If you watch Madeline Argy on youtube, listen to her podcast "Pretty Lonesome", or scroll any of her social media accounts, you might feel like she's your friend. The 25-year-old offers intimate insights and candid truths about what it means to be a young woman in the world. The trials, tribulations, breakups, anxiety, and everything in between. In short: Argy is very relatable. So much so, that her relatability recently landed her on the 2025 TIME100 Creators List.
One of the most relatable things about Argy is that she has struggled with acne in the past and navigated her way through the frustrations and insecurities that come along with that. She has reached a turning point in her skincare journey in which her mindset has changed and she accepts her skin for what is is, a mindset we should all aim for: "I kind of just try and take it on as a good thing if nothing else, and wear it a little bit more proudly," Argy shared.
This month, Argy partnered with CeraVe for a campaign promoting their new Blemish Barrier Patches. Through this, she has committed to having unfiltered conversations about acne and breakouts. Below, we spoke to Argy about her relationship with her skin, her personal style, and her best advice to her younger self.
instagram.com/madelineargy
Breakouts can be emotional, what's your mental process when dealing with a breakout?
"I just try to find whatever's going to help it the most as quickly as possible and try to not freak out as much as I physically can."
In the past, how has your skin affected your self-esteem?
"It's definitely had a big impact on it. I think it still does. I try not to let it affect the way that I go about my life in any way, but I think, yeah, it definitely gets me down when it's bad. It's very frustrating I think, and I think it probably always will be."
Are there any skincare or beauty products that you swear by?
"I don't do anything super crazy or out of the ordinary with my skin. I usually rely on some pretty staple things and I think less is more when I breakout. Everything from CeraVe is usually what I lean on when I'm breaking out. And lately I've been using the blemish barrier patches, which have actually been doing me very well because it's fashion month. Right now I'm in New York and I've been pretty much wearing them nonstop to help my breakouts go away in time for the first show, which is today."
Do you tend to switch up your skincare routine or do you try to stick to the same products?
"I switch up certain parts of my routine and then I've definitely got other staples. For example, I use the CeraVe face wash and then I might switch up other things. But I think especially when you have acne prone skin, consistency definitely is a good thing."
Are you someone that likes skincare trends or TikTok trends, or do you try to avoid those?
"Oh no, I avidly avoid those things. They look fun and I wish I could partake sometimes, but no, I know what's going to break me out and it's most of the TikTok trends for sure. I think a lot of routines that I see online are a little bit more complex, so I kind of try and stay away even though they look like fun to follow. I definitely try and stay away from putting too many new things on my skin."
How would you describe your personal style?
"My personal style, I'm probably not going to find the precise words for it. I think it's just very much cute, but kind of laid back. I actually would love to be a little bit more adventurous in my personal style, but I've just never seemed to manage to get there. I think I've still very much just enjoyed jeans and a t-shirt, but I'm definitely branching out in terms of which jeans and which t-shirts. So that's good."
instagram.com/madelineargy
Where do you tend to shop and where do you get style inspiration?
"I spend a lot of time on Pinterest and I kind of use that as a beacon of light. And then as for where I shop, I try and shop secondhand or vintage or thrift in any way. So I'll usually just go into the nearest store of that nature and look around and see what I can find that looks the closest to whatever I've pinned on Pinterest recently.
Do you have a self-care ritual? What's your nighttime routine?
"Yeah, definitely. I try and do my skincare and then some nights I'll read a book if I'm feeling particularly healthy. Or I'll watch a TV show, which would usually be some kind of reality show or a docu-series or something of that nature. And I try and keep my nighttime very quiet, definitely someone who struggles to fall asleep, so I have to really wind down for a good few hours before I sleep."
instagram.com/madelineargy
When did you start noticing acne or breakouts?
"It happened overnight for me actually, which was awful. I was 14, it was right before my 15th birthday. It was the week I got my first period. And my skin went from incredibly perfect to just covered in acne within a week and it was terrible."
What's your relationship with your skin like now? Is there anything you tell yourself so you're not too hard on yourself?
"I think it's kind of one of those things where it's like life is going to happen. You have acne or not, and you can kind of choose to be, I guess, miserable and insecure or not. And I just, after a certain period of time passed in my life where I was just super angry because I had acne, I just didn't want to live like that anymore. It's still definitely frustrating to wake up and still have it, but I think I'm more kind of focused on not letting it really have the same impact that it used to have and just also kind of embracing it because I think that things are only bad if you let them be bad. I think that if you walk around believing that you are kind of wearing something that you don't want people to see, I think that's going to kind of leak out of you in every way and into every interaction you have, even if you don't intend for it to, which isn't how I want to go about my life. It's happening whether I want it or not. I guess I just am trying to literally embrace it in every way possible."
What advice would you give someone, maybe a teenage girl, who's experiencing breakouts? What's the first thing they should do?
"I would love to say go to a doctor, but I'm probably not the best to give that kind of advice. I think it's always good to do that. I mean, I'm only now getting to grips with the fact that I have certain hormonal imbalances, which I honestly wish I had got checked out sooner just for my overall wellbeing. But everyone's different and the reasons that you might breakout are different. I think not picking your skin and not going crazy and not taking advice from a million different people. And I would say visit a dermatologist and use reliable products that you hear a lot of people with acne say are safe to use. CeraVe is a genuine example of a product that would be a good starting place while you kind of figure the rest out. I think not consuming too much of the internet that's going to tell you 15,000 different ways in which you can kill this acne overnight is probably best. Staying away from that is the number one thing to do."
