Marria: It's very important that
people started to talk about skin positivity.
Before that, Instagram just was perfect pictures.
Perfect life, perfect skin, perfect body.
It was so stressful for most of us.
I want to include more people in acne awareness.
Nice to meet you.
Anastasia: For years, I have been covering my acne
and I'm happy that someone actually can understand my 'problem'.
Mariia: So right now I'm going to put clean gel on my face.
Like I'm doing this twice a day.
I could stare in the mirror, trying to find some spots,
some blemishes, more acne and then trying to
squeeze something. As a result, I have blood on my face.
I really try to control myself, but sometimes I lose my mind.
Growing up, Mariia had always struggled with acne.
But it wasn't until she moved to Germany to be an au pair,
that her skin became a much bigger issue for her.
Mariia: It was stress all the time for me,
my skin was getting worse and worse every day.
I started to get a lot of pimples here,
then it spread to my forehead.
I was so unconfident I was just,
I was broken.
I didn't listen to myself and my body decided to show me
that I need to care about myself more.
So, me and my family, like we decided that
the best decision is just to go home.
On moving back to Ukraine, Mariia decided it was
time to be open about her struggles with her acne
and she posted about it online.
Mariia: I started to post about my skin.
I wanted to be honest about myself.
What happened to me. 99% of all comments
which I get they are absolutely positive, I don't get any negativity.
Right now I'm not covering my acne,
I'm not covering my scars because
I'm feeling that my skin started to breath, when I stopped covering my skin with foundation and concealer.
Now I'm going to put a little bit of my toner.
I think it's like a stereotype that okay,
if you want to have a bright makeup, you have to have perfect skin.
Sometimes I even put a red lipstick on my lips.
So it's like a huge contrast and
maybe my acne is more visible in this case.
I started to communicate with other girls,
we try to support each other.
When Anastasia wrote me the first time, it was really nice.
She wrote me, "I also have acne and I would like to meet with you one day.”
I decided why not.
Today, Anastasia and Mariia are going to be meeting for the first time.
Mariia: Hey, nice to meet you.
How are you? Anastasia: I'm fine, let's go.
Mariia: Yeah let’s go.
This is the first time when I'm meeting this follower.
Anastasia: For years, I have been covering my acne with the foundation.
My friends, they all have nice, perfect skin.
I'm happy that someone actually can understand my ‘problem’.
I'm not a bad person when I'm without makeup.
Mariia: I think a lot of people think that they’re a disaster when they are makeup-free.
It's very important that people started to talk
about skin positivity and body positivity.
I realized, oh my God, I'm not alone in this world.
When you allow yourself to live and to be happy,
a lot of good things come.
It's possible to be happy, to feel great, inspired, even having not perfect skin.