Wearing Makeup with a Healing Facial Piercing: What You Need to Know

 

Here at Urban Body Jewelry, we support mixing and matching your piercings and makeup and we know how much fun playing around with makeup and your body jewelry can be. Plus, have you seen the gorgeous palettes companies like ColourPop and KVD Beauty have been releasing? Whether you’re a makeup addict or just use a little light coverage, it’s still important to know whether you can wear makeup with a healing facial piercing and the best ways to go about doing so.

The General Rule

One of the first rules of piercing aftercare is: do not touch your new piercing. So, one can only conclude that putting makeup around a healing facial piercing isn’t the best for proper aftercare. But if you’re going to, it’s best to ensure that you’re doing it as safely as possible to prevent infections or irritation from occurring.

Nostrils, Septums, Eyebrows & Micro-Dermals

After you get pierced, your piercer will generally advise you to not put any makeup on the new piercing. But did you know that even putting makeup around the edge of the piercing can be dangerous?

It’s best to leave space between the edge of your makeup and the healing piercing rather than putting makeup right up to the edge of it. This is because while your makeup may not initially be close to the healing piercing, it can make it there as you go about your day. Anything from talking, sweating, and/or eating can cause makeup, like foundation, to move.

You may be thinking, “But I use setting spray, so that has to be okay, right?” Wrong. Even if you use an entire bottle of Milk Makeup’s Hydro-Grip Setting Spray, it still wouldn’t protect you from the tiniest of makeup migrations.

Therefore, to safely wear makeup while healing any of the above facial piercings, it's recommend that you leave, at the very least, a half-inch border around the healing piercing(s). Now, sometimes, this can completely hinder the look you had in mind. If you’re using liquid foundation, taking a freshly cleaned, damp beauty blender will help prevent a harsh line.

If you wanted to use any powders, including blush; highlighter; and bronzer, we have a quick and easy tip to help you prevent any from getting near your healing piercing. Simply take a business card and use it to cover your healing piercing while you apply powder, blending afterward. You can even use a business card to protect your piercing when you use setting spray!

Lip & Other Oral Piercings

Use eyeshadow and even foundation to your heart’s desire, but keep your looks lipstick-free. Even if you have smudge-proof, transfer-proof liquid lipstick, think of how hard you have to scrub your lips to remove it. That simply wouldn’t be great if you’re also healing a labret piercing.

The good news is that you should be totally fine to wear lipstick again in 2-4 weeks. That is unless you are healing a vertical philtrum or vertical labret. For these, we recommend you remain lipstick-free until they’re fully healed.

How to Safely Remove Makeup with a Healing Facial Piercing

The main concerns with makeup removal surround two things: First, you don’t want any harsh chemicals to come in contact with your piercing because it could seriously irritate it and prolong healing. Second, you don’t want to use anything that could possibly get caught and snag your new piercing, which causes trauma to the area and could result in a pesky red bump near the piercing.

One way around this is to take a Q-tip or a tiny piece of gauze and dip it in some micellar water. Then you can carefully and gently wipe away the makeup.

The Main Point

While going makeup-free would be the easiest and preferred method for most piercers, we get that it’s hard to eliminate it from your daily look. Just make sure you’re careful with your application and removal. And hey, piercings are meant to enhance your natural beauty anyway. Be confident to show yours.