As much as I love my glasses, some days when I am doing an extensive or creative eye makeup look, I like to wear contact lenses. If you also wear them, there are some basic safety rules you should follow. So this is why today’s article is going to answer your questions on how to safely wear contact lenses with makeup. The article is contributed by Lens.com.
Do you wear contact lenses and also like wearing makeup? Does makeup often get into your eyes? You are not alone. Many contact lens wearers face the same problem. You don’t have to worry because we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll discuss in detail how you can wear makeup safely and still enjoy your beauty routine. Just follow these five steps.

How to safely wear contact lenses with makeup:
Take your time.
Doing your makeup safely means taking your time with it. Give yourself ample time each morning to prepare for your makeup routine. Wake up early so that you can take a shower and clean your skin. It’s also a good idea to exfoliate your skin to get rid of dead skin cells and improve the texture of your skin. Cleaning and exfoliating your face eliminates any bacteria that can transfer to your eyes during the makeup process. Your makeup will look much better if you make an effort to prep your skin.
Furthermore, taking time with your makeup ensures that you are doing it safely. It prevents you from making mistakes like accidentally getting makeup in your eye. Once you see the results, you’ll realize that investing adequate time and effort into your makeup routine is more than worth it.
Wash your hands.
It’s important that you wash your hands even if you took a shower, especially if you did other things (like apply deodorant) or touched other surfaces. Wash your hands with antibacterial soap and water for 20 seconds, rubbing your hands together and scraping off any dirt under your fingernails. Rinse and ensure that no soap residue remains on your hands, and then dry your hands completely using fresh paper towels.
Following these steps eliminates harmful bacteria from your hands that you might transfer to your eyes, which can lead to serious infections. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that frequent handwashing is one of the best ways to get rid of bacteria and prevent disease.*
If your hand is getting dry by all the hand-washing, here’s How to Revive & Care Dry Hands (plus money-saving tips).

Contact lenses always come first.
When it comes to makeup and contact lenses, you need to remember two things:
- Put in your contact lenses before you apply any makeup.
If you put makeup on first, any product residue on your fingers will inevitably latch on to your contact lenses, causing irritation or even infection. You can avoid this by putting in your contact lenses first.
- Take out your contact lenses before you remove your makeup.
To remove makeup, you likely use some sort of makeup remover. Even gentle makeup removers can contain certain chemicals that can damage your contact lenses and irritate your eyes. This is why it’s necessary to take out your contact lenses before removing your makeup.
Apply makeup the right way.
Putting on makeup while wearing contact lenses requires proper technique. Here are some tips that will help you.
- Use moisturizer to make the skin on your face smoother, enabling you to apply makeup on more evenly.
- Apply primer. This fills in your pores, makes your skin more even, and helps your makeup last longer.
- Apply cream-based products instead of powdered products. Cream-based products especially eyeshadows are less likely to get into your eyes since they are not made up of fine powder particles. Here are 9 Full-Coverage Cream Concealers (and how to use them)
- Apply eyeliner to the outside of your eyes only. Avoid applying eyeliner to the waterline (inner lash line) because it would come in direct contact with your lenses.
- Apply a mascara that doesn’t clump or flake since the particles can get in your eyes and get trapped under your contact lenses causing scratches.

Remove your makeup before going to bed.
The last step in your makeup routine should be removing your makeup before going to bed. It can be tempting to just sleep in your contacts and makeup, but it will only cause more problems for you in the morning. Removing all your makeup at the end of the night prevents any particles from getting into your eyes while you sleep. It also prevents eye issues such as irritation and conjunctivitis.
As mentioned, make sure you take out your contact lenses before removing your makeup. You can then use a gentle makeup remover on your face to get rid of all traces of makeup. To remove eye makeup, you can use called eyelid cleansing wipes. These are products that are specifically designed to remove makeup from your eyelids. They are made with gentle ingredients so you can be sure that they won’t irritate your eyes. When you’re done removing your makeup, you can wash your face using a gentle cleanser.
Here are some of the tried and tested makeup removers to take off your eye makeup gently:
In A Nutshell…….
If you want a safe and hassle-free experience with your makeup and contact lenses, remember the following:
- Take your time.
- Wash your hands.
- Contact lenses come first.
- Apply makeup the right way.
- Remove your makeup before going to bed.
Wearing both contact lenses and makeup doesn’t have to be a hassle. You can still enjoy the best of both those worlds. You just have to follow the above tips on how to safely wear contact lenses with makeup

About the Guest Writer:
Jericho Gonzales is a Content Marketing Specialist at Lens.com. Writing is his passion, and he specializes in tech-based and consumer product-based writing. His other passions lie in the worlds of fantasy and science fiction. When he isn’t busy with wordcraft, he loves to immerse himself in those worlds through novels, video games, TV shows, or movies.
- CDC on handwashing (Link here)
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