Ask Me Beauty: My eye are runny and cause smudging

Whenever I put any eyeliner or shadow right around the outer corners of my eyes, it never lasts. My eyes water a lot or I just blink a lot and the colour ends up coming off and looking terrible. Any suggestions on making the colour stay?

Dear Victoria,

Unfortunately there is no 100% foolproof method for preventing smudging, especially where watery eyes are concerned. But here are tips on how you can reduce it.

First, using a good eyeshadow base is the most important part. I really like Urban Decay Primer Potion because it lasts really long and prevents creasing. But in some cases, even this might not be waterproof enough for some people. Another method you could use is using either a gel eyeliner such as the MAC Fluidline or any other brand as a base, because gel eyeliners are really long lasting and don't easily come off with just water. You could also use a waterproof or water resistant eyeliner pencil and smudge that as a base. Even if some of the eyeshadow comes off a little bit after hours of extended wear, the base will help it last longer. The MAC Liquidlast liners also stay on forever. Switch to using a waterproof mascara if your mascara tends to run, and avoid kohl and soft pencils as eyeliners, I prefer gel eyeliners for this reason. You will have to use an oil-based eye makeup remover to take these products off at the end of the day.

The other thing you want to consider is what is causing using your eyes to water in the first place. Reducing the culprit might be better than just treating the symptoms. Your eyes might be watering due to allergies, maybe it's a product you're reacting too, or other agents such as pet dander, smoke, pollen, etc. Try to eliminate any agents that are causing runny, water eyes in the first place, or treat allergies with an anti-histamine.

Another common issue is skin dryness. I have noticed this on myself, if I use an eye cream, especially on the outer corners and let that sink in before applying makeup, it somehow reduces the watering.

Lastly, if your eyes are watering, it could be a natural way for your eye to cleanse itself of foreign bodies that have entered the eye socket - for example shadow fall-out during application, or product on the waterline. Be really careful not to get eyeshadow fallout into the eye during application, and skip using makeup products on the tightline and waterline all together if you have sensitive eyes. It might be irritating your eyes and they are trying to "wash away" the products naturally by producing tears. An easy trick I do is after I finish my eye makeup, I use a Q-tip moistened with my own saliva (sounds gross but only do this on yourself, your saliva contains natural anti-septics and because it's a natural fluid, it will not irritate your eyes at all, unlike makeup remover) and run it along the inner parts of my eye to remove any product fallout, especially on the waterline, tearduct and outer corners. You'll be amazed at the product gunk that sometimes comes out, and this really reduces the tear production of my eyes. If I notice watering during application, I use a dry Q-tip and just hold it in the place of the seepage to absorb the "eye juice", it prevents smudging of the makeup.

Unfortunately there's no 100% guaranteed way to prevent runniness of the eyes. If you have naturally water eyes, it's likely that even with all these tips, your makeup might need a few touch ups during the day, but hopefully these tips will help to improve your situation a little bit.

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