Raise your hand if you suffer from dark circles under your eyes? I know I do! No matter how much sleep I get, I always look exhausted and concealer won’t make them disappear. I know that basically everyone suffers from this issue, and if you don’t you most certainly will! To get rid of that annoying baggage, it's important to understand what is causing it in the first place.

Most of the time dark circles are caused by fatigue but there are other causes:

Allergies
Hay fever
Eczema
Contact dermatitis
Heredity
Pigmentation irregularities
Scratching or rubbing eyes
Sun exposure
Aging

Aging is a very common cause of dark circles on the eyes. It is a natural part of the aging process. When you age, you begin to lose fat and collagen, and your skin tends to thin. This makes the reddish-blue blood vessels under your eyes stand out more creating dark circles.

At-Home Remedies

Even though dark eyes are completely natural there are a few ways to reduce the appearance of them or eliminate them. Here are some simple tips and tricks to help the appearance of your dark under eyes.

Sleep

Like I said before fatigue is the most common cause of dark circles. Make sure you are getting seven to eight hours of sleep every night and are practicing good sleeping habits. It also helps if while you are sleeping you use an extra pillow under your head to lessen the fluid going to your eyes. This will reduce puffiness and make you look more awake.

Cold

A cold compress can do wonders for tired eyes. When blood vessels become dilated they can appear darker under your eyes. Using a cold compress can cause the blood vessels to constrict. This should result in a lessening of those dark circles. This is also where cucumbers come in. Using a cool slice of cucumber over your eyes for 10 minutes can help reduce the look of dark circles. After 10 minutes rinse the area with water and repeat twice a day for the best results.

Sun

Reduce or eliminate sun exposure to your face. This can be done by wearing a hat or really large sunglasses.

Moisturizers

It is very important to always be moisturizing. When it comes to dark under-eye circles there are several over the counter moisturizers that could help. Many of them will contain caffeine, vitamin E, aloe, hyaluronic acid, and/or retinol. If you would like a more natural approach; almond oil and vitamin E applied just before bed has been recommended. Gently massage a mixture of the two into the dark circles, then in the morning wash the area with cold water and repeat the process nightly. Vitamin K has also been shown to reduce the appearance of dark circles and wrinkles. Simply soak a cotton round with a mixture of caffeine and vitamin K and place it under your eye.

Artistry Youth Xtend™ Enriching Eye Cream- designed to help you diminish the appearance of puffiness and dark circles under your eyes. It has a lightweight feeling on the skin and lives your under eyes looking instantly more awake as well as hydrated all day!

Artistry Supreme LX Regenerating Eye Cream- Not only does this luxuries produced combat under-eye circles but it will also reduce the look for fine and wrinkles in 3 days!

Take vitamins hydrate, and maintain a healthy diet

Many times when our bodies aren’t getting the nutrition they need it can affect us physically. Make sure you are drinking water throughout the day. A good trick is the 8 by 8 rule: you should be drinking 8 ounces of water 8 times a day. That should be equivalent to half a gallon of water which is the recommended amount.

It is also important to maintain a balanced diet. Make sure you are consuming foods full of vitamin C (this can be found is a lot of fruits), and iron. Finally, make sure to take vitamins to fill in fill in the gaps that your diet might miss. Take a collagen-producing vitamin, a vitamin C supplement, amino acids, copper, and vitamin B12.

Medical

Your doctor could also offer medical options to help reduce the look of dark circles. These procedures can get expensive and could cause a reaction. Depending on their diagnosis they could recommend several different treatments:

Skin-Lightening Cream

To lighten under-eye hyperpigmentation a dermatologist could prescribe a lightening cream that contains azelaic acid, kojic acid, glycolic acid, or hydroquinone. You can find these active ingredients in a lower percentage in over the counter products.

Blepharoplasty

This is when fat can be surgically removed from the lower lid blepharoplasty by a trained surgeon. It can decrease the shadow cast by your eyelid, which can lessen the appearance of dark circles.

Fillers

A hyaluronic acid-based dermal filler can be injected into the tissue under the eyes by a trained professional. Filler can help with volume loss under the eye, which can cause dark circles

Make-up

All these methods are great for that long term goal but what about right now? Well, while you work on improving those tired eyes with the method that works best for your makeup can be an instant fix. Here is a step by step guide to hiding those dark circles

To address puffiness, start your day off with cooling under-eye treatment (the cucumber trick would work amazingly)
Lock your make up in- make sure to use a primer that specifically meant for the under-eye area
Use a Color Corrector- This is meant to balance out any colors in your skins. Much like a color wheel, the opposite hue will counteract the hue in your skin causing it to appear muted.

Red hues use a green color corrector
Purplish- blue hues (such as under-eye circles) use a reddish color if you have a darker complexion and yellow if you are pale.

Next, select the right concealer for you- the concealer under your eyes should be a whole shade lighter than your skin tone or foundation. Avoid concealers designed for the face but especially any with acne treatments in them.
Apply. There are many different methods of applying concealer to the under eyes. Apply the concealer directly on the under-eye with a sweeping motion. Then best method I have found is to use whatever tool you’re most comfortable with (brush, finger, or sponge) TAP the concealer to blend it into the skin.
Set. After applying concealer make sure to set your face using a setting powder so your foundation and concealer will stay put all day.

Tips to Get Rid of Under Eye Circles NOW

Most of the time dark circles are caused by fatigue but there are other causes:

At-Home Remedies