Kerry Harvey has expert tips to cover up and de-puff your eyes in this hay fever season

I don’t know about you, but if you catch me without any makeup on, especially this time of year (hay fever season) well it’s truly a sight for sore eyes! Literally!

My big thing is my dark circles and even though I  use a daily eye cream and drops/antihistamines to tackle my hay fever, it just doesn’t always cut it.

You might say, ‘ah sure you’re a makeup artist, you can just cover it all up’. hmm, true but that would only aggravate my eyes further piling makeup over puffy streaming eyes.

Plus I’m the kind of makeup artist that loves to see the beauty of skin shining through. I don’t feel the need to wear tonnes of makeup to justify that I love beauty and work in makeup.

I know the art of how little touches can take you from looking like you’ve gone 5 rounds with hay fever to a real life healthy looking human being again.

That being said, here are some very simple and accessible additions to your makeup bag which will have you looking bright eyed in 2 minutes or less with very little effort.

Concealer – I use a cream concealer to add, firstly hydration to my tired slightly puffy morning eyes, and secondly, to then conceal and even out any undertone of blue around the lower socket, and then above the lid blending up to my brow bone to cover thread veins. You can use your ring finger to tap the product in (which I like as it’s like a mini massage and helps drain away puffiness) or a nice fluffy blending brush.

Blend out evenly to create a nice skin coloured fresh base. If you’re particularly dark, then you can pop on a peach toned corrector under your concealer for added full coverage as I have done.

Dust over with some transparent powder to set for a natural crease and fuss-free look, or amp up your daytime look with some of your favourite shadows hereafter.

Highlighter – we all know at this stage that adding a touch of highlight under the brow bone makes the arch stand out but when you add a touch of it to the inner eye area, you also enhance and add a healthy glow making the area ‘pop’.

A very simple but extremely effective trick to opening up the eye area further and diminishing any blue undertone.

Lash Curlers – now to quickly add depth to your lash-line.  Adding depth by using a lash curler is an oldie but a goodie! Take your curlers and curl near the roots to begin and hold for a few seconds, then move the curler up the lash shaft, almost 2/3’s the way up, and hold down for a double curl effect! A fabulous trick for tired hungover eyes giving your peepers that extra hit of brightness. Some opt to heat them with a hairdryer for a heated curled effect but be careful – I personally don’t see the difference in heated to non-heated so I’d go for the safer option.

Baby Pink/Concealer Pencil/liner – If your eyes are feeling super tired, a nice trick is to take a baby pink or concealer colour pencil and rim the waterline of the eye removing any tiredness or indeed redness.

Occasionally, people may use a white liner but this is very stark and obvious.

Using a natural colour not only removes the redness subtly but also enhances the whites of the eyes for a healthier looking you!

L’Oreal Paris Superstar Mascara

Mascara – my favourite mascara of all time is L’Oreal Superstar Lash Mascara! I chop and change and yet I always ditch the new mascara and go back to the old reliable time and time again!

Firstly the brush, is the old fashioned bristled brush that will get right into the roots (without taking your eye out like some of those new plastic brushes).

It’s double ended, so you use the first side (white) to prime and thicken your lashes, then you pop the other side on (black) to add the definition. I personally pop 2 coats of the black on (in quick succession to avoid spider eyes).

The second coat helps me gain super volume and definition for a gorgeous eye-opening full lash effect without the falsies!

Last tip

One final tip! If you find your top lid a little puffy around the lashes, opt for a med/dark matt shade of pop a line of dark shadow or liner smudged along the lash line which gives the illusion that the area is flatter to the onlooker.  A great tip for any of you gals that get puffy eyes after a wee cry at the movies to de-puff tearful eyes!

 

Try these little tricks out and see for yourself how easy it is to cover up and de-puff your eyes in this hay fever season!

If you have any beauty related questions, drop them my way via info@kerryharvey.ie or PM your message to my Facebook page Kerry Harvey Designs. For daily updates on all things beauty, feel free to join me on Snapchat – search @kharveydesigns or scan the code. Enjoy the summer sun K x