It’s time to get spooky safely this Halloween!
It’s October and that means cosy fluffy socks, orange autumn leaves, Strictly Come Dancing and of course Halloween! Now I have to admit I don’t love everything Halloween, I’m not into the “super” scary parts of Halloween. (I’d like to point out that I’m not a wimp, I just don’t dig the “super” scary stuff like killer clowns and demon nuns). I do however enjoy seeing carved pumpkins appear on peoples doorsteps, the decorations, and of course the dressing up in spooky outfits. However, this year isn’t quite going to plan.
It’s all a bunch of hocus pocus
Every year I get excited about getting dressed up and either going to a fancy-dress party or going trick or treating. I love picking out my costume and deciding how I’ll do my face paint. Over the years I have been many things from a witch to a pumpkin (I’ll be honest being a pumpkin was my favourite) and this year I’d planned to dress up in a skull candy “Day of the Dead” costume. I’d watched millions of tutorials on how to do my face paint, picked out an outfit that was perfect and couldn’t wait! Little did I know what was in store for me.
The desired result
The Inspiration
The result
A night of horror!
So much so that I decided to do a test run of how everything would look. So, I started my face paint, got all my face lovely and white ready to do all the intricate designs and flares. But my face began to feel warm and sting slightly.
Now I thought, maybe as I don’t put a lot of makeup and such, I thought perhaps my face just wasn’t use to being caked and so couldn’t “breath” or “air” in the way it should. I began my designs, however the warm slightly stinging sensation quickly changed to burning red hot!
I ran into my bathroom and washed of the face paint off as quickly as I possibly could but even after I got it off, I still felt like my face was burning less so then before but it was still pretty uncomfortable. When I eventually looked in the mirror, I resembled what I can only describe as a very red strawberry with white spots all over my face. Clearly, I’d had a reaction to the face paint.
An unwanted fright
Now you’re probably wondering why I am telling you this burning red hot story and why it even matters? Well two reasons; one, I hope my stupidity stops you from making my mistake, and two, nobody wants to sit on their sofa on a Sunday night with a bag of peas stuck to their face for an hour. In my excitement to do my face paint I hadn’t read the back of the packet. The place where it said to do a patch test beforehand, to ensure that when you put it on your face you didn’t look like a strawberry! (well done Xanthe, great look you got going at the moment).
Happy Halloween
Now I’ve face painted my face hundreds of time and never did I have a problem or any sort of reaction until now. I’m not saying that me doing this is in anyway life altering, but do it with something else, like your eyes and it could be. Many of us wear contact lenses; we go see our optician and they provide us with the best contact lenses for our needs. Now I wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else for my contact lenses, yet every year around Halloween, some people go into accessory shops or market stalls and buy funky colourful cosmetic contact lenses.
The effect these lenses can have on our eyes can be life altering, in some cases leading to serious infections, ulcers and even blindness. So if you’re thinking of trying coloured contacts this year, then PLEASE visit your optician and have the contact lenses professionally fitted. Your optician will find the right contact lenses for you and teach you how to put them in and take them out safely. They’ll have you looking funky and spooky safely, with any unwanted Halloween horrors.
So take a tip from Xanthe’s book and visit your optician if you want to change your eye colour
