You can’t fool us, we know those bags under your eyes aren’t designer. However, thanks to our good friends known as Skincare and Makeup, we can protect your peepers from being victimized by puffy and dark villains.
Why do I have dark circles under my eyes?
It sucks waking up looking like you’ve been punched in the face; sufferers of dark under-eye circles know this feeling all too well. But what causes dark circles? Why are we forever cursed to look exhausted if we choose to go makeup free?
Most people automatically blame sleep or lack of it. When you’re battling fatigue, the veins under your eyes are affected; making shadows seem even darker. Although tossing and turning at night doesn’t help the situation, it’s not the main culprit.
So, what’s responsible for your gloomy peepers? Lots of things, such as genetics, ageing and thin under-eye skin that causes the veins to seem more prominent. When we’re young, our skin is kept firm and taught by a little thing called collagen. As we get older, collagen likes to flee the building, leaving the blood vessels around our eyes more visible. Damn you collagen!
How do I treat dark circles?
If this pesky condition is caused by the natural ageing process, what on Earth can we do to battle it? Firstly, get some darn sleep. Like, eight hours of it. For the other cases, it involves taking care of the fragile skin around your eyes. You want it to be hydrated and try to retain the firmness as long as possible.
First of all, get yourself a decent eye cream. Regular face cream is usually too heavy for around the eye area and can actually drag your skin down. You want to look for ones with ingredients aimed at nixing fine lines and brightening your skin. Caffeine constricts blood vessels and boosts circulation, making it great for helping dark circles vanish. You’ll also want to look for hyaluronic acid, which is one of the most hydrating ingredients out there. Retinoic acid is also great for thickening out that thin skin, temporarily masking the shadows.Make sure you apply any under-eye products gently by dabbing on with your ring finger. Don’t rub or drag; you don’t want to pull the skin.
What makeup do I need to hide the dark circles?
You seriously need to get in on the colour correcting train. Peach and pinky tones counteract the purple dark circle tones, so you wanna make that your first step after eye cream. Next comes the foundation and concealer. Under your eyes, you can afford to go a couple of shades lighter than your normal concealer. And rather than dabbing it just where the dark circles are, apply it in sort of a triangle where the point goes down into your cheek area. Yes, you will look sort of like a clown when you first put it on, but it will brighten up the whole area when you blend it. This illusion makes your cheekbones appear higher, as well as covering the dark circles, leading you to look more awake. You can also achieve this effect with a concealer that has illuminating pigments.
Lastly, to avoid smudging or creasing, set your concealer with a translucent under eye powder. This will help all your hard work stay in place. And remember, when you’re removing all the makeup, be gentle. Your poor eyes need tenderness to stay as … erm, bright-eyed as possible.
In her spare time, she likes long walks down the makeup aisle and performing in Brisbane theatre. You can follow her adventures on Instagram and TikTok @thebeautypalate.
