Anyone Who Has Had Severe Acne Will Feel This

Naked Truths is a series where we ask cultural influencers, makeup artists, and badass women about their relationship with self-confidence while they remove their makeup. Imagine you're blessed with perfect skin throughout high school — to the point that you constantly receive compliments on how great it looks. Then, you get your period and that perfect skin turns into severe, angry acne. YouTuber Nikki Phillippi opens up about not wanting to leave her house because of how physically painful it was to speak to people at the height of her relentless acne. Now, Phillippi lives with the scars of her acne. Makeup, along with the memories of being self-conscious, helps her feel confident, despite her scars. It's a common misconception that once we've "figured it out," we should always feel beautiful. For Phillippi — and most people — it comes and it goes. That's important to recognize. The mental and physical scars of our past aren't easy to let go of. Instead of needing to feel perfect and beautiful all the time, let's allow ourselves to have human moments. Watch as Phillippi talks about going from a confident kid to living with scarring acne.