Amy writes,
Dear Dollface,
I know you’re a bit of a mascara queen, so I’m hoping you can enlighten me on how to actually apply the stuff without getting it all over my eyelids? I have fairly long lashes, and every time I apply my mascara, no matter how carefully I do it, I’ll end up with bits of mascara all over my eye socket and lid. Help! What am I doing wrong?" ~ Amy
Amy,
First of all, thanks for referring to me as a Mascara Queen – I feel all special now!
Secondly, you’re probably not doing anything "wrong", per se. I have this problem too: basically if you have eyelashes which are long enough to touch the skin above the eyelid when they’re curled, you’re going to run the risk of mascara smudges, and it can be seriously frustrating, especially if you’ve just spent ages perfecting your eye shadow. (Actually, to be perfectly honest, this is one of the reasons I rarely ever wear eyeshadow. Shhh!)
Luckily, though, there are two methods I know of to deal with this, and hopefully my readers will be able to chip in with some of their own.
Method One: Vaseline
This will only work if you’re not planning on wearing any eyeshadow, and don’t mind a bit of shine on your lids. All you have to do is take a pot of Vaseline (or any other petroleum based cream – Eight Hour Cream works too, but is smellier and costlier!) and smear it over the eye area before you apply your mascara, It won’t stop the smears appearing, but it’ll make it much easier to get rid of them – just take a cotton bud of corner of a tissue and wipe them away when you’re finished applying mascara. Remember to wipe off the excess Vaseline too, though, or more mascara will stick to it while it’s drying!
Method 2: Mirrors
This method will hopefully stop mascara smears from appearing in the first place, which is what you’re ideally after. All you’ll need is a hand-held mirror, which you’re going to use to apply your mascara, as opposed to a wall mirror. Take the mirror and hold it at a 90 degree angle to your chin – basically, so that you’re looking down into it, rather than sitting and facing the mirror straight on. This will make it much easier for you to see what you’re doing, and to get your mascara wand right down to the roots of your lashes, and right up to the tips, without stopping at your eyelid and socket on the way. If you’re careful, you should be able to get a smear-free mascara application in this way, and the mascara itself should look better because the application will be more precise.
Those are my two methods for stopping smears: anyone know of any others?
This is only for those who don’t wear eyeshadow. I put little pieces of damp tissue or napkins on my eyelids. They only have to be slightly damp or else the water will drip onto your lashline. You can also use dry tissue, but you will have to hold it up until your mascara dries.
Once the mascara dries, remove the tissue and there you have it!
My only advice is not to have your love ones see you do this, my bf thought I was sent from another planet:)
I have this problem all the time, and what I do is apply mascara and do my lashes up as nicely as possible without bothering about the mess that’s appearing on my eyelids. After I leave it to dry for a minute or two, I put a few drops of eye-makeup remover (non-oily, gentle etc) on one end of a cotton bud and swipe it on my lid. Then I use the dry end to clean up the mess. Voila! Instant clean eyes with pretty, long lashes. If necessary, I use a sponge to dab a bit of powder on my lids. It sounds time consuming but really isn’t too much more work.