Are you one of those people who can’t seems to avoid your mascara smudging no matter what kind you use? Gosh that must be frustrating. I’m not one of those people, but my sister is and she assures me it’s a huge pain in the rump. I’ve written before about how to keep your eye makeup in general from running, and it was a big hit so the struggle must be real. But what about when it’s just your mascara?

The scenario looks like this: You do your makeup, you put on your favorite mascara, you think you’re all set and then a few hours later you have that grey mascara smudgy haze around your eyes. WTF? It’s like some sort of dirty rotten trick.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have some possible solutions. The bad news is, there are a few variables that cause the smudging, and it’s not a one size fits all solution so finding the solution for you might take some trial and error.

The issues include deep set eyes, oily skin, hooded lids, bad habits like rubbing your eyes (In which case, stop rubbing duh) and the list goes on and on.

Before I even start with the other solutions: If you are one of the lucky folks out there who doesn’t need your mascara to add a ton of volume, and has naturally curled lashes your solution is simple. Tubing mascara. The way it’s formulated doesn’t smudge, basically ever. The trade off is it doesn’t hold a curl as well as waterproof and you don’t get much added volume.

For the rest of us who need help with volume and curl here is a little checklist of possible solutions:

• Try waterproof mascara. Waterproof isn’t oil-proof so it may not 100% fix your smudging issues, but it helps. It definitely slows down the smudges and hold them off for longer.
• Are you using an eye primer? If not, then you should be. It will help keep all of your eye makeup in place, including but not limited to your mascara. Basically the role of eye primer is to create a barrier between the oils coming up from your skin and your makeup, so it will just help stop the oil from getting at your mascara in the first place. Don’t forget to take a little bit of the primer beneath your lower lash line as well. I think a lot of people forget that area.
• Are you setting your primer? If you don’t want to wear eyeshadow, primer will still help keep the oils away from your mascara BUT in this instance you should take an extra few seconds to set the primer with a powder as well. If you are wearing eyeshadow then the shadow itself will set the primer, but if you’re going for a more laid back, bare eyed look you have a couple of other options. One is to run some skin colored shadow over the whole lid, the other is to run some setting powder (like the same one you use on your face) over the lid. You can sweep it on quickly, no blending required really, and it will help add another layer of oil absorbing protection between your oily eye area and your eyelashes.
• Speaking of setting powder, use it under your eyes. If you don’t set the makeup under your eyes, you know how it can get a little greasy looking by the end of the day? Well that grease may come in contact with your eyelashes and break down your mascara. It might seem like there’s no way it can touch your lashes, but depending on how you move your head around, the shape of your eyes and the length of your lashes it totally can. I’ve seen it happen right in front of my face. Setting your under eye makeup will make the coverage in that area last longer, but it will also stop it from screwing with your mascara. My favorite way to set my under eye area is with a translucent powder on a damp makeup sponge. Just press it on and your makeup will last all day.
• Don’t over-curl your lashes. If you curl them too much they may start to touch the top lid, and that’s when you might see the top lid getting some smudges. Again this depends on your eye shape and the length of your eyelashes, but it’s a possibility. If you want an example of hot to curl them properly you can read about that HERE. If your eyelashes are naturally so long and curly that they touch yout top lid without an eyelash curler then the rest of the tips listed above should help you out at least a little.

So those are some possible solutions for your mascara smudging issues, I hope maybe one or two of them will help you out. It’s definitely a tough puzzle to solve for some people, so if you have any fun little solutions of your own be sure to share!