When I was younger I never suffered from hay fever and I could never understand why people got so bothered by it, surely a runny nose and itchy eyes couldn't be THAT bad? Then when I got into my twenties, one summer hay fever hit and I instantly regretted ever wondering why it made so many people miserable. In fact, up to 13 million people in the UK struggle with an array of hay fever symptoms and it can be pretty rotten. Add wearing makeup into that itchy eyed, runny nose cocktail and it's a whole different ball game. So I’ve teamed up with Benadryl Allergy to give you some tips on adjusting your beauty routine to help disguise those symptoms...

THE RUN DOWN ON HAY FEVER

We've probably all heard from somebody around us that they're struggling with hay fever but what actually is it and what are the classic symptoms? To put it simply hay fever means you're having an allergic reaction to pollen. Pollen is a fine powder that is released by plants as part of their reproductive cycle. It contains proteins that can cause the nose, eyes, throat and sinuses to become swollen, irritated and inflamed. Here are the classic symptoms that you can encounter if you're a hay fever sufferer;

sneezing
a runny nose
Itchy nose
itchy and watery eyes
puffy face

And you can be allergic to a number of different pollens too. In Spring if you encounter those classic symptoms then you may be allergic to tree pollen. In the Summer, it's typically grass pollen and then in late Autumn, it's weed pollen. Typically, we only associate hay fever with summer but it can strike in a number of seasons.

THE THINGS THAT I STRUGGLE WITH WHEN IT COMES TO HAY FEVER

THE RUNNY NOSE

I always know it's May because it's when my nose starts to run relentlessly and it's the first hay fever symptom that I've ever encountered. It doesn't stop and I use so many tissues to help control it that my nose ends up so red and my make-up rubs off.

THE ITCHY EYES

As well as a runny nose I really struggle with itchy eyes and that's probably the worst thing when it comes to wearing makeup in hay fever season as it only takes a couple of rubs of the eye before all that carefully applied eyeshadow and lashings of mascara is absolutely everywhere.

THE RELENTLESS SNEEZINg

Every year I make a little joke that the amount of times I sneeze during hay fever season I should have the best abs in the world. Obviously, this never happens much to my dismay. And of course, due to the amount I'm sneezing it means that I'm constantly rubbing at my skin making my complexion a little more rough than I would like.

HOW TO ADJUST YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE ACCORDINGLY

For this blog post, I'm collaborating with Benadryl Allergy who are currently running a campaign which aims to help women combat their Allergy Face - all those annoying visible symptoms you get when hay fever strikes! They've teamed up with makeup artist Jo Freeman who is sharing all her tips to conceal Allergy Face by adjusting your make-up and beauty routine. Some of my favourite tips from Jo that I use on a daily basis when Summer rolls around are...

Using a white liner in the waterline to brighten the area.
Switching to waterproof mascara.
And finally, not a makeup tip but dabbing tissues gently around the eyes and nose rather than aggressively rubbing at the skin will help dramatically and stop products from wearing away so quickly.

Use a kind and comforting moisturiser to prep and hydrate the skin. The Neutrogena Hydra Boost Gel Cream* is absolutely perfect and budget friendly.
Neutralise any redness in the skin by using a green colour corrector.
Stick to simple shades on the eye like a matte vanilla rather than dark heavy shadows.

- This post is part of a paid for advertorial from BENADRYL® Allergy -

BENADRYL® Allergy relief contains acrivastine. Always read the label.

Switching Up Your Beauty Routine To Deal With Hay Fever Season