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Have you ever used contact lenses as part of your makeup look?
Have you ever used contact lenses as part of your makeup look? Share!
I’ve definitely seen a lot of people use them, particularly for various Halloween tutorials, but I’ve never used them for makeup before. I only recently got contact lenses for bed time, and frankly, I have little talent for putting them in, so I can’t say I’d be chomping at the bit to put them in during the day, lol!
Thanks to reader Rosie for today’s question idea Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
No, at least not intentionally as I wear contacts… Ortho-K (so lenses are out during the day and on during the night when I sleep) to be exact. It is a lot better since I can’t be afraid of anything weird falling into the eyes.
I used to wear contacts but I found them finicky, especially to remove. I’m just too lazy to bother with them! I’d rather just throw on my glasses. 😛
Absolutely! I used to have a pair of red contacts that I loved. They weren’t the most comfortable, though. Nowadays, I rarely wear contacts anymore due to my eyes getting increasingly dry, and even when I do wear them, I tend to stick to daily disposables (which don’t come in fun colors).
Yes, I did once for a Halloween look and don’t see myself doing it again anytime soon, lol. They can look super cool, but they really bug my eyes unfortunately.
I just realized that you’re talking about prescription contacts instead of wearing glasses for the purpose of a makeup look…whoops, I thought you were talking about colored contacts lol! Sorry about that. But, I don’t wear glasses nor contacts thankfully because my vision is good.
Or maybe not? Maybe I was right the first time when I answered…can’t really figure it out. I look crazy now…
I was thinking using colored lenses or special lenses to alter the look – not necessarily prescription 🙂 You got it right!
No, I can’t wear contacts anymore. I underwent surgery and got lens implants in 2008 and they told me I wasn’t allowed to wear contacts anymore after that. Not sure why exactly, but I’m not going to take the risk.
I don’t understand….what are contact lenses for bedtime? Is it a new technology…oh, forget it! I can see everyone howling, bec. I missed the boat. I can’t even explain w/o TME. Let’s try to put this in mildly delicate phrasing: are bedtime contacts for pre-sleep activities? This whole concept evades me, except in confusing, X rated thoughts. Some of the color changing contacts and costume-oriented ones look like lots of fun, but i know what you mean about insertion…. I flunked the ‘class’ twice + now am thrilled to have glasses that cover my circles!
LOL! No, nobody knows what they are. I hadn’t heard of them before I got them. Ortho-k lenses is the abbreviated version of what they’re called. They’re hard lenses that you put in before you go to bed and wear while sleeping (six to eight hours), and when you wake up, your vision is temporarily corrected, because they reshape while they’re on. The effect isn’t permanent, but depending on how long you’ve worn them nightly, it can take a couple of days, weeks, etc. for your vision (and shape) to go back to how they were. Like if I wanted to do LASIK, I would have to stop wearing them for six months. But anyway, now I have 20/15 vision (I think that’s it… slightly better than 20/20) during the day.
The easiest way to describe them is braces or retainers for your eyes. Like a retainer where your teeth start moving back to where they were before braces, but if you wear it regularly, you’ll keep everything in place, this does it for the eye. The main advantage is that I don’t have to wear any corrective glasses/lenses during the day, and I only have to wear them for 6-8 hours (vs. 16 hours during the day). There is some evidence that is also slows/stops your vision from getting worse so theoretically in ten years, my vision will not have degraded further as it might have if I went with regular contacts or glasses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthokeratology
That is absolutely fascinating. Of course, I hear about it now, when I’m too far gone for it! (I’m a -7.5 in one eye and -6.75 in the other, and I’ve always worn glasses. I thought about contacts a few times, but I have really twitchy eyelids and I didn’t think I’d be able to put them in or take them out.)
Nobody I know has heard of them before! I came in to get contacts (never had them before) and an eye exam, and they recommended them to me. They’ve been an adjustment for sure, but it is really cool to see perfectly without glasses/contacts/LASIK.
Thank you for explaining. I’ve never heard of those either. Whenever I wear eyeliner on my water line it gets all over my contacts and blocks my vision and irritates my eyelid all day. I’m definitely going to research more about this.
Yes, when the eye doctor suggested it, I thought that might be perfect, afraid of potential makeup mishaps! Now, I just have to be REALLY good about removing every last bit of eyeliner at the end of the day.
Thank you Christine for your really clear explanation about the ortho k lenses.
I also appreciate the participation of all the members as I was asking myself f I would give a try to lenses. This debate makes me really hesitate.
Have a nice day.
Nope! My eyes freak out with my prescription lenses as it is, I wouldn’t want to freak them out even more!
Nah… Why bother?
I like the idea! But I mean, last time I had an eye exam they had to strap down my head because I flinched so bad when anything approached my eye. And then I flinched out of the restraints. So thank heavens my eyes are good because contacts are one giant nope for me.
