The Best Pimple Patches: Shop Hailey Bieber’s Favourite Star-Shaped Acne Stickers

While we can’t deny that pimple popping is extremely satisfying, even to watch – as Dr Pimple Popper (aka Dr Sandra Lee) has proven with her 5.7 million YouTube subscribers, it might not be the best solution for tackling blemishes. The alternative? Enter beauty’s latest skincare obsession: pimple patches. Cropping up everywhere, little stickers packed with actives have been designed to help keep pesky spots at bay, without any painful squeezing required.

Take Charli Howard’s recently launched skincare line, Squish, whose offering includes cute flower-shaped pimple patches. Then there's ZitSticka, which launched a two-step spot treatment last year and more recently, a sticker solution to fade dark spots. But do they actually really work? One celebrity who seems to think so is skincare junkie, Hailey Bieber. Sharing a selfie to her Instagram stories, Hailey was spotted (ahem) donning two festive yellow star stickers on her chin and cheek. The pimple patch in question? While she doesn’t tag the brand, we’re almost certain that they’re the Starface Hydro-Stars, £11.99. Described on their website as ‘a spot treatment that’s out of this world’, we’ve spoken to the industry experts to find out exactly how (and if) spot stickers work…

What are spot stickers?

Dr Sophie Shotter, the skincare expert, explains: 'There are two main types of pimple patches that have emerged. The first is what we call a hydrocolloid – these pimple patches will absorb fluid from the spot, making it flatter and red. The second type of patch will contain zit-busting ingredients like salicylic acid and tea-tree oil, and some even have microchannels to help the ingredients penetrate better.’

Falling into camp one, Starface Hydro-Stars and Charli Howard’s Squish patches contain hydrocolloid, 'It’s a biodegradable substance that helps withdraw fluid from whiteheads and lets spots breathe in a warm, dry environment,’ explains Howard. 'They work best on spots with a whitehead as they bring them to the surface – just pop one on overnight and peel off in the morning!’ The Starface patches also happen to be very festive in cute yellow star-shapes while the Squish flower patches are adorned with rhinestones – bougie blemishes, you might say.

Over in the second camp is Zitsticka. 'We created a sticker that contains 24 self-dissolving microdarts which prick the affected area and penetrate active product beyond the epidermal layer, straight into the Zit’s nucleus. In just two hours, acne-causing bacteria is killed, and the size/redness of the zit is noticeably reduced,’ explains founders Robbie Miller and Daniel Kaplan.

So, we say camp one for when the spot has emerged, and a white head is visible and camp two for when you first notice the signs of a blemish brewing. 'When you start feeling a bump, a bit of a pain, you can feel a spot even if you can’t see anything and if you press the area, you can feel a pore with something in there – and it is that moment that you should apply the ZitSticka KILLA patch,’ advises Miller and Kaplan.

Are pimple patches a better way to treat spots than popping?

‘Absolutely, it’s better to use a pimple patch,’ assures Shotter. 'Patches are a relatively gentle way of treating spots, whereas popping them (while satisfying) is very traumatic to the skin.’ Popping spots can actually drive infected material deeper into the skin, which could cause cysts to form or other spots to appear. This level of damage can be painful and can also increase the risk of scarring.

Founders of Zitsticka second this. 'When you squeeze a spot, you are causing the pore to be forced open, and while pus/debris is being extracted from it, you can still push infected material deeper into the dermis. Ultimately, popping your spots can worsen your acne and a hands-off policy needs to be put in place.’ Wow. (On a separate spot treatment note - can toothpaste really get rid of spots?).

Why are pimple patches suddenly so popular?

Katie Jane Hughes, makeup maverick and the artist behind Howard's Squish campaign, loves spot stickers, ‘Squish patches are so fun. If you’re going to have a pimple, why not celebrate it? Who gives a shit?!’ Which is exactly the right motto behind the patch, as Howard explains: 'Acne still has such negative connotations - people assume you don't take care of your skin, that you sleep in make-up or have a bad diet, which just isn't true 95% of the time - and I felt like a lot of the acne products I saw were very clinical looking. You go into a pharmacy and the products are in white packaging with plain fonts. I use hydrocolloid patches myself and I felt like we could make something that people assume a 'flaw' into something cute - something you're not ashamed of wearing.’

And whether you have a spot or not, you can still decorate your makeup with a few fun-shaped patches. ‘We created a gorgeous look with them, I matched her eyeshadow to some of the colours in the flower design,’ says Hughes, ‘If you want that look, sticking a flower patch on is much easier than attempting to draw one’.

On ZitSticka, Hughes admits she’s a big fan. 'They’re amazing, the before and after pictures are incredible. They’re like Compede for your face, so you can pop one on to work on your spot, and conceal with foundation over the top.’

Lots of stickers are designed for discretion, but the trend for celebrating your pimple patch is catching on and US brand Starface is totally behind this with its bright yellow stars that celebrate pimples rather than hide them, making a spot into a must-have accessory.

SHOP: The best pimple patches here…