The days of putting on a full face of foundation to cover freckles and birthmarks are no more. From getting freckles tattooed to a whole brand founded around the art of freckles, this new beauty trend is hard to miss.
I am a true lover of freckles. When the sun is shining in the summer, I love to see my freckles start to come out on my face and shoulders. However, freckles are kin to glasses, those you have to wear glasses all the time often have a love-hate relationship with them. Freckles are the same. You hopefully love them but are most likely used to the comments from others. As a person with glasses, I am no stranger to the “you look better without glasses,” “I’m so glad I don’t have to wear glasses,” and the myriad of comments no one asked for. After talking to my beautifully freckled friends, it seems that the feeling is highly similar in the world of freckles.
The way society creates trends from things we used to make fun of will never make sense to me. Growing up, I had a deep hatred of people getting fake glasses just for aesthetics after years of being made fun of for them. I feel similarly about faux freckles. However, a part of me wants to like them.
The idea of fake freckles seems cool. We no longer need to use eyeliner and smudge it. We can grab a great product like Freck and have freckles instantly. I have many thoughts about this invention. When wearing freckles in an everyday situation (not a campy, costumey scenario), would it be weird to switch between having freckles and not having them? It is great we are finally making those with freckles feel more confident about their natural features. On the other hand, it seems contradictory to letting people with freckles feel confident while making those without, dependent on having freckles to feel pretty?
As long as your motivations for putting fake freckles on are for yourself and what you want, I am in complete support. Would I pay to get freckles tattooed on myself? Probably not. I think there is beauty that comes with invention, as we can share different features that can make people feel beautiful.
Whether I end up buying a freckle pen or not, whoever created this idea is genius. I will be closely watching to see whether freckles become a main staple or a fad. Whatever faux freckles’ fate is, remember that people supporting their natural features is a wonderful and beautiful thing.
Words by Annika Petersen.
Graphics by Emily Monet.