Seeing Circles Before Your Eyes? Beauty Tip Tuesday- March 9, 2010

A very common concern among many women as well as men is under eye circles. Some of us may have inherited our grandmothers "circles" or we may be noticing them more and more with age.

What is it really that's causing these shadows?

For the simplest explanation, they are tiny blood vessels just under the skin. Even though it's mostly an inherited trait there can be several other elements that contribute to the dilation of the blood vessels. Lack of sleep, not enough water, allergies, medications, and of course, age. More serious medical conditions such as anemia, bad blood circulation, or Periorbital hyperpigmentation; increased melanin production around the eyes, should never be over looked.

So let's just say we woke up after a night out and took one shocking glance at the deep puffy results of what too much alcohol and not enough water will do, and we need to look our best for this mornings 9 a.m. meeting!

What to do?

First and foremost get some fluids in your body a.s.a.p.! Rinse the face with cold water, soaking the eyes with cool water will constrict the skin, and promote blood circulation quickly. If you have tea bags available, (seriously), soak and press over the eyes for five to ten minutes. *The tea must be caffeinated. The caffeine is key to help decongest the skin and promote blood circulation. A sliced raw potato also will firm as well as sooth the fragile skin under the eye.
Then we have the consumer who is looking for the miracle eye treatment in a jar, quick fix, magic potion, that will turn back time.
Beware.
Eye creams; effective, high-grade creams may cost more than your entire spring make-up wardrobe combined. If you are ready to invest in an eye cream that will satisfy your expectations in an eye treatment; of my sixteen years of trying any and all eye creams offered throughout Nordstrom, Saks, Neimans, and Barneys, no one has come close to the nano-technology, peptide rich eye cream created by 3Lab($250.). Remember an eye cream is a treatment that needs to be applied both day and night, after appropriately prepping the face for the last layers of moisturizer and eye cream. Many also make the mistake in believing that more is better. The skin around the eye is delicate and minute, and really doesn't require a lot of product. By using a small spatula or Qtip, you need to only "dot" the product around the orbital bone from brow arch around the outside corners of the eye to just below the eye "ring". Use only your pinkie and or ring finger to tap in the product so as not to pull on the skin. (Less is more, especially considering the cost of the product, let's not waste this precious little miracle!)

Last but not least how to conceal under eye circles. Depending on the skin tone one has, we have several options. For the fair and thin skinned, typically the coloration under the eyes will appear lavender to blue. Using a yellow to peachy toned concealer(Kanebo) you can quickly correct the cool tones and smooth the eye coloring easily. If your skin is tan to dark, and suffering from under eye circles, the circles may appear more brown to purple-ish beneath the eyes. By smoothing a beige to pinkish lavender toned concealer(By Terry) with the matching skin toned foundation you will brighten and correct under the eyes with ease. Avoid the hype of green and blue concealers to correct anything on the face, unless you have a pro- makeup artist applying it. Most people come back dissatisfied with color correctors because of the time involved in blending it into a natural effect.