The eye contour is a sensitive area where the skin is the thinnest and most fragile of the entire face: it is around the eyes that dark circles, bags or even crow's feet appear. Fatigue or signs of aging, we have all already dealt with these problems. We are here to help you recognize your type of dark circles and know how to identify the ingredients that can help you!
Dark circles and bags: what are they?
Dark circles can be recognized by a dark blue, sometimes purple tint under the eyes; they can be full or hollow. The intensity of the color or the extent of the dark circle gets worse depending on fatigue. And some also know about full dark circles called pockets... We can enlighten you on the different types of dark circles:
- Hollow dark circles are identified as a dark area without a particular shade under the eyes. They are due to fatigue, stress, skin aging , as well as in some cases, the bone structure of the face . Fatigue and stress reduce microcirculation, giving a paler and transparent appearance to the skin: the underlying blood vessels are more visible. With age, this gets worse: the skin dries out, therefore becomes thinner and the veins that irrigate the eye contour are logically more visible.
- Full dark circles or bags are identified as swelling under the eye, like a “pocket”. This swelling is due to poor circulation of lymph, the fluid that carries waste from the body to the lymph nodes. Lymph therefore accumulates under the eye and forms a pocket, made worse by tobacco, alcohol or age.
- Blue or purple dark circles are due to poor blood circulation and poor lymph circulation. If the dark circles are reddish, it is due to dilation of the blood vessels. If the dark circles are blue it is rather due to an accumulation of blood in the blood vessels located in the eye area. The blood is bluish there because it is depleted of oxygen. This problem is common regardless of age, we sometimes even see it in very young children.
- Dark circles are, most of the time, constitutional and therefore genetic and particularly common on dark and dark skin but can occur following certain chronic skin pathology . The cause ? An accumulation of melanin, the natural pigment that protects the skin from UV rays.
What to do to reduce dark circles?
Two options are available to you: active ingredients in cosmetic products and mechanical action. One by one, we tell you how to counter each type of dark circles.
As hollow dark circles are due to fatigue, stress or dryness, the only thing to do is to nourish and moisturize the eye area. Choose vegetable oils and/or active precursors of hyaluronic acid such as biosaccharides or oligosaccharides contained in our anti-fatigue eye serum : its tightening gel texture helps reduce hollow dark circles with each use. Of course, a good night's sleep will do you good too!
To combat bags , you must evacuate the lymph retained under the eyes. A good solution is therefore mechanical action through massage . Start by applying a small dab of serum or eye cream then lightly tap the pocket from the inside of the face towards the temple. If you have a mushroom , on hydrated skin and after applying your cream or serum, follow the same movement: from the corner of the eye with the smallest facet, stretch from the inside of the eye to the temple to decongest the area. Repeat the movement 5-6 times and make sure not to “pull” the skin too much.
To fight against colored dark circles, we will prefer tightening ingredients like caffeine. The caffeine will penetrate the skin and provide a vasoconstrictor effect (this helps reduce the appearance of blood vessels) . We thus combat the dilation of the blood vessels and the reddish or blue tint is reduced.
For dark circles , genetics are largely responsible but you can use ingredients like niacinamide or vitamin C from our eye serum .
