She’s 41-years old and for over a decade, Brooke Burke-Charvet has been dealing with melasma. The skin condition, brought on by estrogen, is one of the harder types of hyperpigmentation to correct because it is tied to hormones and can affect the deep dermal layers of your skin. Brooke, model and co-host of Dancing With the Stars, got it when she was pregnant, though, you don’t have to be pregnant or have a child to experience it.
“After my pregnancies, I developed pretty severe melasma. I wouldn’t even go to the grocery store because I had the whole ‘baby mask,’” she says. And as a star constantly on camera, she tried everything to get rid of it. “I have had every treatment and experimented with every kind of product. I tried everything from chemical peels to lasers, you name it.” But nothing worked so Brooke decided she had to do something else.
“I treated my skin so much that it started to get thin and because melasma has a memory and because it is so difficult, I caved and just learned how to properly cover it. So now, it’s all about great sunscreen and spot covering with a product that’s not too cakey and that will blend well,” she says.
“My mom was not a very glamorous woman so I didn’t grow up using a lot of makeup. I was a tomboy, where less is more,” she says. And that’s why she loves Sheer Cover mineral makeup. As the spokes model, Brooke says the makeup has changed her beauty routine completely. “Everything blends really easily and it feels so lightweight when it’s on. It covers effortlessly.”
While melasma definitely is a very challenging problem to treat, you can also ask your board-certified dermatologist about topical agents like azelaic acid or hydroquinone.
