Under-eye puffiness and dark circles have been a nightmare for me ever since I hit puberty and started caring about my appearance. Often it’s genetic, allergy or liver related, but regardless of the cause, it remains a nuisance that’s hard to get rid of. Gaining a better understanding of the causes and combining different kinds of actions or treatments is necessary if you want to tackle the problem properly.
It you can, change some habits:
- Sleeping on your back may help: sleeping on your side or stomach encourages under eye fluid retention (which can also be caused by allergies or kidney problems).
- Be gentle when removing makeup and refrain from rubbing your eyes: under-eye skin is extremely sensitive. Never go to bed with makeup on so your skin can breathe at night and your pores aren’t clogged.
- Wear sunglasses and use plenty of sunscreen.
- Try to cut down on alcohol and cigarettes.
- Food: Don’t skip your fruit and veggies. Vitamins are essential for under-eye problems. Try to cut down on the salts in your diet, since these also have a dehydrating effect. Moreover, an iron deficiency can give a bluish tinge to the skin. Drink lots of water!
Eye Creams and Serums:
The countless eye-creams and eye-serums on the market leaves many of us discouraged, since nothing ever seems to actually work. I had tried everything out there, from natural remedies to high-end brands, but nothing ever gave me any kind of proper results. The most important working factors of these creams are the moisturising and cooling effects. Look for vitamin K, B12 and antioxidants when shopping for your next eye cream.
At first I was pretty enthusiastic about “Diamond Infused” Eye Serum by Forever Flawless and the Diamond Infused Instant Wrinkle Eraser Cream, since they both seemed to give immediate results. If I hadn’t received these items for review purposes, I would never have bought them though. The results are merely superficial and temporary, and the ridiculous price-tags of $400 and $600 dollars are just plain scandalous. Sure is a lot cheaper to quit smoking and use hemorrhoid cream or cucumber slices, but this stuff does seem to work (better than the ridiculously priced La Mer eye cream or useless cooling Clinique roller pen for example).
Just remember to keep moisturising, and look for products with ingredients that are beneficial for the under eye area
I love Hydropeptide’s Eye Authority, which I was enthusiastic about as soon as I saw the results in the salon. Next to these subtle, but instant results, it seems to have all the goodness a proper eye cream needs to give long-term benefits.
I can’t say my oversized bags have been reduced to clutches just yet, but we’re getting there.
Applying Eye Cream:
- Store your eye-cream in the fridge: it will last a lot longer and the cooling effect of the gel or cream will help combat puffiness too.
- When applying the cream, sweep inwards through the ocular bone (from the corner of the eye downwards): this has a decongesting effect.
- Read more about the Clarisonic Opal here: a handy device that helps the skin absorb eye-serum and combats puff and wrinkles.
DIY fixes:
Michelle Phan’s DIY gel with liquorish extract, vitamin K, and aloe gel:
Or her DIY Ice Cucumber Pads:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD9TAfFEp9A
Or you could try the coffee and coconut oil mix:
Camouflage under-eye bags with Makeup:
by Nezar Kadhem
- Start by applying your foundation cream over your entire face.
- If necessary, use a concealer with a warm, yellow undertone to conceal blue or purple discolouration (since yellow is opposite to blue on the colour wheel, it will neutralise the bluish tinge).
- To get rid of the puffiness: use a concealer that’s 2 shades lighter than your skin tone and benefit from the art of optical illusion by applying it ONLY to the shadows that your bags create.
- Gently finish off with a translucent powder so that everything stays in place.
Plastic surgery for Under Eye Circles:
As a last resort, plastic surgery can be an option, although effective treatments are yet to be invented. Possibilities include lower eyelid surgery (downside is the scarring of course), injectable fillers (downside: does not last long, there’s a risk of ending up with lumps and can be painful). Laser treatment may help lessen pigmentation and can therefore especially help for discolouration, but is less appropriate for puffiness.
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