Eye issues (and my New Year’s Resolution)

A few months ago, my right eye started to itch. It wasn’t the eyeball itself that was itchy, but the skin below it (around my waterline). I thought it was a stye at first, but a quick search on Google told me it wasn’t. Styes are supposed to go away by themselves after about a week or two, but whatever I had had been bothering me for over a month already. I thought it was a fungal infection so I used anti-fungal cream, which didn’t really do anything. I didn’t really know what to do so I just ignored it (probably not the best idea). It was tolerable most of the time, but whenever I cried it would get really irritated and be extremely itchy. After watching Hachiko : A Dog’s Story (I cried my eyes out over that movie) it got so bad that I eventually had to go see the doctor about it (which is probably what I should have done in the first place).

I was told that it looked like some sort of infection. The doctor told me that some girls (and guys) who wear eye makeup regularly sometimes develop allergies or bacterial infections, which is exactly what my friends and family have been telling me, I just didn’t want to believe them because I didn’t want to stop wearing eyeliner (yes, that was pretty stupid of me). She prescribed some eye drops and instructed me to wash my eye area using sulfur soap twice a day. She also told me that I should probably stop wearing make up for a while and replace all my current ones in case they have already been contaminated.

I was hesitant about throwing all my eye makeup away at first since it felt like such a waste, but I figured that it was about time I replace them anyway since I’ve been using my liquid liner and mascara for 5 months, and my pencil liner for a year. I read online that you’re supposed to replace mascara every 3 months and liquid liner every 3-6 months to avoid bacteria build up. Pencil liner can be used for about 2 years as long as you sharpen it regularly, but my pencil liner is the twist up type so it can’t be sharpened.

Goodbye old eye makeup (Cover Girl Outlast Eyeliner, Fashion 21 Liquid Liner, Etude House Proof 10 Mascara)

Hello new eye makeup! (All Nichido products)

I spent most of my allowance on Christmas presents last month, so I decided to get something not too expensive to replace the stuff I threw away. I was planning on buying In2It products since they’re cheap and I’ve tried their liquid liner before and liked it, but they didn’t have an In2It booth at Watson’s Gateway or Farmer’s Plaza. I thought about getting the Fashion21 liquid liner again since I did like how long lasting it was (review here), but I really didn’t like the long applicator it came with so I decided to try something new. I don’t know what made me choose Nichido, it’s not like I’ve read any reviews on their products or know anyone who use it. I guess I just found the Nichido saleslady really nice so I ended up buying the stuff she recommended.

I’ve had the products for about a month now but I haven’t been using them that much. This whole eye infection incident got me thinking about all the stuff I’ve been putting on my face for the past year. So for my new year’s resolution, I decided that I would try to not wear so much make up all the time. It’s not just good for preventing future infections, it’s actually beneficial to my budget as well. A huge part of my 2010 allowance went to make up, which is pretty crazy if you think about it. So by not wearing so much make up all the time, I’ll reduce the amount I spend on cosmetics and eventually save some money. That’s not to say that I go out completely bare faced now, it’s mostly eye makeup that I decided to cut down on. (But I did stop wearing BB cream and concealer as well, since I found a good powder foundation that provided me with decent coverage.) I still wear eye makeup every now and then, but on most days I’m satisfied with just using my face powder and tinted lip balm.

Anyway, despite my new year’s resolution, I have used my new liquid liner, mascara and pencil liner a couple times already and they’re pretty good. In fact, I think I like them more than the old products I used. I’ll probably post a quick review on these products when I get some free time.