Covering Undereye Circles

Got dark circles? What about dark eyelids? They often come hand-in-hand. Most of the time, dark undereye areas are a matter of your DNA; they are hereditary. They can also be environmental meaning there are factors you can control to lessen them. Do you get enough sleep? Drink enough water? Have too much caffeine? Suffer allergies? If you can rule out some of the environmental factors, then we're down to covering them cosmetically. Yay for makeup!

Here's my arsenal of 3 products for battling undereye circles (all by MAC): 1. Fast Response Eye Cream; 2. Studio Sculpt Concealer; and 3. A #217 brush.

I begin each undereye coverage with a tiny dab of Fast Response Eye Cream. Using the fluffy white #217 brush, I lightly touch the bristles into the FREC and gently dot it around the eye socket, from outer corner to inner corner of eye. Fast Response Eye Cream has soothing ingredients such as cucumber and sunflower oil. It also contains caffeine (!!!) which acts as a calming agent on the skin's surface (as opposed to a stimulant, inside the body). This little miracle-in-a-tube contains optical diffusers which help MINIMIZE THE APPEARANCE OF FINE LINES. Woo-hoo!

My favorite concealer for nearly every skin type is Studio Sculpt Concealer. This product contains enough moisture for even dry skin, but is more matte so it caters equally as beautifully to oily skin. And the opaque quality of this product is what really covers/conceals. Using the same #217 brush, I apply the concealer in small, circular motions in the same areas I've applied the FREC. I even take it onto the eyelid and into the eye crease. If you have deep set eyes, this sweep of lightness will help lessen the look of dark, "prominent creases."

The #217 brush is one of MAC's most versatile. It's intended for eyeshadow, but I find it to be useful for application of any product around the eye. It's fluffy natural bristles are wonderful for blending out products, leaving no heavy lines of demarcation in eyeshadow. But the same is true for concealer. Blend and buff using the small, circular motion and you'll conceal without the product reveal.

Try these tricks. . . let me know how they work for you. Happy concealing!