The Budget Babe | Affordable Fashion & Style Blog

Beauty Review: Contact Wearers Beware

Just this past week I ran out of my wonderfully fabulous Unstoppable eyeliner by Maybelline New York. In a panic, seeing as I have some kind of psychological problem that makes my palms sweat and nerves shake if I leave my house without eyeliner, I ran to my local Jewel Osco to quickly snatch up a replacement. Unfortunately for me, they were all out of the Unstoppeable liner - but had a new product called Line Stylist, also by Maybelline New York - and so I bought it. Same company, same idea, same thing, right? WRONG!!!



After using the Line Stylist eyeliner I found myself unable to see through my contacts, as a mysterious white film had developed on the lenses. Nothing seemed to get it off, not my regular cleaner, not special strong cleaner, not even enzyme cleaner. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of feeling like I rubbed my contact on a greasy porkchop before sticking it in my eye. But Budget Beauty Babe, you say, how could the eyeliner possibly be to blame? Well, that’s also what my boyfriend said to me as I hysterically popped my lenses in and out trying to wash them off while screeching that it must be the new eyeliner.

So to prove my theory, I did a little experiment: clean them (as best I could) put them in with it, and then repeat without it. Needless to say, since this is a warning post, it WAS in fact the eyeliner. I also had this confirmed later by an eyedoctor, seeing as its taken me over a week to get my lenses back to a clean enough state where I can see through them again. Vile!

Granted, I wear rigid gas permeable contact lenses (better for your eyes, the environment, and your wallet ladies!) so that’s why I can’t just toss them and put in a clean pair, but regardless, in my time of greasy vision I’ve done some research online and found that this problem will simply destroy soft contacts. So beware ladies! Do NOT wear Line Stylist eyeliner if you wear contacts! I immediately threw mine away, and ran to Walgreens where I bought another stick of Unstoppable eyeliner, my faithful friend. In addition to classic black, I recommend Sapphire, a beautiful dark blue color that looks great on lots of skin tones!

xoxo
The Budget Beauty Babe
Comments
hhahaha! Love the picture BB, hilarious! :-D and great advice to the BBB!
#1 Peaches (Homepage) on 2007-11-17 12:07 (Reply)
Oh, and I didn't mention it in the article, but another great budget pickup beauty gadget is the Ultrasonic Contact lens cleaner- I really thought it was going to be a hoax, but then I purchased one online while researching how to clean my makeup greased contacts- and I've found that it works miracles. In addition to removing whatever is on the lenses (biological or chemical) it also will save me money. The cleaner works with regular old saline solution or purified water, and so instead of spending $40 dollars a month on cleaner, solution and enzyme cleaner, I can now buy a $1.50 bottle of Saline Solution and have even cleaner and more sterile lenses! The machine is amazing, I highly recommend it to anyone with rigid gas permeable lenses!
#2 Budget Beauty Babe on 2007-11-17 12:11 (Reply)
sale tip: Boston Simplus conditioning solution for rigid gas permeable contact lenses is on sale at Target, 2 for $13!!! I bought 4 bottles :-)
#2.1 pinkpetunia on 2007-11-18 21:42 (Reply)
next time you have a grease-on-the-contacts problem, try johnson's baby shampoo. doesn't hurt the lens and when you pop it back in the eye it feel very refreshing and clean and actually soothes the eyes.

also, this is why i don't wear mascara, especially the kind that 'extends' the lashes, which means little pieces of something are attached to your lash to make it longer. a couple of times these extender-thingies got behind my gas perm contact and ouch ouch ouch!
if these impurities stick around, they can cause a little cyst to form on the inside of your eyelid and it's very uncomfortable and sometimes takes months to get rid of, during which time you can't wear your contact. not worth it.
:-)
#3 maggie z on 2007-11-17 15:57 (Reply)
the things you do in the name of science! good thing you don't test on animals - it would be a swine (no pun intended!) to get the lenses in a cat or dog's eye to check!
how do they do that? ha ha ha
bytheway, you're lucky you didn't get some kind of infection - you should notify maybelline - maybe they'll give you a year's supply of free stuff so you don't sue! but seriously, you should tell them you had to go to the eye doctor and tell them how much you spent and ask them to reimburse you. i'm not kidding. this could really cause somebody some harm.
:-)
#4 pirate jenny on 2007-11-17 16:04 (Reply)
Great both ideas! I will pick up some johnsons baby shampoo next time i'm at the store, and I will also write a letter to Maybelline. You're very right, even if I don't get reimbursed, its good to notify them so that they do something so other people don't get hurt by this stuff (maybe I'll at least get a coupon out of all this! :-P )
#5 BBB on 2007-11-17 19:00 (Reply)
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