Don't Let Summer Allergies Ruin Your Makeup - Follow These Tips Instead
It's like doing your makeup, almost to near perfection, and then getting drenched by a fast-moving rainstorm as you exit your car to fetch your umbrella from inside the house. How can so much collateral damage occur to your makeup in so short a time?
As it turns out, it's much the same way as it occurs over several hours as you sneeze, cough, and drip tears from your eyes because your summer allergies have arrived. In many ways, allergies are worse to contend with because they can act up unpredictably. Pollen and mold may be the triggers, but makeup probably isn't helping your reactions. Mold can even affect us year-round, whereas pollen dies each year (via the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America). Still, if you loathe forgoing makeup completely as you cough, wheeze, and sneeze, you need some survival tactics so that your makeup doesn't run, drip, and otherwise look like you feel.
Start your makeup session with some common sense tips before moving on to disguise the collateral damage of summer allergy season.
Start with a clean canvas
You may take issue with the proverb "cleanliness is next to godliness," but working with clean tools can make allergens less potent while reducing their spread. Start by covering your work area with a disposable cloth or string of paper towels. (When you're done, you can throw them away.) Then, invest in a box of alcohol swabs, which you can use to clean your tweezers, eyelash curler, and almost everything you sneeze or cough on (via Genesis Career College). You should also wash your makeup brushes with a brush cleanser once a week. And if you're in doubt about the freshness of a tube of mascara or eyeliner, don't take chances. Toss it out and open a new one.
Like many allergy sufferers, you may unwittingly broadcast your condition through your eyes (giving meaning to another proverb: "The eyes are the window to the soul.") Red, swollen eyes may sneak up on you during the day, but you can try to get a jump start on them by holding an ice pack or cold compress on them first thing in the morning (via Medical News Today).
Alternatively, enjoy a dry run with a jade roller. As you roll it under your eyes, it will deliver the multiple benefits of massaging, soothing, and reducing puffiness. And you can bolster these benefits by refrigerating the roller overnight, per Today. Or, for real staying power, use waterproof makeup and try skipping eyeliner if your eyes are particularly itchy or watery.
Deploy makeup when you need to
If your go-to makeup routine includes concealer, you already know its value. During summer allergy season, it may feel as though dark undereye circles have marked you for life. But no one else has to know if you amplify your application technique.
Try using a combination eye cream/concealer to hydrate your eye area. During allergy season, your skin can use the moisture. Apply a few dots under your eyes and use a damp makeup sponge to blend the concealer (via L'Oréal Paris). But sometimes even this savvy makeup tip cannot conceal redness. At this point, it pays to parlay what you know about the color wheel, such as the fact that opposites cancel each other out. So, to neutralize redness, get a color-correcting crayon in the color that lies on the opposite side of the wheel: green (via Healthline). Apply a few dots of the crayon where you need it most (like near your eyes or nose) and use a damp sponge to blend it.
Unlike redness, it's possible that no one but you recognizes another sign of summer allergies: puffiness. If you can't run a jade roller over your face during the day, "contour away" your puffiness by combining your usual foundation with one that is two shades darker than your skin tone (via L'Oréal Paris). Then, apply the mix below your cheekbones. Now, you should be ready to combat the traces of summer allergies — and, who knows, maybe even a drenching rainstorm.