Lili Reinhart Opens Up About the ’Shame’ She Felt with Acne and How It Inspired Her Skincare Line (Exclusive)

Lili Reinhart is getting candid about her skin.

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the actress, 28, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE at the launch event of her Personal Day skincare brand and opened up about how it was partially inspired by the "shame" she felt at having acne.

“To have that feeling of 'I'm feeling out of control' can be incredibly isolating,” she tells PEOPLE. “And also, there's a lot of shame associated with acne. I think when I was in middle school and high school, I didn't have pimple patches so I didn't have an avenue where I felt like, ‘Okay, I can hide this pimple.’ "

“I did have to just grin and bear it, and I think that wasn't good for my self-esteem," Reinhart adds. "But now as an adult and having it happening, I think we live in a different world where it is more acceptable.”

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“People walk around with stickers on their faces and they feel fine about it,” she continues. “I hope teenagers who experience acne feel like they're in a world that's a little bit more accepting just because when I was a kid, no one was talking about it. Certainly, no celebrity was talking about it.”

“I felt ashamed," she tells PEOPLE. "I felt like I needed to hide. I still felt like I was somehow the only girl with acne in my circle.”

Reinhart went on to say that she still finds it difficult to be an actress with acne.

“It can be isolating still, but I'm like... I just want to keep the conversation going and open and invite more people who are in the public eye to talk about it and continue creating that safe space," she tells PEOPLE.

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Speaking about the origin of her skincare line, she reveals that she had “a light bulb moment” when she realized she couldn’t find products for acne that she could trust and “that didn't have bad ingredients in them.”

She tells PEOPLE that after researching the ingredients of the skincare items she was using at the time, she began "putting it in a f---- garbage can" and gave it to pals who didn't have acne.

“I basically just started to look up the ingredients of my skincare,” Reinhart says. “There's ingredient checkers online. We have an ingredient checker on personalday.com now so you can look up your foundation, your powder, or your concealer, the list of ingredients.”

Personal Day is a dermatologist-developed skin care brand founded by Reinhart. At the launch event, she encouraged attendees to "take a personal day" with beauty and wellness activations. She was also joined by CEO Shelagh Wong, dermatologist Dr. Mamina Turegano, esthetician Sarah Ford and therapist Courtney Tracy.