So as with every year, I thought I had escaped the menace of hayfever, only for it to hit like a tonne of bricks two days ago. Eyes itching, nose running, the endless sneezing: it didn't give me the warning of appearing gradually. And yes, it's partially my fault for not taking my medicine, but hey, when you think your Loratadine tablets make you sleepy then why would you want to take them during exam season,  especially when they do next to nothing anyways?! Anywho, to hail in the summer suffering of many, I thought I would put together this hayfever appropriate makeup for you all. Its quite a no-make-up make-up look which I know is not great for people with skin issues, so please just keep these tips in mind and accommodate to your own needs :)

1) Skin Prep

Now my face is dry anyways, but the extra loss of liquid from having a runny nose means your skin may get dehydrated (especially if you're me and never drink enough water...) so by moisturising your face you will help combat this.
Oh and NEVER forget your suncream because y'know hot weather = more sunny weather = more likely to burn (obviously this goes for everyone, not just hayfever sufferers!)

Soltan SPF 30 UVA 5* Protect and Moisturise Suncream

Boots Simply Sensitive Day Moisturiser

2) Concealer

Concealer is your best friend with no makeup makeup looks. Use it to cover up any problem areas such as spots, redness around the nose (though this will need touching up during the day from nose blowing) and dark circles. I have not used foundation, partly because I don't wear it everyday, and partly because when you are feeling so meh and bunged up from hayfever all day, the last thing you want to do is go through a 5 step cleansing routine to get rid of it at the end of the day - I don't know about you, but I just want to sleep! Obviously there is a danger of having pale rings around your eyes and spots, etc so make sure that the concealer you use is not super paler than your skin/is the same colour as your skin, and everything is blended out seamlessly :) Oh, and don't forget to powder to hold in place, because warmer weather = melty makeup...

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 1. Fair

3) Brows

With a no makeup makeup look, brows are super important for looking put together and for a clean finish. Having been lucky enough to have watched youtube from the age of 11, and so have had it drilled into me by beauty you tubers for years (notably PixiWoo) not to over pluck my eyebrows, I can get away with using clear mascara to groom and hold them into place for a minimal looks. If you have more steps then go ahead and do it, but I would recommend to ease on the side of caution and use a light hand to create a natural over a bold brow - the whole point of no make up looks is that everything is at the same level of lightness, with nothing overly standing out, and that it looks natural.

Collection Colour Lash Mascara in Clear

4) To mascara or not to mascara, that is the question.

For me, mascara is too much of a hassle for most days. It is a pain to remove - though that might be cause I'm not using a great remover, any suggestions? - and when your eyes are itchy the last thing you want to do is create a grey smudge all over your eye from rubbing mascara into the surrounding skin. I simply curled my lashes and sometimes use a clear mascara to hold the curl in place (though not today, because the last time I used my clear mascara on my lashes I had a stye, and I don't really want to transfer the stye-causing bacteria back onto my eye anytime soon XD - TMI, but hey hygiene is important!)

Superdrug Eyelash Curlers

5) Lip colour

This is the time for your perfect nude lipstick to come into play. Mine is the Soap and Glory Mother Pucker lipstick in Naked Talent which has a satin sheen to add a moisturising look to the lips. It is ever so much bronzer and pinker than my grey-undertones natural lip colour and is one of my current obsessions - look out for it in an upcoming mid-year favourites! While you can use any lip colour you want, I would say keep on the neutral side, because with nothing prominent on the eyes, a bold lip can make them look tired, smaller and undone - if that makes sense. Plus, again, with a no-makeup look, no feature should stand out, but everything should be subtle enhanced.

Soap and Glory Mother Pucker Lipstick in Naked Talent

Bring on the selfies!!!!

Sorry about the wild hair going on on the top of my head, I was going to crop it out, but hey, gotta keep it real as the kids  say haha (in fact why am I apologising?)

This was taken on my front facing camera, hence the quality is different and my skin looks clearer, I included it cause I didn't have enough decent main camera pictures of my sans-glasses, but I thought I'd just mention it cause the other pics are a lot more realistic: my front facing camera gives almost a face smoothing effect...

So there you go, that is my go to everyday hayfever no-makeup makeup look. These 5 tips can be altered for your own needs and looks. A neutral-toned eyeshadow is about as safe as you can get if your eyes are especially irritated, and if you are more vigilant and less lazy than I with your makeup removal then a full face of a light coverage foundation and/or a light bronzer/blush shade to add warmth and colour to the skin could be used. Equally, to make the skin look dewier an iluminiser/highlighter can be applied to the skin (I would use either the L'Oreal Lumina's Magique primer or the NYX Born to Glow illuminating primer for the most natural, from-within-the-skin glow)

I hope this was helpful, what is your best makeup tip for hay fever ridden days?

June xx

So I have had this GAP Kids skirt for a good 6 years, and hardly wore it cause skater skirts do not suit me. It was on the donate pile, but then I suddenly realised that its thick elastic waist meant it would make such a good bardot, off the shoulder top! In an afternoon it went from a disused skirt, to an on trend top, and this is how I did it in three easy steps:

1) Pin, then pin again...

Making a top on my own meant a heck of a lot of trial and error, so if you can, get someone to pin the front and back together where the top and the bottom of the sleeves will be while you wear the skirt as if it was the completed top (i.e. the elastic waistband is placed across your shoulders).

X marks the pinning spots

2) Chalk, Cut and Sew

Use chalk to draw a line between the two pins, cut along the line to make the sleeves and sides of the top before pinning then sewing together the matching back and front open edge of the sleeves and top (pin inside out, which I didn't do as you can see below, so had to quickly edit before sewing). Cut to lower down the top of the skirt then pin and try on, and cut higher if you can. I say this cause I went quite close to the beginning of the elastic and it digs into my arms really bad and has already ripped slightly so needs fixing 😢 (though this might just be a design flaw as the sleeve is all pulled in around a central point where I got to the top of the arm hole then sewed down the side of the top creating a 'V' shaped line of stitching. Normally a top has a rounded top of the sleeve so there isn't so much pressure around this point under the arm).  This basically is the top done and took max 2 hours (I said it was easy!)

Chalk a line between the two pins so you know where to cut (cut the front and back together so they're in line)

Pin the matching back and front sleeve and side seams of the cut pieces (note how I pinned it with the top the right way round cause I'm a numpty). Then sewed up one sleeve and down the side of the top. I did this in a V-shape but, as I said above, this puts a lot of pressure on the point of the V and it has torn slightly. Potentially by going across horizontally slightly before going down, or finishing the arm lower and making the top of the arm wider - so it's less tight and more flowy so less pressure is on it - might be how to avoid this if you make something similar yourself - please put suggestions in the comments section.

And if you don't have something similar to make one yourself (and of course you could make one from scratch by first making a basic elasticated waist skater skirt), there are loads of options on the high street such as this.


If you hadn't guessed by now, I love a good sewing DIY, so keep your eye's peeled for more in the future. I'm moving into my student house this summer, and have a couple of ideas up my sleeve, so watch this space!

June xx

Product List

Base Makeup

Eye Makeup 

Brows 

Lips