Euphoria Makeup Gets a Skincare Spin with Starface’s New Constellation of Acne Stickers

“It’s a subtle accessory—a little accent piece that you see when you’re face to face with somebody—and it’s super photogenic and cute,” says Starface co-founder Julie Schott of the brand’s electric yellow acne patches that launch direct-to-consumer today. Shaped like the familiar office supply stickers attached to A+ homework assignments, the brand’s Hydro-Stars are offering a Euphoria-worthy update to the skin-positive movement—with a sense of humor to match. It’s a public shift in perspective that’s been a long time coming. The recent all-skin-is-good-skin social media outpouring is evident in feeds everywhere, from photographer Sophie Mayanne’s Behind The Scars series to musician Lil Nas X’s Instagram and Twitter posts that read “ignore the pimple,” and “stop making fun of my acne rn or imma cry.” Schott even references the latter in our conversation. “Everything that Nas X posts about his skin, I’m just like—exactly,” she notes, admitting that she’s even DMed the chart-topping artist to see if he’ll try the stickers firsthand.

For Schott, a beauty editor with 10 years of experience vetting products and dermatological treatments, breakouts were a continuous force in her career. “It made me feel like I was not an expert at this thing that I was supposed to be an authority on—I was supposed to be answering other people’s issues about their skin, and then my own skin was still really problematic,” she shares. “What I learned is that it’s not my fault or anyone’s fault, [acne] is the number one skincare concern in America.” This new understanding helped her to see breakouts as a shared fact of life rather than a problem. “The thing that’s really changed is yes, my understanding of how to take care of it, but also my attitude toward it—and that’s what we want for other people, is to change their attitude about it,” Schott adds about her new brand. And that includes language. Rather than calling acne “blemishes” or “imperfections,” she appreciates terms of affection. On social media, she notes, people will “give their pimples cute nicknames and just be endearing about it.” For her own, Schott prefers galactic labels of constellations or planets. “Sometimes you really do have a whole constellation on your face!” she says with a laugh. “That’s how Starface makes you feel; you can be cute and playful with it while you’re treating [a pimple] in a serious way.”

Though it’s delivered in the irreverent form of starry appliqués, the brand’s science-backed formula helped shape its much-anticipated arrival. The idea had been percolating for Schott since 2015—and though a slew of production companies said it was “impossible,” the skincare stickers were finally brought to life with the help of co-founder Brian Bordainick. A former head of innovation for Hudson’s Bay Company, Bordainick was recommended to Schott by another beauty editor friend who described him as “sort of whisperer for these sorts of things.” The pair hit it off, and a year later Hydro-Stars were born. The hydrocolloid technology wrapped into each patch is borrowed from surgical dressings, proven to flatten breakouts by absorbing bacteria and fluid while the physical barrier they create inhibits the oft-addictive instinct to pick. Plus, skipping acne-fighting ingredients like salicylic acid and retinol (which are off-limits for pregnant and nursing women) means they’re safe for all stages of life. “The number one priority was that this would be the most gentle, non-irritating, effective solution,” says Schott. “When you get really aggressive extractions, sometimes the facialist will say to you ‘oh, it has to get worse before it gets better.’ I really disagree.” To add to the better-not-worse values, the stickers’ Leaping Bunny certification offers the same cruelty-free attitude toward more than just aggravated skin.

Even the packaging—a mirrored compact that looks like a mix between an AirPod case and a Polly Pocket toy—is thoughtfully designed. “We wanted to make a compact that you would not throw away,” Schott says of the collectible yellow pod. “It’s also refillable, so you’re not gonna wind up with a mailbox full of these pods.” And though the lighthearted concept was locked in months before 2019’s summer of Euphoria and Detective Pikachu, Schott couldn’t be more excited about how her brand fits with the current embrace of all things starry and bright. For the new generation of consumers looking to skincare (rather than concealer) to treat, not disguise, complexions, Starface offers a portable solution that can still fit into the tiniest microbag. “I love makeup, it’s super fun, I have a ton of it—but I don’t think it should be an obligation,” Schott says. Instead, adorable peel-and-stick star patches create a new opportunity to claim, decorate, and celebrate real, unfiltered faces. And with the first shipments available just in time for fashion month, Phil Oh’s street style closeups are sure to capture a galaxy of the clever constellations.

Originally Appeared on Vogue