanks to the combination of peach and sweet fig cream in Too Faced’s Foundation. This foundation for deep acne scars ultimately offers the perfect balance of coverage and comfort, making it perfect for all-day wear.

Why We Love It

• The product provides the ideal level of coverage for a foundation for pock marked skin
• The velvety smooth finish makes your skin look perfect
• This foundation for ice pick scars offers a medium coverage, making it the perfect buildable base for hiding darker spots

The Best Foundation to Hide Acne Scars

BECCA Skin Love Weightless Blur Foundation

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Foundation Highlights

• Offers medium to buildable coverage, making it some of the best makeup to cover acne scars
• Includes a color-choice guide, making it easy for you to find the perfect shade for your skin
• Features BECCA’s Glow Nectar Brightening Complex, helping eliminate dark spots and acne scars
• Works as a soft blur filter, but in real life, minimizing the appearance of dark spots and scaring
• Quickly adapts to your skin type, tone and undertones for a smooth and natural finish

A weightless foundation that covers acne scars, the BECCA Cosmetics Skin Love Weightless Blur reminds us of our favorite selfie filters. Since this is the best foundation to cover acne scars, it offers all-day wear. Plus, this makeup for scarring evens your skin tone to minimize dark spots and irritation and create a beautiful, cover-worthy finish.

Why We Love It

• This foundation to cover acne scars does a great job matching your skin type and skin tone. It adapts to your skin as you wear it, giving you perfect coverage
• Made of natural ingredients, you don’t have to worry about this causing more acne
• It is definitely a great pick for the best makeup to cover acne scars, blending easily with any tool you choose

The Best Foundation for Pores and Acne Scars

Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation

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Foundation Highlights

• Designed for the film industry, this pore minimizing foundation makes your face look absolutely flawless
• Includes uniquely coated pigments that match your skin tone and even complexion
• Offers medium to buildable coverage, perfect for individuals with deep cystic acne scars
• Uses a unique blend of vitamins and minerals to provide a “second skin” lightweight finish
• Features hyaluronic spheres, which help provide moisture to the skin all day long

This foundation for pores and acne scars will look so natural no one will know you’re wearing makeup. We chose the Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation as one of the best foundations for acne-scarred skin because it conceals skin imperfections while enhancing your natural features. You’ll look like a movie star in 4K with this acne scar makeup!

Why We Love It

• Compared to other brand-name products, this foundation for acne scarring and pores offers great coverage, is super blendable and won’t ever irritate your skin. All the same, it won’t’ break the bank, either
• The foundation is so light, you’ll genuinely forget that you’re wearing it – but it doesn’t transfer or slide off!
• This makeup to cover acne scars starts out sheer but builds so easily for full and breathable coverage that looks entirely natural

The Best Full-Coverage Foundation for Acne Scars

Dermablend Cover Creme

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Foundation Highlights

• Offers full-coverage and includes mineral SPF 30 sunscreen to help shield the skin from further exposure
• Leaves your skin looking flawless and healthy with consistent wear
• Makeup never cakes or feels masky, a lightweight foundation that covers acne scars
• Uses a unique blend of vitamins and minerals to achieve full coverage makeup for acne scars
• Provides all-day hydration and helps restore the natural skin barrier, reduces the chances of breakouts in the future

If you’re looking for a full coverage makeup for acne scars, this is your best bet. The Dermablend Cover Creme camouflage foundation provides instructions to achieve full-coverage and perfectly cover scarring, pockmarks and dark spots on the skin. You’ll look flawless thanks to this full coverage foundation for scars!

Why We Love It

• Hands down, this is one of the best foundations to cover acne scars. Your skin will look natural and perfect with just one application!
• Buildable coverage makes it easy to touch up extra dark acne scars and other problem areas on your face
• This full coverage makeup for acne scars lasts all day long and won’t separate or oxidize throughout the day

The Best Foundation For Acne Prone Skin and Scars

Neutrogena SkinClearing Oil-Free Acne and Blemish Fighting Liquid Foundation

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Foundation Highlights

• This dual-purpose foundation for acne scarred skin helps reduce breakouts and cover scarring
• Utilizes Neutrogena’s MicroClear technology to fight breakouts and improve skin clarity
• Oil-free, meaning you’ll never have to worry about this makeup for acne scars causing your face to feel oily
• Uses salicylic acid to treat breakouts and reduce their severity while also providing a lightweight and breathable coverage
• Developed and tested by dermatologists to be hypoallergic and prevent the clogging of pores

We love this foundation for acne-scarred skin, as it has several purposes. Neutrogena’s SkinClearing Foundation perfectly covers and conceals any scarring and even ongoing breakouts. However, it also helps treat breakouts and heal scars over time, leaving your skin looking and feeling fresh and new.

