18 Aug Showing off your best asset during COVID-19: your eyes
Who would’ve thought 2020 would’ve played out the way it did? Certainly not me. With face masks now considered the new normal, I can’t help but pay more attention to my eye area.
I’ve been getting pretty adventurous trying out new colors, mascaras, and brow shapes to try to make my only feature (my eyes) I can still show off stand out. When spending time in front of the mirror creating these new masterpieces, I can’t help but notice the dark circles and fine lines starting to form around the eyes.
Now more than ever is the time to look after our main feature and ensure our eyes look bright, sparkly, and youthful. I’m going to be sharing a few of my hacks I learned along the way to achieve more youthful eyes.
- Get enough Sleep
Lack of sleep can affect your overall health including your eye area. Lack of sleep is often associated with dark circles. There is some truth to this as lack of sleep is said to increase the retention of blood and fluid around the eyes, leading to those dreaded dark circles. So make sure you are getting your 8 hours in each night to improve circulation around the eyes and have them looking brighter and more youthful.
- Preventative Botox
Preventive Botox (AKA: baby botox) really is a girl’s best friend when trying to maintain youthful eyes.
The skin around the eye area is very delicate and a lot thinner than the skin found on the rest of the face. We also blink roughly every 3 seconds. This equates to 19,200 times in a day. When we smile, we use a lot of muscles in our face including the muscles around the eyes. I also find now that I am wearing a mask, I smile even bigger hoping that people can tell I’m smiling just by looking at my eyes. All of this movement going on around the eye area causes the skin around the eyes to move and because this skin is so delicate with time these creases start to become more permanent.
Botox works by relaxing certain muscles around the eye area to prevent these creases from forming. So we can still blink and smile but without those horrid lines. And just think, if we can prevent those movements before there are permanent lines this is going to prevent or delay them from appearing as we begin to age. Yay!
- Medical Grade Eye Creams
I have already mentioned that the skin around the eye area is different from the rest of our face. The average thickness of our eyelid skin is only around 0.5mm thick whereas other areas of the body the skin can be as thick as 4mm. It is no wonder we should be treating this area differently to the rest of the face and body.
Because the eye skin is thinner it tends to age faster. It is also more likely that you can see underlying blood supply, commonly known as dark circles. Medical grade eye creams are designed to stimulate collagen in this delicate area as well as improve circulation improving the appearance of fine lines.
My top picks for eye creams are:
TNS Illuminating Eye Cream® not only includes TNS® (Human derived growth factors) to improve the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, skin tone, and texture, but it also contains peptides to help support the skin around the eyes. Additionally, this product has unique ingredients to help improve the appearance of dark circles.
The ZO Skin Health Intense Eye Cream formula is one of the only eye creams that contain retinol. Most of us know the magical benefits of retinol by now. Retinol increases skin cell turnover, so your old dead skin is removed to reveal the fresh new skin underneath.
This eye cream also contains peptides to help increase the production of collagen for firmer, more elastic skin. As well as antioxidants to protect against free radical damage caused by environmental factors.
- Eye Masks
Because the eye area can give away how we are really feeling. Eye masks are a great way to hydrate and brighten the area for an instant pick me up. Leaving you looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed even if you didn’t get your 8 hours sleep. My favorite eye mask is the Colorescience Total Eye Concentration Kit, this kit is made up of a concentrate that works hard while you rest. A potent, concentrated blend of active ingredients that delivers immediate cooling hydration and long-term results against visible signs of aging in the eye area. As well as hydro-gel treatment masks infused with powerful ingredients to provide intense hydration and improve the appearance of eye area concerns. The hydro-gel mask Application follows the Total Eye® Concentrate to provide a protective barrier to lock in hydration.
- Collagen induction treatments
From the age of 25, we begin to lose collagen at the rate of 1% per year. This is usually noticeable first around the delicate eye area. My absolute favorite treatment to boost collagen content in my skin is micro-needling. I love this treatment because the tip of the micro-needling device is so tiny it can get right underneath the lash line, into the inner corner of the eye, and even over the delicate eyelid area, unlike laser treatments where the eye area needs to be covered with protective goggles and avoided to prevent damage to the actual retina. This is why I always choose micro-needling when I want to focus on my eyes. Micro-needling works by using a pen-like device that has tiny needles that oscillate up and down on the skin (it sounds painful but it’s really not as the skin is numbed before the treatment). These little needles create a controlled injury within the skin. Much like when you cut yourself and the body heals. Well, the same thing is happening but in a controlled environment. What happens is the skin responds and releases growth factors to the area to encourage healing. We all know that growth factors stimulate new collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid in the skin making the treated area look more youthful after a series of treatments. If you haven’t tried this amazing treatment make sure to book today!
- Drink enough water
If you do not drink enough water the body and ultimately the skin becomes dehydrated. This shows up are fine criss-cross lines on the skin and an overall dull complexion. Because our body is 70% water when we drink water our body first replaces all its other reservoirs before it gets to the skin. So, make sure you are getting your full 8 glasses so that your skin reservoirs get replenished too.
- Choose make-up techniques that accentuate your eyes
When applying make-up to the eye area there are a few things you need to consider. Firstly, make sure you choose a mineral-based make-up. This will prevent skin irritation and congestion around the eye area. A personal favorite is the Total Eye 3in1. This miracle product has 3 actions just its name suggests. It is first and foremost an eye treatment and helps to brighten and anti-age the delicate eye area, it also contains an SPF35 to protect this area from sun damage, and the best part it is a concealer and helps to counteract dark circles for an instantly brighter eye area.
Next, you want to take care when applying eye products to avoid applying the product over the tear duct, this duct can also absorb product, and this leads to puffiness and bags under the eye are. Lastly, make sure you are choosing techniques that work with your natural eye shape, there are hundreds of online tutorials available to help you chose the best techniques for your eyes as we are all so unique there is no one size fits all approach.
In conclusion, make sure to take care of your eye area as with our “new normal” this may be the only area we can show off for quite some time, so make sure it’s worth it!
Xoxo Carmen