Eye Love!
Posted: Monday 7 February 2011 09:36am
Your eyes are the focal point of the face – and usually the first features to show signs of ageing.
Because the surrounding skin is thinner and more delicate than elsewhere on the face, it’s also more prone to the ravages of time, environment and lifestyle choices. This invites a host of unwelcome visitors including lines and wrinkles, under eye bags and/or puffiness, drooping upper eyelids and dark circles.
Add extra UV exposure (and squinting!) to the mix over summer and your peepers are likely in need of some extra TLC.
As well as making us look older, these bags, sags, wrinkles and circles can also create an impression of tiredness, ill health, sadness or anger.
Until recent years, there were limited options for anti-ageing your eyes. In fact, there was really only cosmetic surgery – upper and lower eye lifts, known as blepharoplasty, to remove loose skin and fat bulges – and laser resurfacing to literally burn away lines and wrinkles, tightening under-eye skin in the process. Cosmetic creams could hydrate and plump the area for a few hours but not address the root causes.
Nowadays fractional laser and other technologies for skin rejuvenation, more sophisticated types and applications of dermal fillers and the use of Botox can wipe years off the eyes and, so, the face without going under the knife.
But whether or not you opt for these more intense measures, a good home care routine to nourish, strengthen and protect the skin is essential to prevent further damage and as well as help undo what’s already been done.
Scientific advances have made it possible for home skincare to significantly improve the visible signs of ageing and keep further deterioration at bay.Lighter, more sophisticated formulations also mean that products can also be used closer to the lashline and on the lids (sparingly), as opposed to previous generation eye products that could cause puffiness and irritation if used above the orbital bone.
Today women and men are spoiled for choice with creams and gels and serums formulated to specifically target areas of concern … and therein lies the rub (although rubbing is something we must not do, nor drag or otherwise manhandle the delicate skin around the eyes).
It’s important not to use an ordinary anti-ageing cream in the under eye area. Face creams are formulated to be a heavier consistency for long term hydration and are likely to overload the skin making wrinkles and sagging under the eye worse.
So do your homework before parting with your hard-earned cash:
- Decide what problem is most important for you in addition to eye wrinkles – are you concerned about puffy eyes or do you simply need an eye cream for dark circles?
- Go for products with high levels of the active ingredients that specifically target your problem.
- If you want to target puffy eyes and dark circles at the same time, choose an all round product – you lose some effectiveness but treat both at the same time.
So what are the ingredients and best products to look out for?
PUFFINESS
An eye product that aims to give you an eye lift and target puffiness will include actives like caffeine, retinol, alpha hydroxy acids (AHA), copper peptides, and vitamin C to tighten skin and stimulate collagen growth.
Look for fragrance-free moisturisers that won’t irritate your eyes (you don’t want to cause more puffiness!) and that absorb quickly and effortlessly. Gently tap the cream or gel onto the area around the eyes to encourage any excess fluid to drain away. The “rollerball” variety of eye products can provide extra stimulation to circulation and drainage to help reduce under-eye bags faster. But be gentle!
Try: Dermaquest Revive Eye Firm (left), Clinique All About Eyes, $58; Garnier Nutritionist Caffeine Eye Roll-On, $17.75, RoC CompleteLift Eye Contour Lift* Gel, $54 (also a great makeup base); Biotherm Aquasource Non Stop Eye Gel $55; The Body Shop Aloe Eye Defence, $26.95; or Benefit Depuffing Action Eye Gel, $46.
DARK CIRCLES
Eye creams and gels for dark circles are most likely to include vitamin K (to strengthen capillary walls in the delicate eye area), kojic acid, and a skin-lightening active like licorice extract or vitamins C and E. These will not only help firm, but brighten the discoloured area under the eyes.
Try: Pelactiv Eye Contour Perfecting Cream (below, right), RRP $54, Nivea Visage Aqua Sensation Anti-Shadow Eye Cream, $14.21; Kiehl’s Ultimate White Darkness Diminishing Activated Eye Treatment, $68; Elizabeth Arden Intervene Anti-Fatigue Eye Cream, $68; Olay Pro-X Eye Restoration Complex, $74.99; Jurlique Herbal Recovery Eye Gel, $52; Chanel Eye Tonic – Dark Circle Corrector, $82; Palmer’s Skin Success Eventone Dark Circles Under Eyes, $16.75.
LINES AND WRINKLES
Intense hydration is the key here, boosted by a cornucopia of active ingredients to help the skin heal itself. Products in the “all round’” anti-ageing category include a combination of powerful ingredients and aim to target all the under eye problems: puffiness, dark circles, wrinkles and sagging. There are a huge number of products to choose from.
Some new products to try: Prevage® Eye Advanced Anti-aging Serum (on counter February 27), RRP $165; La Prairie Cellular Eye Cream Platinum Rare (left); Dermalogica Age Reversal Eye Complex, $165,
Also to try: Gernetic Eye Contour Gel; Sk-II Signs Eye Mask, RRP $125 (below, right) for a pack; Clinique Repairwear Intensive Eye Cream, $65; Dermalogica Age Smart Multivitamin Power Firm (for eye and lip area), $76.50, Prevage® Eye Anti-aging Moisturising Treatment, $150; Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Recovery Complex, $95 or MD Formulations Brighten & Tighten Eye Serum Temp, $80.
FOR ALL SKIN CONDITIONS
Try: Dr Spiller Biocosmetic Eye Contour Balm (left); Dermalogica Age Smart Multivitamin Power Firm (for eye and lip area), $76.50; Nivea DNAge Cell Renewal Anti-Age System Eye Cream, $24.96; Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus Eye Cream, $18.97; Burt’s Bees Beeswax & Royal Jelly Eye Crème, $27.95; Priori CoffeeBerry Radiance Eye Serum, $160; RoC MULTI CORREXION™ Multi-Action Anti-Age Eye Cream, $59; Trilogy Eye Contour Cream, $44.
Concealers That Are Healers: Revlon Age Defying Spa Concealer, $26.95; Garnier Youthful Radiance Anti-Dark Circles Roll-On Concealer, $18.95.
BEWARE GLARE
The skin around the eyes is just as – probably more – susceptible to sun damage as the rest of your face but how many of us actually apply SPF there? Most sunscreen formulations are too rich for the under-eye area and yet very few eye products offer SPF protection.
Elizabeth Arden is soon to launch Prevage Eye Ultra Protection Anti-aging Moisturiser SPF 15 (on counter February 27; pictured below) that contains an “encapsulated” sunscreen.
The product was launched to media in Sydney late last year by visiting American specialist Dr Wendy Lee, Assistant Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami.
Among Dr Lee’s specialities is performing reconstructive surgery on eyelids due to skin cancers.
“It’s critically important to put SPF protection on your [upper as well as lower] eyelids”, she says. “And it’s also important that the sunscreen is encapsulated, to provide protection without the irritation,” she said.
“Encapsulation ensures that the product doesn’t travel on your face after it’s applied, meaning that it can be taken right up to the lashline.”
If you are considering more intensive solutions, click here for your options.
Surgical solutions for youthful eyes
Laser treatments to rejuvenate your eyes