Why We Love It

• This makeup for acne scarring offers moderate, buildable coverage while reducing breakouts!
• Despite the fact the label says to apply several times a day, you’ll find the foundation for acne scars lasts all day long
• If you have frequent breakouts, this foundation will help treat and control it at its roots, preventing further scarring

The Best Drugstore Foundation for Acne Scars

L’Oreal Paris Makeup True Match Super-Blendable Liquid Foundation

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Foundation Highlights

• The super-blendable formula offers medium to full coverage and a natural finish to keep you looking flawless
• Alongside being the best drugstore foundation to cover acne scars, it also offers built-in SPF 17 mineral sunscreen
• One of the few choices for makeup for scars that is oil-free, making great for individuals with oily or sensitive skin
• Formulated to match your skin’s undertones, effectively concealing dark spots and acne
• This scar covering makeup uses a blend of vitamins, such as A, C and E to keep your face hydrated and healthy

If you’re looking for makeup to cover scars, this foundation does a great job. The unique blend of vitamins and minerals in L’Oreal’s True Match Foundation offers protection against the sun while also helping even your skin tone over time, reducing the prominence of scarring and dark spots. It is definitely one of the best foundations for badly scarred skin.

Why We Love It

• This foundation is one of the best drugstore scar coverups on the market! It also works great for concealing wrinkles and fine lines too
• Scar covering makeup is often hit or miss, but this makeup for acne scars doesn’t cake on the face or feel heavy
• If you want makeup to hide scars, this should be your go-to product. Over time with consistent use, you’ll see your dark spots fade and your scars become way less noticeable

The Best Foundation for Oily Skin and Acne Scars

Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup

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Foundation Highlights

• Ultra-long wearing foundation for acne scars and oily skin, rated to wear up to 12 hours at a time
• Designed to keep your skin shine-free, helping absorb oils on the skin through a variety of vitamins and minerals
• Offers medium to full coverage while remaining buildable, making it one of the best foundations for covering acne scars
• Treated with salicylic acid and other vitamins to help treat and prevent acne breakouts
• Perfect for individuals with sensitive skin, as well, as this makeup for covering acne scars has been allergy tested

Clinique creates tons of great makeup for covering acne scars, and this one comes in at the top of the list. Foundation for acne scars needs to provide buildable coverage, remain lightweight and ideally help treat and reduce acne scars’ appearance – the Clinique anti-blemish solutions foundation does just that, and more.

Why We Love It

• This foundation to coverup breakout scars absorbs oil on the skin and keeps you looking fresh all day long
• Covering acne scars is so easy with this foundation, and you’ll find that wearing it, you break out a lot less
• Just a little bit of this scar covering makeup goes a long way, so the bottle lasts for what feels like forever

The Best Foundation for Wrinkles and Acne Scars

Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

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Product Highlights

• Perfect for fine lines, this scar makeup provides lightweight coverage that won’t clog your pores or settle into wrinkles
• Pockmarked skin will be a problem of the past with this foundation, as it offers medium to full blendable coverage
• The oil-free formula reduces your chances of breakouts and skin irritation
• Includes a special, climate-adaptive technology that helps your foundation stay in place no matter the weather
• Resistant to sweat and humidity, this choice for the best foundation for acne and scarring won’t come off when you least expect it

When it comes to cover up makeup for scars, Fenty makes great products. This foundation hides scars while feeling lightweight on the skin and adapts to your environment. Thanks to the lightweight design, the Fenty Beauty Longwear Foundation doesn’t settle into wrinkles and fine lines, either, leaving your skin looking flawless.

Why We Love It

• This foundation covers skin caters and scarred pores easily, providing a realistic-looking matte finish.
• Using this foundation, it is easy to hide scars. One layer is almost always enough, but pockmarked skin might need some extra coverage that this foundation can easily provide.
• If you’re looking for makeup to cover scars on your face, this does the trick and then some. Despite fine lines, your skin will look smooth and perfect all day long

How Do You Apply Foundation for Acne Scars?

Here are some of our best tips on how to cover acne scars. You’ll never have to worry about how to cover acne scars with foundation if you follow these tips:

• Start with a medium foundation to cover scars that are blendable so that you can build coverage in trouble areas.
• Apply foundation to the T-zone first, as this is where scarring is typically worst.
• Don’t be afraid to use multiple layers of foundation to get the coverage you need! Give layers a few minutes to dry in-between, though.

Makeup for Acne FAQs

What makeup will cover acne scars?

When it comes to what makeup covers acne scars, you’ll want to focus on the coverage level. Medium to full coverage is usually best, often with a matte or velvet finish.

Can anything help acne scars?

Yes! Products designed to brighten the skin and minimize dark spots can help treat the appearance of pockmarked skin and even your skin tone.

Is liquid or powder foundation better for acne?

In most cases, makeup for covering acne scars needs more coverage than traditional powder foundation can provide. Additionally, powder tends to be more irritating than many liquid foundations. Your results will ultimately depend on your skin type, however.

Best Foundation for Acne Scars: Cover It All Up!

There you have it! At the end of the day, figuring out what makeup covers acne scars best for you will take some trial and error. However, there are tons of different foundations that cover spots and blemishes. Finding the best foundations for acne scarring doesn’t have to be a struggle with all these incredible cover covering makeup products available!

Looking for foundation for other skin issues? Check out more posts on the blog:

• Best Oily Skin Foundations from MAC
• Best Natural Foundation for Oily Skin
• 10 Best Foundation for Textured Skin
• Best Pore-Minimizing Foundations