Dark Circles Under Your Eyes: How to Fight Back

By: Aysha Schurman

Most people have experienced dark circles under their eyes at one time or another. These circles can be caused by allergies, stress, exhaustion, poor health or even plain genetics. Regardless of the reason, dark undereye circles can be prevented, managed and even covered up.

Prevent
To help prevent dark circles under your eyes, you need to stay hydrated, inside and out, so that your skin is at its optimal condition. Get plenty of rest and eat healthily to keep yourself in optimal condition. Managing your allergies and doing what you can to prevent allergy attacks can also help reduce the chance of dark circles.

Because pigmentation plays a factor in dark undereye circles, exposure to the sun can make the problem worse. Use a moisturizer with SPF to help protect the area and wear sunglasses that cover your undereye area to keep the problem from getting worse.

Manage
Cosmetics or moisturizers containing vitamins C and K can help strengthen the capillary walls under your eyes. This thickening helps diminish the visibility and look of dark circles or veins. For extreme cases there are laser treatments that may help. One treatment causes greater collagen production to help reduce circle and vein visibility. Another destroys the pigmentation under the eye, making the area noticeably lighter.

Cover up
To cover dark undereye circles with makeup, you need a second concealer. You want to go a shade or two lighter than the concealer you use on the rest of your face. This helps even out the dark patches and makes them blend better with the rest of your skin.

Most major cosmetic labels offer concealers especially for under the eye. However, you need to be careful about any single concealer product that's supposed to work for everyone. The color may be all wrong for you and cause a raccoon eyes effect.

For the most natural look, apply your undereye concealer before your general concealer to help cover up dark circles. You want to blend the undereye area very gently after application. Then use your general concealer on the rest of your face, again remembering to blend. Next, blend the undereye and general concealer together where your eye socket ends and cheekbone begins.

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