How to hide a black eye with makeup

It happens - you’re playing with the baby and suddenly the head falls forward and wham! Black eye. How are you going to show your face, looking like this, at work tomorrow? Well, a good make-up job will help. Covering a black eye is not easy, and if you tend to wear light shades of make up, that’ll never do. Simply applying heavy make up won’t do the trick, either. The heavier the make-up, the worse the injury looks, sometimes. If the skin is broken whatsoever, it’s not a good idea to put make up on the open area.

If the injury is painful, use acetaminophine instead of aspirin since aspirin will make it harder for the blood to clot and for the wound to heal. Prior to applying make up, keep cool compresses on the eye to keep the swelling down - no amount of make-up will cover a swollen eye. Just before applying make-up, pack eye in ice for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and place a very warm wash cloth on the eye for 5 minutes.

Use a liquid concealer in a yellow-green shade. This will offset the red and blue of the bruise. Dab the concealer with your fingers, working from the middle of the bruise, outward. Take the concealer a little ways past the perimeter of the bruise. Let the concealer dry well. If a second coat is needed, apply and let dry. Since you don’t want one eye to look different than the other, apply the concealer in the basic area on the opposite eye.

Now use a base coat of liquid make up that well matches your skin tone. Apply as you normally would, but don’t work it in too much. The liquid make-up can eventually remove the concealer if you work it too much. Smooth out the entire base make-up by using a compact puff. Use an eyeliner to outline the ridge of the bottom eyelid.

A different type of make-up that works pretty well is pancake make-up. It requires you to add water, work it into a mud-type substance, then apply. The pancake make-up can be made very thick or extremely thin. Make it thin enough to go on the face smoothly, and not lumpy. Don’t try to smear globs on, it’ll only make the eye stand out more.

Apply the rest of your normal make-up, but concentrate on thickening and darkening the lashes, then lightening the lids. One way to get very thick, dark lashes is to apply a thick coat of black mascara, dust on baby powder, then apply another coat of mascara. It will ruin your mascara but give you the thickest lashes you’ve ever had. To apply the baby powder, place the powder on your finger, lean over and brush on the lashes. After you’ve applied the second coat of mascara and it’s completely dry, use a light-colored eye shadow, about the color of your blush. Other shades that will look good are light purples and light blues.

Most make-up jobs, no matter how well-applied, won’t completely wipe away all traces of the black eye, but you can how obvious the wound is by using the above techniques.