I’ve been wearing Paragon CRT’s (Corneal Refractive Therapy) for 15 years — the first CRT lens. They are bigger than normal gas permeable hards, so more difficult to get in and out — I use a “plunger”. Greatest thing since sliced bread. I am ineligible for LASIK (dry eyes). This has all of the benefits without the tissue destruction. I can get away with wearing them every other night. I’ve never understood why this isn’t more publicized, especially since more companies are now in the market. This is especially good if you’re a gas perm wearer with astigmatism — they’ve always refused to switch me to soft lenses, telling me that I wouldn’t be happy with the quality of the correction. Highly recommend!!
Awesome to hear that you’ve had so much success, Nancy! Do you use the plunger for insertion too? I would presume just removal (I use one for that sometimes).
No. All the seasonal allergies affect my eyes, as do colds. They get watery, goopy, irritated and swollen easily. I don’t want to add contacts and their drying effects to that mix. I do use OTC and prescription allergy drops, and I don’t know if they’d work as well with contacts blocking part of my eyes.
I desperately want to get some black sclera lenses at least for art looks! However, I’ve never worn contacts, so I imagine scleras would be an interesting place to start, LOL! 😀
Contact Lenses are too high matinee for me outside and costume look and I usually have to bring eye drop to reapply very 2-4 hours as needed. White out, pink, red, and funky shapes like cat eyes I go for them. I also have a 3 pack of vivid Aqua from Splash of Color 2 Contact Lenses (also sold as ColorMAX Aqua). lol
But since I have blue/gold hazel eyes people think the shade is from contacts already. 😉
I also have a hell of a time getting them in due to my strong blink reflex that going for scleras seems out of the question right now. O__o
I would for a Halloween look. I wear prescription contacts anyway so it wouldn’t be a big deal for me
My eye color is beautiful naturally. Why would I want to change, just for the sake of change?
Christine, come again – you got contacts FOR BED? Aren’t you not supposed to sleep in them?!
Hey Bella!
They’re special lenses designed for you to sleep in them (you aren’t supposed to wear them during the day – only while you sleep!). While you sleep, they reshape your eye over time (depending on how poor your vision is to start with, the correction could take less than a day or a few weeks).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthokeratology
No, I wear contacts every day.
I have! I need to get back into gear and get used to wearing them again.
I’m fortunate enough to have been blessed with eyes that are so bright green that I’ve been asked if I’m wearing colored contacts. I do have to wear corrective lenses, but my contacts are colorless. I don’t think there’s a thing wrong with cosmetic lenses, though, as long as you get them from an eye doctor, and are careful about sanitation. I’ve sometimes wondered what I’d look like with brown eyes, but I’ll probably just stay with clear, myself.
By the way, Christine, it’s not just you – inserting contact lenses can be very tricky. It’s very hard not to blink when there’s a finger coming at your eye, for one thing!
You might try tilting your head back slightly as you place the lens on your eye. Then blink as gently as possible, lower your gaze, and let the lens slide into place. If you’re inserting a soft lens, it might also help to put a drop of rewetting solution into each eye before you put your lenses in.
Hope this helps, but really practice is about the only thing that will make a big difference, and that comes with time and experience.
Thanks for the tips, Carla! 🙂 It is comforting to know I’m not the only one who has had a few troubles putting them in, lol! I can do the right eye pretty well (usually on the first try, unless I blink), but the left eye and I are still getting it together.
No I can’t use them. I am long-sighted and have other eye issues that make wearing contact lenses impossible.
I wore contacts back when they had plain hard lenses. I got a foreign object in my eye and developed a corneal ulcer, Couldn’t get a comfortable effective prescription after that, Can’t see the big letters on the eye chart so it’s glasses for me. I would not recommend the Halloween contacts as they are often unsafe and not sterile.
ugh, i remember my formative years with hard lenses. never again! thank god technology has advanced for lenses. i had so many infections, corneal scratches, even ulcers on my eyes from hard lenses or lenses that i got makeup or dirt on and wrecked my eyes with it. i shudder to remember.
I’m surprised more people don’t! I wear circle lenses, but I also need them for vision correction so I just wear them as a daily thing. Take care of them like you would normal lenses (or with even more care) and you should be fine. I’ve gotten so used to them that I can’t deal with how I look without them!
I’m not surprised to see everyone say they haven’t as it’s definitely more of an Asian thing. I think everyone usually just wears natural brown/black/gray anyway though…
With all the scare in the West about how dangerous circle lenses are, I was pretty surprised when my optometrist didn’t care about mine lol. “Oh these are pretty, are they Japanese?” Nah they’re Korean, but I thought I would have to explain how they’re approved by the FDA of those countries and yada yada yada.
