Do you have any allergies that have affected your beauty routine?
My lips do not tend to react well to lip plumpers, so I tend to stay far away from those types of products altogether. My upper lash line is really, really sensitive, though I’m not sure if it’s just to anything (my eye area is sensitive in general and my eczema can get triggered readily) in particular — it kind of reminds me how whenever I get scratched by an animal (including dogs but worst with cats), it gets really flared up, itchy, and red but I can own and live with a dog and be fine most of the time.
— Christine
I wear waterproof eyeliner and mascara because I have seasonal allergies and my eyes run like crazy!
I have oily eyelids, but eye primers make my eyelids itch. So it’s one of the reasons I don’t wear eyeshadow.
I have to be very careful with coconut and coconut derivatives. It causes breakouts, redness, and irritation. Some forms don’t bother me if they are low in the ingredient list. I definitely can’t use things like the TF Born This Way line, but for some reason the CP Setting Spray doesn’t bother me. A lot of skin products meant for sensitive skin are coconut based which causes a challenge as well.
That’s a bad one. Coconut is in everything!
I seemed to have a mild allergic reaction to a foundation once: I never wear it but got a sample in a sephora order and decided to give it a try, I believe it was Armani. It looked really good and was lovely to use and I nearly bought a full size on the spot! However the next day my face was scabby and red, and it took a couple weeks to go away. I didn’t make the connection at the time, so I tried it again, same thing, except this time just one side of my face, because I tested a different foundation on the other. Womp womp.
Not an allergy, but strong artificial scents can trigger my migraines, so I appreciate when your reviews mention scents. I nearly bought a Too Faced palette until I read that it had a strong fragrance, definitely not something I need near my face!
I can not wear most mascaras for they make my eyes itch and water. Also some eye shadow brands do the same(MAC). Lip plumpers with menthol or peppermint. I stay away from them altogether. Any lip product that makes my lips tingle is a no for me.
Too many to list. The only serious one is chemical sunscreens. Temperature dropped to 93 and I felt like I was dying. I can’t believe it took me until I used no sunscreen and was fine and researched to find the chems are common sensitizers. Duh! Then it took 2 years to find a foundation. Turns out that Benzyl Salicylate, more commonly a fragrance modifier is also one. Shocking how many products, like shampoo, most scent products, even removers use it.
I am allergic to red dye in eyeshadow. I can’t wear a lot of MAC shades that have it because it causes me to have a reaction. I am also allergic to something in the Natasha Denona Glam palette pink. It had to go back. 🙁 I am able to wear the pinks and reds in Sydney Grace shadows though so I have those! 🙂
OMG! I had a reaction to Glam, too. Can you wear other ND shadows? I love the looks of the palettes, but something in Glam made my eyelids itch 🙁
Something in the original Bite Beauty lipstick and lip masks worked ok for awhile for me then abruptly made my lips start to hurt and peel and it took way too long to figure out what was going on. My guess is the lanolin but I don’t want to try and test that out. And even though it’s lanolin free now I haven’t worked up the nerve to try the new formula.
I had the same problem with Bite original lipsticks and masks, but can wear the new formula. And I know from years of trial and error it’s the lanolin that bothers me.
Maybe not quite the theme, but I’ve been dying my hair silver for about three years now and I had to switch the type of bleach i was using because I developed an allergy to the powder bleach I was using (which I found out when I nearly passed out in the shower…). I use creme bleach now, and I still get hives if it gets too close to my face, but it’s much better than before.
I have a mango allergy. Mango seed oil is in a lot of products. Haircare, lipsticks, soap, body lotions… Technically the chemical I’m allergic to is in the peel and not the seed, but I certainly don’t trust the manufacturers to not be contaminated.
I’m lucky – no allergies or sensitivities and fragrance in products doesn’t bother me though I continue to be stumped by Too Faced’s adding of “themed” scents to their EYE SHADOWS (chocolate, peanut butter, lord knows what else) when it is so unnecessary. The only things that ever gave me a reaction were 2 eye care products. One was these little ampules of under-eye treatment from Neo-Strata that were meant to lighten dark circles – all of a sudden, my under eye felt like I had a sunburn. When I got home, the area was red and scaly and it took a while to heal. I tried again a few months later – same result. A while back, I tried a retinol eye treatment from Jouviance that claimed to lift slack skin in the eye area and it really was working very well on my one droopy eye but, again, a similar “sunburned, red, itchy” result and again, I waited and healed the area and tried again. This time, the reaction came on even faster. I was so disappointed because this stuff really did work. They no longer make it though so I wonder if maybe lots of people had the same sort of reaction.
