According to science.
It’s fair to say that the beauty world is obsessed with freckles. If you have them naturally you’re bang on trend and if you don’t, there are hundreds of make-up tutorials teaching you how to draw them on one by one.
Emma Watson wears hers with pride, and Ellie Goulding recently revealed her secret speckling while on holiday. But er, what exactly are freckles? And why do they become more prominent in the sunshine?
If you’ve also pondered the very same questions, you’ll be glad to know that science has come to the rescue with a fairly decent explanation.
Blowing the theory that every freckle is a kiss from an angel right out of the water (shame, we kind of liked that one), the folks over at SciShow explain that freckles are simply small areas of the skin where melanin has been overproduced.
As it turns out, freckles are linked to a gene known as an MCIR gene which controls how much and which kind of melanin our body produces. If you have an active MCIR gene, it leads to dark hair and skin that protects against the sun. If you have a less active MCIR gene, you'll have fairer skin and lighter or reddish hair plus a lot more freckles. So, freckles are really just natures way of protecting our skin from the sun. Though don't forget to wear a good slathering of your best sun cream, too.