I have an appointment on Wednesday, and you had better believe this is the first thing I’ll mention!! I’ve worn contacts for over 15 years now and I’ve grown to love them. My eyes are a little dry, so sometimes the daily contacts are actually soothing b/c it’s a moist object going into your eye. But some days, they seem to float rather than adhere, and that’s uncomfortable. I’m a 3.5 one eye and 2.5 other, so I wonder if the overnight ones will still work for me ( I’m a grandma.) I’m actually quite annoyed this was never presented as an option to me : (
For those who have to wear regular contacts, don’t give up. You must persevere and you will get used to putting them in and out. My daughter-in-law showed me how to do it very easily several years ago – works great. Take your ring finger, put under your eye, then gently pull down the bottom lid a tiny bit. Then take your middle finger and your thumb and put each on opposite sides of the lens and gently squeeze the lens to the center. The sides should slip to the center and make a bump that you can easily lift off with those two fingers. (This refers to soft lenses.) This sounds so complicated, but it truly is so easy and has changed my attitude about lenses. Taking them out was the hardest part for me. Wish I could show you all in person.
Thanks so much for the info on these night lenses. Hmmmm, and people make fun of me because I love makeup blogs. Makeup lovers know all kinds of stuff!!!!
Good luck, Mary Joy! 🙂
Thank you for the tips as well!
I do actually tend to put on makeup that matches my colour of my contact lenses. ^^
Most probably Asians do that more often as our eye colour are either black or brown. So whenever I put on coloured contacts, I try to match it so that my eye makeup doesn’t crash my eye colour. Well… and it’s also pretty when I match it.. ^^
Thanks for the explanation of Ortho-K lenses – I never heard of those before. I’m guessing they are for people who only need minor correction to their eyesight.
I couldn’t wear non-prescription novelty contacts because I already wear corrective contacts (even though some are very cool!), and it’s even difficult to find colored contacts in my prescription (-9 / -9.5). It used to be impossible, but I think some companies are offering them in the higher prescriptions now.
Don’t worry, Christine, you’ll get the hang of it! I balance the lens on the pad of my index finger, and then squirt some solution on the lens. I find that this makes it more comfortable to insert. Then I open my eye wide with my other hand and pop it in. You’ll get solution running down your face, but I just splash with warm water. I’ve been doing this for about 18 years!
Glad companies are starting to offer more variety in higher prescriptions! Yeah, that’s about what I do – lots of rewetting solution!
amen to the needing more selection in higher prescriptions! im a -8.5 in one eye and a -9.0 in the other. blargh!
I haven’t, but I’ve been seeing enough far out looks involving them lately (I binged watched multiple seasons of Drag Race), I’ll admit that I’d try it. Before I’d go back to being a regular contact wearer.
I saw better with contacts, didn’t honestly have any huge issues with inserting and removing them, but my eyes seemed to tolerate them less and less as I continued to wear them. Though improvements in technology and having a different doctor now might change that experience, anyway. (Disposables were just becoming common when I started wearing contacts, I was wearing torics for astigmatism which were available in regular soft lenses that lasted 6-12 months but not in disposables, and my current eye doctor believes that only one eye with a low level of astigmatism doesn’t warrant me needing torics anyway.)
I do have a few different pairs of glasses, so I do have something involving my eyes and vision that I can change up for look reasons!
I have before, but I don’t currently have any colored lenses on hand. I definitely do my makeup differently depending on whether I’m wearing glasses or contacts that day.
AH if only i could afford the contacts i want for fashion purposes. my eyes are REALLY bad and ive always wanted sclera lenses (the ones that cover the entire eye) particularly ones that would make my entire eye black. alas…. these lenses in my prescription range from $400-$700 for ONE lens.
i suppose i could get fashion lenses and then wear my glasses over them, but that’s not the look im going for.
when i was younger i did get colored lenses, once in bright bright blue, once in an emerald green, and once in brown. my natural eyes are a very pale aqua and can change to green or blue depending on my makeup and clothing. why mess with that? (im not trying to sounds conceited, but my almost freakishly colored eyes may be my favorite feature).
I’d love some “scary” lenses for fun – whiteout lenses, blackout lenses, something with a cool pattern…. but until they can be prescription AND cheap, i’d’ rather not have to shell out big bucks for them. as it is i wear daily wear lenses, need a different script in each eye, and end up spending about $1000 a year on lenses alone. im not a candidate for lasik because i have central serous choreoretinopathy (blisters that form in the layers of my retinas, mess up my vision, and require needles inserted in my eyes to treat…). I do like the daily wears because if i get makeup or primer on them i can just toss em.
sorry, TL;DR. does anyone on here have prescription sclera lenses? tell me more!
I think this the best time wearing contact lenses that would match with a dark and glossy makeup perfect for that mysterious Halloween look.
I used to wear different coloured contacts (grey, honey, aqua) and makeup would be different depending on the lenses. I guess it would be part of the look. I haven’t been able to wear coloured lenses for quite a few years though (about 10). My eyes are super sensitive now and my (old) lenses feel so thick and are so uncomfortable. I tossed em. No more lenses as part of a look for me, i’ll stick with my regular colourless ones!
No, Eye never have!