So many!!!! Lanolin, Beeswax/Honey, Dimethicone, Fragrance aggravates my asthma. Oh, and CBD. Oh, and I am allergic to both physical and chemical sunscreen.
I have Allergic Contact Dermatitis, confirmed allergies to 4 things diagnosed by patch testing. The vital thing about ACD as opposed to sensitivity is that true ACD is a delayed reaction because it goes through your immune system. Reactions start anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks so trying to figure it out on your own is fairly impossible. If you have true ACD and have a reaction, it could be one ingredient in one thing you used or came in contact with anywhere at anytime in the past two weeks.
I’m saying this to encourage anyone experiencing ongoing problems to get patch tested! You may be able to figure out a sensitivity, which is an immediate reaction, on your own, but you will never figure out a true allergy through trial and error.
For example, one of mine is Methylisothiazoline, a common preservative in many products but super common in shampoos and conditioners. But…my rash reaction is around my eyes, not on my scalp. On my own, I was trying to investigate every product I used on my face. I never would have landed on MI as a culprit without the patch testing because it wasn’t even in the things I was using around my eyes. That’s another ACD thing, to react in various places no matter where the actual culprit was used.
So…don’t mean to preach, just hoping to help someone. If you have ongoing, confusing problems…get patch tested!
I have year round allergies to everything. There are many days I can’t wear makeup at all because my nose is dripping like a bathtub and my eyes make me look like I’m in a constant state of crying. It’s awful
I totally understand… and it’s so embarrassing when strangers or coworkers start enquiring what’s wrong trying to help… and I’m like… it’s just allergies, I don’t have any issues. 😅 It once even caused an embarrassing situation at work, with a big boss assuming that a work situation affected me dramatically.
I have no actual allergies but if I don’t maintain my moisture barrier, I will get a reaction. Earlier in the spring, I thought the skin on my legs was not ready for warm weather exposure so I decided to “treat” it to some of my face products. After a few days my legs were covered with raised red bumps. My derm did not try to figure out what specific iingredients were causing the problem but said something had invaded the follicles because of the impaired barrier. After prescribing a few weeks of cortisone, she made me switch to a bunch of basic fragrance-free products (Dove for sensitive skin, Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream, Gillette shaving gel for sensitive skin). Nothing I had used bothered my face, but I keep my face better than my body skin.
I am super allergic to Cyclopentasiloxane, which is in everything including a lot of foundations! Luckily, I’ve found a few skin and face products without it that I swear by. My other allergies include wheat, shea butter, propylene glycol (because of rosacea), ceramides, nickel and wool (so sometimes lanolin but I haven’t tested that one thoroughly). I’m also allergic to mint and anything that makes lips swell is bad for me, like a lot of other people. I have food allergies as well, which means a lot of “natural” skin and makeup products are a no go. I rely on the Dupe List here to help me find less allergenic products in the colors I want, can’t imagine what I’d do without it!
I also love the dupes list for finding alternatives to products I want, but am allergic to. I use it for that all the time, it’s super helpful!
What you described about dog and cat scratches applies to me as well. I was allergy tested many years ago and was told that I was indeed allergic to both. However, with Zyrtec, I am able to have my 2 cats. But I digress.
Now on to the actual question! Yes, I have allergies to goats (no fancy brushes for me! 🐐), sulfa (therefore, none of those weirdly flavored eyeshadows, either! 🍫) , plus, I have to be cautious with lip products that contain wheat gluten, because Celiac disease.
On the scratch tests I still have theoretically my animal hair allergy, but I did the desensitization shots years ago and it helped me with that. I wish it would have helped me with polen as much…
I have a cat now and zero issues, but each time I get in a close environment with a new cat or dog, they get triggered. Someone else told me it’s more likely mites in the animal hair, not the actual animal. Because I’ll sneeze near a goat at the pet zoo (which is still good, before the desensitization I couldn’t get near a zoo without swelling like crazy), but I can use goat hair brushes with no issues.
