How To Stop Your Sunglasses From Ruining Your Makeup

Getting your makeup done for a girls' day out? That's fun. Wearing it throughout the day? Not so much. Over the day, your once-perfect makeup can devolve to contain several imperfections, from creases along your smile lines to patches around your cheekbones. These makeup blunders could be due to sweat, pollution, or weak setting powder. But there is one more makeup-ruining culprit, and it's a staple for every girls' day out: your sunglasses.

If you've ever worn sunglasses on a face of makeup, you're likely no stranger to the stark lines of demarcation created on the bridge or sides of your nose and even along your temples. Due to the friction generated when your sunglasses move and rest on top of your nose, your complexion products can easily lift, crease, or transfer, leaving you with incomplete and rather obvious patches along your under eyes. Luckily, you do not need to leave your sunglasses at home for a flawless face.

Prioritize minimizing friction to stop your makeup from transferring from your face to your sunglasses. "The plastic or metal from the frame applies pressure that can cause disruption in your look," celebrity makeup artist Billie Gene explained to Makeup.com. The best way to prevent this? Apply primer before going in with the rest of your makeup. You can opt for dabbing foundation primer all over your face (a helpful step for any routine). Additionally, you can target the bridge and sides of your nose and any other areas where your sunglasses make contact with an eyeshadow primer — the preferred method of makeup artist Janine Holmes. This is also a great way to fend off the red marks often left behind by your favorite sunnies.

Once your primer is in place, pop on some concealer or foundation using a sponge sprayed with setting spray. Gene recommended forgoing dewy foundations in favor of the matte variety to ensure you get the longest wear out of your efforts. Nars Soft Matte Complete Foundation ($42) is a highly-rated transfer-proof favorite beloved for its oil-absorption powers. Finish up by pressing on loose translucent powder with a sponge or puff.

As beauty educator and content creator Rose Siard shared in a tutorial on Instagram, all you need to complete the barrier between your nose and sunglasses is a powder puff and pressed powder. Now, you might wonder: If you have already used loose powder to set your cosmetics, why do you need pressed powder, too? While both powders improve the longevity of your makeup, loose powders are less sturdy and not as transfer-proof on your skin as pressed powders typically are.

Dip your powder puff in your pressed powder and press the puff against the parts of your nose and face impacted by sunglasses. Siard's hack includes another technique: baking. Instead of blending out the powder right away, leave it on for five minutes. This will give it time to settle in and create that immovable barrier between your makeup and sunglasses. Once the five minutes are up, gently press down on the powder with your puff to blend it.

While waiting for the five minutes to elapse, follow Janine Holmes' recommendation to remove any oils from the nose pads of your sunglasses using a tissue or cotton pad soaked with alcohol. From there, dip your powder puff into your pressed powder and press it against the parts of your sunglasses that touch or rest on your skin. Take your puff and powder with you on your day out so you can touch up your sunglasses and face whenever necessary.