26-year-old Louie is known online for her videos where she peels off pimple patches
Credit: Courtesy Victoria Louie
NEED TO KNOW
- Victoria Louie began sharing her acne journey online after discovering pimple patches and finding them satisfying to use
- Her platform grew as she connected with others facing similar struggles and tracked her progress using “Patrick the Pimple Jar”
- Louie plans to expand her content to include makeup and other passions while keeping skincare a core focus
In middle school, like many kids her age, Victoria Louie started to develop acne.
She recalls tiny little bumps materializing on her forehead, though she wasn’t necessarily self-conscious about the new development at the time — “I was busy playing volleyball,” she tells PEOPLE, laughing.
Later, when she entered high school and even into college, Louie started developing cystic acne, which she says was “a lot more noticeable.”
“I became more insecure about it because people can really just notice it right off the bat,” she explains. “And then, especially around my family members, they’re pretty critical. So if I would have a pimple, they would point it out right away.”
Credit: Courtesy Victoria Louie
When she was younger, Louie tells PEOPLE that she was obsessed with making YouTube videos. “I feel like filming and talking to a camera has always been a natural thing for me,” she shares. “So when I started sharing my journey on TikTok, I was just like, ‘Oh, it doesn’t really seem like a job. It’s just talking with people that are not there yet. They’ll see this later.’ ”
She found that she enjoyed posting and receiving comments from users. “That was my feeling to keep on going and keep posting more videos.”
Around the point that she began developing and dealing with cystic acne, Louie started sharing her skin journey online. It was then that she discovered what would eventually change her content in a big way: pimple patches.
“I thought they were so great,” she says. “They could cover your pimples and then help absorb anything that’s in it. So when I started or when I discovered pimple patches, I started filming them because I thought they were really satisfying.”
A flood of comments began pouring in from people who were also struggling with acne. “It made me feel a lot better about my skin journey and that I wasn’t alone. It’s something that so many people deal with. With that, I’ve gotten less insecure about it over time just because I know it’s pretty normal.”
Louie’s platform began to grow and grow, and so did her pimple patch usage.
“I think one day I was in the shower, I was just like, ‘What if I just put all of this in a mini trash can?’ ” she says.
Credit: Courtesy Victoria Louie
“I was already throwing all my patches away in a trash can, but having a little tiny trash can just for pimple patches,” she shares. “So then I was like, ‘You know what? Let me do that and let me get a jar.’ This is definitely disgusting, but I feel like people would comment on it. So it was an engagement piece too because I saw anyone else do it.”
That’s how Patrick the Pimple Jar was born.
“Over time with all the patches I’ve used, I’ve been able to track my skin journey and skin progress,” she says. “I have one jar, the original Patrick and the Pimple Patch jar. It’s halfway full and that was when my acne was at its peak. And then I had another jar that CeraVe sent to me and they put a label on it and everything. It’s really cute. And there are way less pimple patches in it within the same timeframe.”
“So having the two jars and comparing them to each other, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, this is how far I’ve gone in my skin journey. This is how bad my acne used to be with this first jar.’ And the second jar, it’s way less. It makes me more optimistic.”
A key component of the skincare journey that Louie has shared online is that it is just that, a journey, which means that Louie is ultimately working toward getting rid of her acne completely — which is great, except that’s what her platform was built on.
“I’ve definitely thought about it,” she says of what she will do if she ever overcomes her acne. “When I first started making videos, they weren’t even related to acne when I was just dabbling around. It was really around makeup. So I feel like sharing that as well; it’s another passion of mine. So sharing my skin journey and then just not makeup tutorials, more just playing around with makeup because I’m not the best.”
“Sharing my passion for makeup and also sharing other parts of my life could be fun, embedding it into my content while keeping skin and my skincare a core component,” she shares.
“Hopefully I can share once my skin gets to its tip-top shape and my acne is all gone; I can share the tips reflecting on my journey and how it can help others,” she says.
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