Every girl likes her bags, except when they are under her eyes. The skin under your eyes is thin and sensitive, making it vulnerable to a host of concerns. Baggy eyes, dark circles, puffiness, wrinkles under eyes – these woes are usually a result of sleepless nights, poor diet and lifestyle, and sometimes just genetics.
A small but simple step to begin combating your under-eye concerns is to hydrate the area with the right under eye cream for your skin.
Why eye cream?
Face moisturisers trap moisture in the skin and hydrate it. They are often formulated with other ingredients that help boost overall skin health and nourish it from within.
The skin around your eyes, apart from being the thinnest and most delicate on your body, has minimal oil glands. This means that this area is prone to dryness. Eye creams are moisturisers specifically formulated to handle this delicate, dry skin. This means they do not have any ingredients or fragrances that can irritate the skin. Instead, they are developed with targeted ingredients that soothe, hydrate and instantly lift tired-looking eyes. Eye cream uses also include treating fine lines, crow’s feet, dark circles and other signs of ageing.
Plump it up
Just like your eyes, the skin under them also often dries out and is susceptible to irritation. Hydrating eye moisturizers, especially those packed with humectants including glycerin and hyaluronic acid, trap the water in your skin, helping add plumpness and suppleness. Beeswax, mineral oils, and squalane, all of which are also known as occlusive ingredients, form a barrier between the skin and the air preventing trans-epidermal water loss.
Fine lines, please get in line
Fine lines and wrinkles are caused by the loss of collagen and elasticity with age. All that blinking and squinting at your screens throughout the day also add to these fine lines. Eye creams powered with peptides or retinol help rebuild collagen in the area. Other lifestyle changes such as protection from the sun, resting the eyes enough with a healthy sleep cycle, and avoiding smoking are more permanent, longer term cures for fine lines and wrinkles.
Power without the puff
Contradictory to popular belief, under-eye creams cannot diminish puffiness. They can, however, temporarily minimise it. Eye creams with high concentrations of caffeine can restrict blood flow to the area and reduce puffiness. Aloe vera and green tea in eye creams also help swelling with their soothing and cooling properties. Vitamin C in eye creams help even out and illuminate the skin tone.
They’re creams, not miracle workers
While topical eye creams can help keep signs of ageing at bay and provide that much needed hydration to your skin, they are not permanent fixes to any eye care related concern. Neither can they permanently reduce puffiness, nor do they eliminate dark circles. Overall diet and lifestyle changes, regulation of your sleep cycle, consultations with your dermatologists – all of these are essential to wholistically target your under eye problems.
How to use eye cream?
If you do add eye creams to your routine, make sure you use them once daily. If eye creams are used at night, the time spent in bed can be used to absorb all their benefits. However, eye creams with certain ingredients such as caffeine and SPF would be better if applied in the morning. Follow the instructions on the label and remember to use your ring finger to dab not rub the eye cream only to your under eye. Eye creams applied to the eyelid may end up irritating your eyes.