I’m a dog person, but I love cats, too. The weirdest thing about my cat sensitivity (and it does pop a weal) is that it’s only some cats, not all. A friend has a gray tabby, fine. And a black one that constricts my airway a bit and puffs up my eyes. I really don’t get it.
I have seasonal allergies that cause my eyes to produce tears easily, so for me a waterproof mascara was ways a must. Setting up my makeup and having a long lasting base is also a must, I don’t want my makeup to be completely disrupted if I have to gently wipe my eyes or nose.
Not an allergy, but I am very sensitive to fragrances, not just as skin irritation, but also sense of smell. I hate something constantly smelling around my face, I just can’t do those heavily fragranced (and usually luxury) products.
I haven’t even considered lip plumpers. I can eat pineapple, kiwi, mango and oranges, but the second my lips touches their skin (or those oils that spray from citruses when you peel them), my lips get swollen and I couldn’t imagine how someone would do that on purpose. 😅
Do I ever! As someone with a lot of allergies to plants (over 100 😢), I reallyyy dislike the “clean beauty” trend. I don’t get understand what’s so “clean” about putting a bunch of concentrated plant extracts in products you put on your eyes or mouth. Especially when they’re really common allergens like coconut or almond.
A personal pet peeve is avocado oil now being in so many products. I’m technically not allergic to avocados, but am extremely allergic to avocado trees, so I have a bad reaction to avocados. I thought I had checked the ingredients on a new mascara thoroughly, but clearly hadn’t… some of it got in my eye while I was driving and I almost crashed my car— had to pull over because my eyes were watering so much I couldn’t keep them open. There was avocado oil in the mascara. 😞 My bad for not checking thoroughly, but I wish I didn’t have to be so vigilant all the time.
Now is a good opportunity for me to say thank you for including product ingredients with your reviews on the blog! It’s sometimes easier to find product ingredients on Temptalia than it is to find them anywhere else (especially for older products). I appreciate you taking the extra time to include those! 😊
Makeup sprays are great for a long lasting set and dewiness but if I use most of them more than once or twice my skin get bumps. Especially MAC’s Fix+ must be something in the holding/sticking ingredients that my skin doesn’t like. I also dislike those burning plumping lip products they irritate my lips.
No, none at all. I’m lucky.
I did have a reaction years ago with an eyeshadow from a brand called Isadora. Later I tried using an eye makeup remover from them and the same thing happened, very runny eyes. It’s easy though to avoid a brand, a lot harder for all who have to carefully read ingredient lists. It is strange though that it’s never happened with any other brand.
I did have a bad reaction to antibiotics year before last, edemas and itchiness over most of my body, it was worst on my scalp. I had the same kind of reaction a very long time ago, avoided all antibiotics, then got tested, turned out I wasn’t allergic, but now I think I am. Odd, I think. I guess I’ll have to test again.
I’m allergic to lavender, so anything with lavender essential oil is out. My skin is extremely sensitive to avobenzone which is a chemical sunscreen that is popular and found in lot of products. I can always tell a product has it because my face will immediately start to burn. Other than that scented base products can flare up my acne, but that is random. My eyes are pretty watery, a lot of mild allergies throughout the year, so at times I skip bottom lash line mascara.
I didn’t realize how many people had issues with sunscreen. They need to come up with something else! My skin gets physically hot to the touch, fire engine red, immediately from chemical sunscreen. The icing on the cake, when I’ve washed it all off and my entire body burns like I was standing way to close to a fire, I then go to sleep only to wake up with a face of cystic acne. I try to always keep a bottle of physical sunscreen on me, because I’m really pale with a cancer gene that’s known for skin stuff. I can’t afford to not use sunscreen (no one can).
My big one is evening primrose oil, mostly in skin care. I start with itchy red palms and feet, hives start showing, then my joints get swollen, itchy, and painful. It’s a more common reaction to something ingested, so it took a really long time to figure it out. It really made me aware that everything I put on my skin is being absorbed by my entire body, so it’s not only important what you put in your mouth but also on your skin.
