How to Make Fake Freckles

1. Prep Your Face

Before you begin drawing on your faux freckles, you'll want to make sure your face makeup is totally finished. This way the freckles wil sit on top of your makeup and look really natural. If you try to draw freckles on before your base, they’ll smudge or be covered up completely. For a natural look, follow our tips on how to get glowing skin with or without makeup. Whether you decide to wear foundation or not, focusing on your skin will prime you perfectly for a freckled face.

2. Choose Your Freckle Products

You'll get the most natural-looking smattering of specks by using an eyebrow pencil or a product created specifically for fake freckles, like Ipster-fave FRECK BEAUTY Freck OG. If you’re new to fux freckles and not ready to get a specific product, your eyebrow pencil should do the trick. But heads-up, if you’re fair skinned, the pencil you usually wear to make your eyebrows look full and lush might be a tad too dark. Instead, start with an eyebrow pencil shade just a shade or two deeper than your skin tone and see how it looks. You can always go darker from there.

3. Dot, Dot, Dot!

Your fake freckles will look more natural if you don’t try to control the placement of them. Dab those dots onto the parts of your face that the sun naturally hits, concentrating on your cheekbones, nose, and forehead. Diffuse the dots outward from there, being sure not to apply them too symmetrically.

For a handful of teeny tiny freckles, lightly apply your product-of-choice in small clusters of dots, allowing the formula to sit and develop on your skin. Add as much (or as little) as you’re feeling that day. For a more dramatic freckled look, a waxy brow pencil (like HAUS LABORATORIES The Edge Precision Eyebrow Pencil) will smudge into your skin more easily. Plus, the precision tip is perfect for creating buildable, blendable fake freckles that will look real against your own natural ones.

Either way, makeup artist Melissa Hurkman recommends working quickly and in small batches (two to three dots at a time). “You want the products to look as natural as possible, and these products can dry down really fast,” she says.

4. Dab and Blend

Remember, no two freckles look alike in the wild. You'll get the most believable results by smudging out those penciled-on dots. Tap, tap, tap at them with your fingertip to blur them into your skin, then reapply the brow pencil wherever you want to make the sun-kissed pigment even stronger. You can also blend gently using a makeup brush. We like using a fluffy eyeshadow brush, but you can also use a stiffer lip or eyeliner brush, too, just remember to tread lightly.

Makeup Hacks for the Best Faux Freckles Ever:

• Conceal a Zit By Making It a Freckle: To create faux freckles out of a breakout, apply foundation (here are our favorites for acne-prone skin) or concealer. Then, use your regular brow pencil to create the beauty mark by placing the tip on the zit and twisting the pencil gently. Set the whole thing with powder.

• Get Hydrated: When your skin is at its healthiest. Any makeup look you choose will appear more seamless. Make sure your skincare routine is on point so you're giving those faux freckles a healthy base to cling to. Fake freckles sit better when your face is clean and well-moisturized.

• Stay Protected: Think sun-kissed, not sunburned. If you're skipping foundation, be sure to use a moisturizer with SPF to prevent sun damage.

• Bronze It Up: If you don't get freckles naturally, give your face a headstart with bronzer. Lightly dust it on the parts of your face where you plan to apply fake freckles, and it will help them blend into your skin seamlessly.

• Don’t Forget to Set Them: Apply a translucent powder after foundation to make your fake freckles last longer. For extra hold, dust your face with translucent powder again after applying the dots.

• Use Your Finger as a Stamp: Using your brown pencil or freckle product, draw a small cluster of freckles on the pad of your pointer finger, then stamp that finger across your cheeks, nose, and forehead. Repeat until you get the freckle look you love. “I find that this technique is the most natural, and it looks a lot softer,” says Hurkman.

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