Dark circles: know them, fight them, ERASE them.

You are a beauty and skin-care lover. You’re getting more and more knowledgeable on skin-care products, active ingredients, vitamins, acids, etc… Your skin is clearing up and your complexion is looking brighter and more even day by day. 

And yet, the under eye area is not showing signs of improvement. Dark circles are always that shade of bluish-purple, dry patches continue to reappear, and puffy bags are there almost every morning.  

Why is that?

With this blog we want to help and guide you through the many factors that lead to under eye blemishes, and point you to a possible solution. Because how can you fight an enemy without previously understanding it? 

Read more to learn more about dark circles, so you can fight them and erase them.

Firstly, let’s try and define some types of under eyes blemishes associated with circles and bags:

• Pigmented Type (P): appears as brown hue under eye;
• Vascular (V): appears as a blue/pink/purple color hue +/- puffiness;
• Structural (S): appears as shadow hue, associated with lower eyelid bags and grooves and loss of fat with a bony prominence;
• Mixed type: Combination of 2 or 3 of the above (PV, PS, PVS, etc), which is the most common.

If you feel like you can’t put your finger on the right type of dark circles you have, stay tuned, and read along. We have a quick test for you, inspired by the new trend on Tik Tok! Here it is:

Looking in the mirror, grab and pinch the skin under your eyes where your dark circles are. Lift up the skin and move it around back and forth just a little bit, watching to see what happens to the under-eye skin. If the bluish tint disappears or significantly lightens, that likely means your under-eye skin has thinned out and the veins underneath are peaking through. This would be a case of Vascular Type and/or Structural Type.

But if the bluish or brownish tint moves with your skin and stays the same shade, that means you're experiencing over-pigmentation, which can be a result of many different factors from sun damage to run-of-the-mill aging. This, instead, would most probably be a case of Pigmented Type.

Click here for a video that will show exactly how to do the Tik Tok pinching test.

These kinds of circles and bags can be caused by many different factors. Take a moment to read along the causes we have listed and be aware if your under eye is suffering from one or multiple of these agents. As we mentioned, understanding the enemy is a key step before taking action towards a solution!

Common cause of under eye circles:

• Stress
• Heredity (therefore genetic)
• Lack of sleep & Fatigue
• Frequent eye rubbing
• Eyestrain (watching T.V, seeing computer screen)
• Aging hollows (thinning of skin due to loss of fat and collagen with age)
• Medical conditions like Allergy, Eczema, Thyroid, Anemia, etc
• Lack of Correction of Refraction errors (maybe you have vision problems and you neve noticed)
• Smoking
• Alcohol consumption
• Skin pigment irregularities

Of course stress is listed as the first and most common cause of dark circles and eye bags. Is there a part of our body and mind that is not affected by stress? Probably not, and this is why we all should really make a conscious effort to take time for ourselves and relax, each and every day.

Have you noticed a bad habit that could lead to damaging of the eye contour area?

These are just common sense suggestions of some changes that you could implement in your daily life, but we thought it might be good to mention any ways: 

• Take enough rest and adequate sleep
• Avoid excessive sun exposure, allergen, and pollution
• Avoid smoking
• Regular exercise and yoga to reduce stress
• A balanced nutritional Diet
• Drink enough water to keep skin hydrated
• Limit consumption of caffeine and alcohol
• Add probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals to diet for healthy skin and to reduce dark circles

After you have determined, more or less, the type and cause of your dark circles, it’s finally time to talk about solutions! At Naturalia Beauty we’re all about your skin goals and how to achieve them!

Have you done the Tik Tok pinching test in front of a mirror? What result did you get?
- If you think your under eye circle is a Vascular and/or Structural you need something to repair and promote collagen production, so ingredients like vitamin C, Collagen and Hyaluronic acid will be your friends.
- If you think you have a Pigmented Type under eye you'll want to use a retinol or mulberry extract to reduce hyperpigmentation and age-related dark spots.

Oftentimes dark circles are paired with under eye bags. In this case you can use an eye cream fortified with caffeine to help fight excess fluid retention, which can result from lack of sleep, too much salt, alcohol consumption, or even allergies.
A quick massage 2 or 3 times a day might show amazing results. 

Naturalia Beauty has designed 2 under eye creams that we are sure will help you treat your dark circles and bags. LIFTING EYES CONTOUR BOOSTER is perfect for the most common types of dark circles, while EYES LIFTING FOR MEN will help you drain and de-puff your eye bags.

Either of our under eye creams are lovely to carry out this quick and easy eye massage, which takes not even 1 minute:

1. Use your index and middle fingers in gentle yet quick tapping motions all around your eye contours to boost blood circulations on skin vessels. Do not tug or drag. 
2. Go outward along your eyebrows, then inward along the top of your cheekbones toward the bridge of your nose. Circle your eyes three times.
3. Then locate the pressure points under your brow bone on either side of the nose, and firmly press upward for 3-4 seconds at a time, for 3 times. 
4. Then press firmly inward toward your nose, above the bridge, next to your tear ducts.
5. Massage your temples with your index and middle fingers, also applying firm pressure for 3-4 seconds, for 3 times.

Cherry on top of this great massage: chill your eye cream for 20 minutes before using it for the treatments!

Eye contours and facial massages are your passion? You’re in the right place! The blog that precedes this one is all about quick and pro-like  facial massages. Check it out here.

We hope this post was helpful or beneficial for you and your under eyes! Our under eye creams - along with all our other products - are 20% discounted for your first order with CODE 20BEAUTY at check-out. Make sure to check our current available promotions here.

Naturalia Beauty UK, your partner in beauty for your everyday life.

 Photos credit: SHOTPRIME - Canva