If you wear contact lenses, you’ll need to choose your eye makeup carefully. Using the wrong products could result in irritation, infections, or even damaged contact lenses. But choosing the best eye makeup can be challenging with so many brands, colors, and bases available.
If you’re not sure how to start choosing eye makeup that’s safe for contact lenses, don’t fret. Lens.com is here to help. In this article, we list the features you should look for in cosmetic products if you wear contact lenses.
1. Hypoallergenic
Hypoallergenic makeup products are products that manufacturers claim are less likely to produce allergic reactions than other cosmetic products.
As a foreign object, a contact lens can irritate or dry out your eyes no matter how healthy they are. You wouldn’t want to make matters worse by applying eye makeup that may further irritate the eye area. If you wear contact lenses or have sensitive eyes, using hypoallergenic makeup is ideal.
However, it’s worth noting that there are no federal standards or definitions that govern the use of the term “hypoallergenic.” The term can mean whatever a company or manufacturer wants it to mean. Manufacturers of eye makeup products labeled as hypoallergenic are also not required to submit evidence of their hypoallergenic claims to the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Moreover, “hypoallergenic” doesn’t mean “non-allergenic,” so hypoallergenic makeup products may still cause an allergic reaction. As such, you should do your research before buying hypoallergenic makeup products.
2. Water-resistant
Water-resistant eye makeup products, such as eyeliner and mascara, are essential if you wear contact lenses, as they’re much less prone to smudging than non-water-resistant ones. With the former, you don’t have to worry about any makeup getting into your eyes and potentially contaminating your contact lenses.
Take note that “water-resistant” isn’t the same as “waterproof.” The latter means the product can withstand water and not break down or move, while the former means the product can resist the penetration of water to some degree but will break down eventually.
Given the definition of these terms, you might think, “Isn’t waterproof makeup better?” In many cases, water-resistant makeup works just as well as waterproof makeup. The former is also much gentler on the skin and less drying than the latter. Water-resistant makeup also works well enough to stay on through a workout routine or walks in the summer heat.
3. Cream-based or liquid-based
If you wear contact lenses, cream-based or liquid-based eyeliner and eyeshadow are much better than their powder-based counterparts.
Powder-based makeup contains fine particles that can easily transfer to your eyes, contaminate your contact lenses, and possibly cause an eye infection. You won’t have this kind of problem with cream-based or liquid-based eyeliner and eyeshadow since they don’t contain fine powder particles.
4. Oil-free
Oil-free makeup products don’t contain coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, and other oils. Soft contact lenses contain a large amount of water, and oil and water don’t mix. Oil-free makeup is best if you wear contact lenses since you don’t run the risk of oil seeping into your eyes, staining your contact lenses, and causing blurry vision.
Make sure to keep an eye out for certain ingredients in presumably oil-free makeup. Ingredients like lanolin and glyceryl behenate may not have the word “oil” in their names, but they’re oil nonetheless.
Conclusion
Don’t let your love for wearing makeup damage your contact lenses or hurt your eyes. Choose makeup that is safe to use with contact lenses. As long as you follow the advice in this post, you can wear contact lenses and still look your best every day.
