A few months back I purchased one of those temporary brow tattoo products that you apply in your desired eyebrow shape, let dry and then peel off to reveal a stain on the brow hairs and skin below. These brow tattoo products are perfect if you don’t want to spend time filling in your brows every morning. Or at least in theory, that is. In reality, when your hair is ashy-toned like mine, nearly all of the brow tattoos will turn out to have too warm of an undertone to look good. I had gotten mine at a very budget friendly price from my local drugstore Kruidvat, so I wasn’t surprised by its being less than ideal. It got exiled to the back of my makeup drawer until I find a better use for it.
That better use has arrived! A while back there was a sudden surge of faux freckle makeup videos on Instragram. Trends come and go and I usually tend to let them pass me by, but I did think this one was really cute. I’d seen some girls create beautiful faux freckles using temporary brow tattoos, which seemed like a brilliant idea to me and I want to give it a try today. My warm-toned product should be perfect for it!
My face with no makeup, pre-faux freckles.
This is the product I’ll be using, the Kruidvat Brow Tattoo in Dark Brown.
I used a little eyeliner brush for more precise application. The hardest part about this, for me at least, was creating a realistic pattern and trying to make the freckles look randomly dispersed. I have a strong tendency to spread the dots out evenly and make them all the same size too, so I spent a good bit of time trying to get it to look natural. Pulling up a picture of someone with real freckles helps a lot to see the naturally occurring variations in size, intensity and placement.
I left the product on for 30 minutes, before peeling it off using my fingers.
It left quite a noticeable stain that was way too intense to look realistic on me, or at least in the way that I’d applied the faux freckles (far from expertly despite the reference pictures, haha). I think in hindsight, ideally you should apply the product in a several sittings a few minutes apart, so the freckles don’t all end up the same colour.
This is the result after I went over my face with my microfiber face cloth, which serves as a makeup remover. I’m actually really surprised by how natural the faux freckles look now! Maybe if I’d scrubbed a little bit less harshly and had left them a bit darker it would’ve looked better, especially on camera. In real life this looked realistic enough that I’d happily go out with them on.
After I washed my face with a cleanser they disappeared entirely. If I hadn’t washed my face, I would’ve probably been able to wear them for another day. I absolutely love the look of them, though! I think freckles look really cute, youthful and summery. If you’d like to rock some faux freckles in a way that’s long lasting and water resistant, this is definitely a great method to try. Especially if you also have an exiled warm-toned brow product sitting in the back of your makeup drawer :)
Before I sign off I did just want to say a word about the controversy surrounding faux freckles. I know some people really dislike that they’ve become a “trend”, and argue that people only think they’re cute when you can wipe them off. Personally, I disagree. The same thing has happened in the past with red hair and glasses for example, where something that was previously perceived as a flaw suddenly becomes fashionable and desirable. I understand how frustrating it can be when you were born with and have suffered ridicule concerning the “flaw” in the past. However, I do think that any flaw turning desirable or being recognised as a beautiful quirk is a positive development. If it prevents people from being bullied about it in the future, I’m all for it, just as I am all for celebrating unique beauty and normalising quirks.
I’d love to hear your opinion on it, if you’d like to share!
One of my friends has always wanted freckles. Maybe she’d be interested in this.
I’m trying your sock bun curls tonight for the first time so I can have curls at a high tea tomorrow. Fingers crossed! :)
I’ve been wearing faux freckles for a while now because I think freckles are adorable! I have only a small amount near the outside of my eyes so I use a brown eyeliner pencil to draw some in across my cheeks and nose, then use my finger to press them into the skin and disperse the product so they look more natural. I put a sheer or translucent setting powder on top and they’ll last for most of the day if I don’t forget about them and rub my face lol
I really like the subtle look in the final photo, they look very natural! I’ll have to try this method myself.
I used to have a lot of natural freckles, but over time they faded and vanished! I miss them and wish I still had them, so I’m guilty of using a brow pencil to give myself some. I’ll have to give this method a go. :)
I love freckles! I have a LOT of natural freckles, and I wouldn’t give them up for anything! If other people want to have freckles too, go for it, in my opinion. I’ve developed a slightly obscene number of freckles in the last year or so, and they’ve made me feel so much more confident and happy with my appearance – if faux freckles help other people feel happy, why should I be annoyed? And the fact that it’s a big trend now is sort of exciting for me because other people can now appreciate freckles as much as I do – I work in a coffee shop, and so many customers call my freckles cute! It makes my day, ever time! If the trend promotes self-love for people who do have freckles, I’m all for it!
Funny, I talked about faux freckles with my friends today. We were joking I could probably make some by putting self-tanning lotion on a toothbrush and stroking the bristles withbmy finger near my face. I’m pale enough to expect some result, even though in this particulat case, it’d probably look very silly.
I always wished I had freckles but, well, I don’t. I find them very pretty. It’s said people get bullied for their appearance and while I can kinda see where the annoyance comes from when a feature someone mocked you for becomes “trendy” I also think every change in a more accepting direction is a great one (when I hit puberty, big bums were not was most people liked. I happen to have a very large round bottom and leanish legs and the other kids laughed at me. Now this body shape is more desirable and I get compliments for my figure, so I can somewhat relate).
Tl;dr: I like freckles but I don’t have any. I might try to draw some on for fun and will continue to compliment people with freckles.