Whether its one bad nights sleep or several, your eyes can look tired and make you look older. Thankfully, with a bit of makeup, you can conceal dark circles, reduce the appearance of bags and make your eyes appear brighter. With a few daily adjustments, it is possible even reduce them over time.
Differences in skin pigmentation, lack of sleep and even your trusted skin cream can lead to dark circles and bags under the eyes, lets look at the top tips for hiding them away.
Conceal dark circles
To mask dark circles, you will need a concealer at least one shade lighter than your natural skin tone. You need to lift the darker colour, so whilst a skin matched concealer will reduce the circles, you will get a better result with something a bit lighter.
Be sure to use a concealer that is designed to go under the eyes, a thick foundation can be cakey and just add weight to the area. The skin is thin so you need something that gives good coverage but not too heavy and remember to remove it carefully at the end of the day.
Eye serums to tighten skin
Bags and dark circles can be reduced with a good eye serum, some offer instant results for brighter looking eyes. Products containing caffeine are reportedly effective for restricting blood vessels helping to tighten the skin around the eye.
Hiding or temporarily reducing dark circles and puffiness is great in the short-term, but longer term, there are some steps you can take to help reduce the appearance of tired-looking eyes.
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Get a good nights sleep
We associate dark circles with a lack of sleep. We often see images of people suffering with insomnia with a sunken, dark appearance to the eyes, and for good reason. A lack of sleep can make dark circles and bags appear worse, have you ever noticed how a bad night’s sleep makes you look much older? When you sleep, your body uses this time to renew cells, repair muscles and tissue and eradicate toxins, if you are not sleeping, your body can’t carry out these important functions and they soon show in your skin.
Seek the right medical attention
Sometimes dark circles and eye bags are a sign of illness, allergies or health condition. If this is the case, it is a good idea to seek medical advice to address the underlying cause and get the right medication to help you recover.
Eat right
Skin is an organ, the largest one you have, it is fed nutrients and oxygen through your blood vessels and it takes care of itself by secreting oils to stop you from dehydrating and requires water to remain hydrated.
Your skin does a lot to take care of you, it acts as a barrier to external pathogens, it helps eliminate waste from your body, it aids in temperature regulation as well as many other things that keep you healthy.
It only seems fair then, that you should look after your skin. Drinking enough water and eating a vitamin rich diet, especially vitamins C, E and A will help keep your skin healthy and bright.
Use skin products correctly
If you are using the same face cream all over your face, wildly rubbing it in as part of a hurried morning routine, you could be making dark circles and eye bags worse. The skin under your eyes is one of the thinnest on your body and the large molecules found in face and body moisturisers can be a bit much for the delicate skin to manage.
Use the right product
Steer clear of the delicate eye areas with face and body creams. Avoid the area above the ridge of your cheekbones when putting on your face cream and instead gently pat a small amount of eye cream or eye serum onto the thinner skin. Doing this daily will give your eyes a brighter look, and keep skin in great condition. If you are over 40, look for anti-aging skin serums.
Remove makeup
Carefully and again, using an eye friendly product. Don’t be too rough around the area. A good eye make up remover will do the work for you. Hold a cotton pad with the eye makeup remover on your closed eye for a minute to let the product soak in and then gently wipe your eyes. Your lashes will thank you too.
Clean your skin
Get into the habit of cleansing, toning and moisturising morning and night. This is good advice for men and women, skin is skin. Use gentle upward strokes to apply the products and wipe them of gently. Toner is important, it gets rid of residual cleanser and balances the PH of your skin, so don’t skip this step. Your skin will love this routine, remember, use your eye cream or eye serum each time.
Stop rubbing your eyes
We have all done it when we are tired or our eyes feel irritated but try and get out of the habit. Pulling the delicate skin around the eyes will make it appear puffy and baggy, not to mention that you run the risk of transferring bacteria from your hands to your eyes.