I do have fairly sensitive skin so I have to be a bit careful of what skincare products I use – absolutely no retinol at all.
I don’t use glitter at all on my eyes, as they are fairly sensitive too and I don’t want any bits to get into my eyes.
I get chapped lips easily, so I need creamy kind of lipsticks – no lip glosses or lip stains. CP and Maybelline’s lipsticks are OK for me, but Bite Beauty’s were not so good.
Not really. Oddly enough, I’m allergic to a sulfa pill (the specific one is Bactrim), but I have no problems wearing Too Faced scented shadows, which usually have a sulfa in them! I’m not sure if I’m allergic to the one sulfa but not the other or if it’s a deal where my body doesn’t like their internal ingestion but skin contact is fine.
Thankfully I do not have any skin allergies except I have to be very careful as to what products I put on my chest, it is very sensitive, no retinol or the next morning my whole chest will be red with raised bumps and it will take at least a week to heal. I feel for people that have sensitivities to different chemicals and fragrances with the digging we had to do 35 years ago to find out that my daughter was allergic to gluten it was exhausting and very time consuming and not a fun road to be on. I think our environment is quite toxic and that leads our bodies to be more sensitive.
I have sensitivity to lots of smells that trigger migraines and many base products cause breakouts (I have not narrowed down to specific ingredients). My seasonal allergies now cause me to carefully evaluate how waterproof anything I apply around my eyes because my left eye will water enough to eat through most things at the corner of the eye.
In the past, the allergy issue led me to not apply (non waterproof) mascara until I was inside the building at my desk at work because my allergy meds would have kicked in and my eyes calmed down by then. I must have gotten distracted one morning during that process with actually doing job related duties because I went into the bathroom at lunch and saw that I had only put mascara on one eye. I have naturally blonde lashes that barely show up without mascara and still don’t know I made it through half the day without anyone pointing out that I looked like I was trying to recreate a look from A Clockwork Orange.
I have 4 diagnosed contact allergies. The ones that have an impact with makeup and skincare are my allergies to fragrance and lanolin. My face and neck will get itchy and red when I use something with lanolin. I don’t have as much of an issue with fragrance, but I don’t want to take any chances so I avoid it in makeup and skincare products. I’m so bummed out Lisa Eldridge has fragrance in her new blushes. That was the one thing from her new products I really wanted to try and now I can’t.
My worst reaction was from Pat McGrath eyeshadows. Good thing I had only bought the little Sublime palettes and not the pricey palettes. It took me a couple of days to figure out that the new eyeshadows were causing my eyelids to get red and feel like a rash was coming on. I stick to MAC now because I’ve used that brand for so many years. I am now afraid to venture out to any new brands, although I bought one of the Sydney Grace Temptalia palettes. Fingers crossed that they will work out fine.
I’m definitely allergic to something that’s in a lot of lip balms, lip oils, and some other slipperier lip products, but I have never been able to narrow down the ingredient(s). Whatever it is, it makes my lips go numb and start to blister then peel. The only lip balm I can trust is Nivea Moisture Lip Care. Wearing other products is fine for a few hours, but I never risk more.
I’m allergic to chemical sunscreens, so I have to avoid a lot of complexion products that I’d love to try because I don’t want to break out in hives.
Put simply I can’t wear most eye makeup as I am allergic to carmine, bismuth oxychloride and somewhat dimethicone too. Few things out there don’t have any of these.
I can’t wear mascara with dimethicone at all (I use the Cils D’enfre from Guerlain… I probably butchered the name though 😁)
It is also a brand thing. UDs and The Balm palettes are a giant no. They give me eyeache and headache. I can wear some eyeshadows from colourpop as long as there is no carmine or bismuth.
The only eyeliner I can use is MJ Highliner Crayon. Love Blacquer and it doesn’t irritate my eyes despite having dimethicone.
It sucks big time.
Bismuth Oxychloride. The first time I used Urban Decay’s Primer Potion, my eyes watered for hours (I was on a date) and that’s when I realised what the products that had made my eyes itch before had in common. It’s in a lot of shimmery, higher end make-up (Hourglass, Tom Ford, Chanel, Victoria Beckham, Nars, also some Mac eye shadows).