It's Blue Monday: how to fix your makeup after a good cry All the steps to hide every trace

Can we just say it? Crying feels so good. I love it. Letting it all out, dropping everything for ten minutes and allowing, for instance, Blue Monday (which this year falls on January 19 and is known as the saddest day of the year) to do its dirty emotional work. It’s the perfect excuse, the most convenient pretext. The problem comes after, when you look at yourself in the mirror: puffy eyes, mascara everywhere, and a base that gave up before you did. And since it’s absolutely fine to feel everything but not always desirable to show it or explain it to the world, pulling yourself together becomes almost an act of self-care. Like a full reset: cry, then recompose. Here’s a small post-cry survival guide, perfect for a day like this.

Blue Monday 2026: how to fix your makeup after a good cry

First step: soothe your mood and your face

After a crying session, we all end up with flushed skin, whether from rubbing tissues or from emotions spilling out. That’s why the first step is all about calming down. Pause for a moment, take a deep breath (or ten), and slow everything down. A good face mist instantly helps soothe stressed skin, especially if it also features a relaxing scent like lavender or chamomile. In this case, aromatherapy is truly essential. An extra bonus? Apply a few drops of anti-redness eye drops: your eyes are always the first to give you away.

Second step: remove smudges and streaks

A tip: if you’re in a particularly sensitive phase and feel like you could break down at any moment, always carry a lip balm and a few cotton swabs with you. They’ll literally save your life when it comes to removing mascara smudges without leaving traces. Apply a bit of lip balm to one end of the swab to melt away clumps and stains on the face, then use the clean end to remove excess oil.

Third step: depuff your eyes

As mentioned before, your eyes are always the first to betray you. After crying, they turn red and puffy, and the moment you step out of the bathroom you hid in, you’re met with the dreaded question: “Why are your eyes so glossy, did you cry?” And honestly, who feels like explaining that no, nothing serious happened, you just watched yet another TikTok of a dog recognizing its owner coming back from a mission? Now, eye drops may have taken care of redness, but puffiness requires something else: cold water. If you’re at home, the most effective method is applying a good depuffing eye cream with caffeine and using two spoons left in the freezer for a few minutes. In emergency situations outside the house, simply rinsing your face - especially your eyes - with very cold water for a few seconds helps a lot.

Fourth step: conceal redness

Now it’s time to hide every trace of crying. The most useful product in these situations is green color corrector: it neutralizes redness and conceals it perfectly. That said, anything you have on hand in your bag will do: foundation, skin tint, or classic concealer. Apply it to the areas most affected by redness: nose, around the nose, and eyelids. Under the eyes, instead, opt for a pink-toned concealer: it instantly brightens the gaze and makes it look more rested.

Fifth step: final touch-ups

All that’s left now is to finish fixing the makeup you had on before crying buckets of tears. A few swipes of mascara to open up the eyes, a touch of blush to rebalance a complexion completely numbed by the previous concealer, and of course your go-to lip combo to regain at least a bit of confidence. At this point, you can head back - carefree enough  - to wherever you were hiding, as if nothing had happened (more or less).