5 steps to brighter eyes
Get your eyes right and they can take five years off – fact. Reason alone to check out our youthifying guide
Take five years off with our guide
MAKE EYE CREAM A PRIORITY
As we don’t have any sebum glands in the eye socket area, eye cream is mandatory from a young age – leading cosmetic doctor Jean-louis Sebagh reckons everyone should use one from the age of 15. But it’s never too late. Go for eye creams that hydrate and cool, like Darphin All-day Eye Refresh Gel-cream (£30) or Dr Sebagh Supreme Eye Serum (£95). (And don’t forget to buy one for your daughter/niece/ goddaughter, too.)
ADD AN EXTRA (EASY) STEP
As well as using a cream, add a welcome layer of extra juice by patting on a hyaluronic acid serum post-cleanse while skin is still damp – it takes all of two seconds but will lock in moisture. We like Skinceuticals HA Intensifier (£83) and The Ordinary Caffeine Solution
(£5.80, available at Victoria Health).
GET SERIOUS (MAYBE)
Eyes are tricky, but crêpiness (without puffiness) in the under-eye area can be treated with an ablative laser or sublative radio frequency. Hollowing around the eye can be addressed with filler, but it can show as the skin’s so thin; an injection in the suborbicularis oculi fat (SOOF) area is ideal, but very technical (ie, proceed with caution). For permanent puffiness, it’s surgery you need.
LEARN SOME QUICK TRICKS
Press a gel eyeliner (like Trish Mcevoy Intense Gel Eye Liner in Arabian Nights, £22) in between lashes to make them look darker and thicker without mascara. Get your lashes tinted – when fresh, the ink on the lower lashes and lash line looks so pretty. Translucent powder on top of concealer helps puffy under-eyes look flat; for hollowness or dryness, conceal, then press balm under the centre of the eye to bounce light and make the area look plumper. Trish Mcevoy Intense Gel Eye Liner in Arabian Nights, £22
PRIME YOUR LIDS
We’re great at concealing our under-eye bags, but evening out eye lids is just as important, says make-up maven Trish Mcevoy: “It immediately creates brightness and youth.” Choose a primer that’s the same or just a little lighter than your skin tone, dot it in a line along your lids, then use a small, fluffy brush to blend and blend until it looks diffused and natural. We love Trish Mcevoy’s Eye Base Essentials lid primer (£24) and Smashbox Lid Primer (£18).