This year Benadryl are helping makeup addicts who suffer from dreaded effects of pollen to combat allergy face.
Pollen aka Plant Sperm
Pollen is a fine powder like substance that is emitted from male plants. Think of it as plant sperm! It is carried on the wind or by insects to female plants – aka pollination. Unfortunately for me and 18 million other hayfever sufferers, pollen is very small and very light and goes up the nose, in the eyes and ears. If you have hayfever, the body attacks the pollen and releases histamine. It is the histime reaction that causes the mucus and swelling aka allergy face. Benadryl is an antihistamine which means that it prevents your bodies histamine response to the 30 different type of pollen from trees, grass and weeds.
Allergy Face
Allergy Face can be a long term of short term problem depending on the days pollen count and whether you have taken your anti-histamine. Symptoms inclulde, itchy watery and or puffy eyes, sore nose, dry lips, and a puffy face. Benedryl are so understanding of the impact of allegy face that they created a YouTube tutorial featuring pro makeup artist Jo Freeman – take a look.
Makeup Tips for Allergy Face
In the video Jo focuses on four main products
- A hydrating moisturiser
- A white kohl
- A green colour corrector
- A statement lip
For women with a paler skintone the final look is pretty. However, as a women with a deeper skintone, and whose allergy face is primarily associated with my ears nose and throat, my go to allergy face make up is slightly different.
A hydrating moisturiser is a must. I find that my combo skin gets drier and more dehydrated when my body is fighting off the demon pollen. I tend not to get a puffy face when my hayfever is at it’s worst. I just have a round face all year round! During hayfever season I am blowing and wiping my nose every thirty minutes so my second recommendation would be for a tinted moisturiser. It evens out the skin without providing my preferred cake face. The beneift of this is that you can reapply around your nose without messing up your whole makeup look, especially in the nose and mouth area.
My eyes are the first part of my face to be affected by pollen so personally I like to steer clear of powder products on my allergy face. Any fall out or kick up will irritate my eyes and or nose. In addition, I am not able to put a kohl on my waterline as it will just irritate my eyes further. My go to product for the eyes during hayfever season is a cream eyeshadow. There is no fall out and they stay on the lid all day, even if your eyes are watering.
A green colour corrector does not work for my skin tone. If the makeup industry describes your complexion as tan, dark or deep you need a orange based shade. For me, applying colour corrector around the nose does not work. I wipe my nose so much, I’m wiping off product every thirty minutes. I just stick to the tinted moisturiser and carry a small brush with me for regular touch ups.
Generally I love a statement lip. However, when I sneeze I am expelling saliva and mucus at top speed. Usually into a tissue, but sometimes not. It is not a pretty sight. I find that a gloss or sheer lipstick works best. When I wipe my nose, I generally wipe my top lip too so I reapply product regularly.
Allergy face is part and parcel of the hayfever process. Some days are worse than others. On a good day, you can really go to town with products that work for you. On bad allergy face days, my advice is to paint your nails, put on your sunglasses and walk with a box of tissues.
If you suffer from allergy face, let me know what your top makeup tips are. You can read more about my hayfever beauty regime here and here. Follow me on Instagram for more beauty news and reviews.