Hide Undereye Circles

I’ve had a number of queries lately on the topic of dark under-eye circles - more pertinently – how to get rid of them! Well, the bad news is that you can’t eradicate them completely, but the good news is that you can do a pretty good job of concealing them with make-up!

What Causes Dark Circles?

Dark circles are cased by inflammation underneath the eye. This inflammation casts a shadow underneath the eye, which results in the ‘dark circle’. Inflammation can be caused by a number of things – illness, allergies, tiredness, dehydration, stress, smoking etc. so the first thing you should do when tackling under-eye circles is find the cause. Once you now what it is, you can manage it going forward.

Remove inflammation:

There are a few ways of reducing the inflammation that causes dark circles.

• Lifestyle changes: sleep (8 hours per night), water (8 glasses per day) and a good healthy diet will work wonders.
• Stay out of the sun: Dark circles are often created and exacerbated by sun damage. Always wear a minimum SPF15 when out in the sun.
• Cold compress: I find that pressing cold teaspoons against the affected area for a minute or so works wonders. Cucumber slices work a treat also.
• Caffeine: And no, I don’t mean drinking coffee! Eye-creams that contain caffeine are great at reducing dark circles. Gentle pressing cold teabags against the affected area also helps.

Covering Dark Circles with Concealer:

• Step 1: Using a concealer brush (small brush with synthetic hair, e.g. MAC 194), apply a small amount of peach/pink toned concealer over the dark circles (pink/peach conceals blue/purple). Blend thoroughly; I use a MAC #224 small fluffy brush for this.
• Step 2: Using your concealer brush again, cover with a yellow-toned concealer. I take the yellow concealer right up to the lower lash-line and down to the cheekbone. Again, blend well with a fluffy brush.
• Step 3: Once you are happy with the coverage, set the concealer with powder, using your small fluffy brush.

Caroline Recommends:

• Light / day-to-day coverage: Catrice All-Round Concealer Palette contains 2 pink and 2 yellow shades (ignore the green one which is supposed to cover red pigmentation, but isn’t very good to be honest) and is great value at €3.79.
• Professional / flawless coverage: Bobbi Brown Corrector (peach/pink toned e.g. “Light Bisque”) and Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer (yellow toned e.g. “Sand”) are the best on the market.

Yours in style,
Caroline

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