Dark Eye Circles & Puffiness

Ok, you’ve just about gotten your skin to start looking better but one thing still plagues you.

Dark circles!

Here’s what is really going on and how to make it go away.

Dark circles are primarily caused by one (or sometimes two) intrinsic factors:

1. Slow blood flow.

A hereditary cause of under-eye darkness.  Slow blood flow results in accumulation of hemosiderin (a pigment that contains iron oxide) in the skin. Diffcult to eliminate, but the clients that we put on a combination of vitamin K and retinol helps. Vitamin K alone may help. There is vitamin K in mineral makeup lines like Jane Iredale, which heals your dark circles when it hides them.

2. Melanin.

When exposed to sun, that melanin in your skin causes skin to darken,  especially skin under the eyes.

Daily sunscreen is a big must, and so is reapplying if you’re in and out of the sun.

Go for physical sunscreens,  ditch the chemical ones. These will contain titanium dioxide and won’t sting your skin or eye area.

3. Lack of Sleep.

Sleep-deprivation increases under-eye darkness by restricting blood flow, creating puffiness in that delicate area. Prioritize your shut-eye!

Say bye bye raccoon eyes.

Who or what invented the concept of dark eye rings? Seems 90% of it is down to plain & simple lack of sleep.

Too little sleep ups cortisol levels, causing skin to retain fluid among other ‘nasties’. Combine that with poor eating habits , sun damage, and allergies, and eureka,  dark circles and eye bags.

Preemptive strike:

Here’s a tip that may run opposite to what you’ve heard so far. Drink a glass of water before bed, yes you heard us right;  this reduces puffiness by decreasing the amount of salt in the body.

Store an eye gel in the fridge and pat it around the eye area before bed.

Elevate the head of your bed or sleep on a thick pillow to prevent fluid from settling under the eyes.

In the morning, using  an eye cream that contains both antioxidants & light diffusing particles, such as Neutrogena Radiance Boost, or one that has cucumber extract as an ingredient, helps a lot.

If allergies are the ones contributing to the raccon effect, take an antihistamine.

Counterstrike:

Any eye cream that contains caffeine helps remove fluid from the skin.

Cold tea bags have tannins which also reduce puffiness.

Our favourite trick for circles would be to dab on vitamin k. Vitamin K is used in operations to reduce bruising after surgeries and it has been formulated for eye circles in a number of products. We also like the use of retinol, which makes lines less noticeable over time.

From there it is all about camouflage. We  like to cover rings with  light-reflecting concealer and if you finish off with a white eye pencil rubbed on the inner corners of the eyes, vavoom.

That trick alone makes you look alert even if you’re not.  Only Jane Iredale of course, the mineral makeup is best suited for sensitive skin.

Specials:

Vita K for dark eye circles now available in store at $79.90.  10% off for the first ten readers of this post.