Lizzo’s Freckle-Faced Selfie Has Us Convinced That We All Need Freckle Pens

Lizzo may not have that many real freckles, but she’s made a pretty good case for why we all need to get a faux freckle pen, stat. The singer shared a selfie on the Instagram Stories of her fresh-freckled face on February 8. Freckles are dotted across her nose, cheeks, and forehead. 

We’re guessing that the freckles come courtesy of a face filter from Instagram or another photo app of some sort, but Lizzo’s faux freckles are a nod to an even bigger beauty trend. Since taking off on Pinterest in 2017, people have been dotting their faces with faux freckles to create the illusion that they have a naturally freckled face. 

Fast forward to 2020, and another corner of the Internet — TikTok — had concocted a new way to create fake freckles on your face. People were turning to henna dye to make freckles “that last longer than makeup but not as long as semi-permanent tattooing.” While making them last long sounds great, San Diego-based board-certified dermatologist, Melanie Palm, M.D., previously told Allure to exercise caution when looking for henna dye because most on the market are permanent and designed for hair. In order to avoid any adverse skin effects from henna, it’s best to purchase naturally-derived henna from a henna artist directly that specializes in making their own henna for the skin. 

The infatuation with faux freckles continued in 2021 when TikTok users discovered Freck Beauty’s OG Freckle Pen. Paired with a fine-tipped brush and pigment, the pen helps to mimic the appearance of real freckles. With the pigment-soaked applicator, just dot the brush on the areas of your face where you’d like freckles, then use the pads of your fingers to soften them. 

If you’d rather not invest in henna dye or a freckle pen, you can create faux freckles on your own with products that you probably have in your bathroom. Makeup artist Chantel Jeffries previously told Allure that she uses some brown powder and an eyebrow brush to make her own faux freckles across her nose that look as natural as possible. She then goes in with a stippling brush to set all the freckles that she made in place.