Makeup Mistake: How To Fix Smeared Mascara

We have all been there, applying our makeup, and something happens to where your mascara smears down your face from:

• Poking yourself in the eye with the mascara wand.
• Getting something in your eye like dust or eyelash that makes your eye water.
• Fake eyelash glue getting into your eye.
• Poking yourself in the eye with eye liner pencil.
• Children distracting you while applying.
• Crying for whatever reason while doing your makeup.

My most recent experience of this is the eyelash glue. Yeah, and that freaking hurts. So I removed all of the makeup from the left side of my face because I didn't want it to be uneven or splotchy looking by just adding more foundation to that area. Of course I was going to a big event, and of course I had worked meticulously on my makeup for an hour.

I wish I knew this info when this happened because it seems that I didn't have to re-do all my makeup with these tricks.

1. Wait! - Let the mascara smudge dry for about 60 seconds. It should then become flaky and come off  "almost like a crumb rolling off your skin," says Kristofer Buckle, celebrity makeup artist.

2. You can also dampen a Q-tip or a tissue twisted into a tiny pencil-shaped point and hold it over the smear to gently remove it.

3. If the mascara doesn't come off after trying that, try dipping the Q tip into your makeup remover and pat gently until the mascara lifts off your skin and onto the Q tip.

And next time you’re swiping on mascara, open your mouth wide while you’re coating your lashes. It keeps you from blinking, so you’re less likely to get a smudge.