Entries Tagged as 'puffy eyes'

Top 10 Ways to Get Rid of Dark Circles

Dark circles can be a big annoyance for some people. Whether the cause is allergies, tiredness or just heredity, there are ways to reduce the appearance of these dark demons! Follow these simple eye skin care tricks

Step 1: KNOW YOUR ALLERGIES- It is essential to know what you are allergic to so you can eliminate that problem altogether. Be sure to check everything from a seasonal allergy, food allergy, pet allergy and anything that could possibly trigger an allergic reaction. An allergy that causes dark circles, which is commonly overlooked is gluten. Be very through when checking these over!

Step 2: GET PLENTY OF SHUT EYE- It’s common knowledge that not getting enough sleep results in those nasty dark circles under your eyes. You need to determine how much sleep your body needs and then get your body into a routine! The normal body needs between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Keep in mind that alcohol and drugs negatively affect your sleeping patterns!

Step 3: USE FACIAL PRODUCTS BEFORE BED- There are tons of great night facial creams and masks out there. They can help reduce the appearance of discoloration and puffiness. You can find recipes to make your own face mask! Another trick for your skin before you go to bed is to take a washcloth and wet it with cold water. Squeeze all excess water out and place it over your eyes while you sleep.

Step 4: CUCUMBERS, TEA BAGS AND ICE CUBES-Any one of these items can help reduce the appearance of swelling and puffiness. Tea bags have tannin and this ingredient helps reduce discoloration and swelling. Cucumber slices are used to diminish puffiness and help to make your eyes look refreshed. Try doing either of these treatments in the morning and be sure to lie down. Make sure the caffeinated tea bags are damp and the cucumber slices cool. Usually 10-15 minutes will do the trick!

Step 5: FROZEN Q-TIP- Try wetting a cotton swap and then placing it in the freezer. Once frozen, take it out and gently wipe it under your eyes where the dark circles are appearing. This technique helps to relax your eyes and the surrounding skin. When using the cotton swab, close your eyes and try not to flinch.

Step 6: GET EYE CREAM WITH RETINOL AND VITAMIN K- There are an abundance of eye creams out there. When selecting your skin care product, be sure the ingredients “retinol” and “vitamin K” are in there! These 2 ingredients have been proven to reduce discoloration and puffy eyes. The best results come from long-term daily use. Find the best eye creams for you.

Step 7: STOP THAT EYE RUBBING- Allergies are a common reason for eye rubbing. When you rub your eyes, it irritates the skin and can lead to broken capillaries. This causes both puffy eyes and discoloration. Next time you start to rub your eyes, STOP in your tracks!

Step 8: EAT A WELL-BALANCED MEAL AND DRINK LOTS OF WATER- If you aren’t eating the right foods, then you aren’t getting the proper vitamins and minerals your body needs! Be sure to include a variety of fruits and vegetables, especially cabbage, spinach and other green, leafy vegetables. If you aren’t the vegetable type, you can supplement a vitamin in order to get the necessary nutrition. Drinking water helps to improve circulation!

Step 9: CUT OUT THE SALT-Excess salt can cause your body to keep water in unusual places, including under your eyes! This results in puffy eyes. Too much salt can also impede your circulation, which causes your blood vessels under your skin to appear bluer. Moral of the story, cut back on the salt!

Step 10: NO SMOKING- Not only does smoking threaten your life, it causes vascular problems that make your blood vessels appear more prominent. Like excess salt, they make your veins look bluer!

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Facial Exercises Help to Reduce Eye Wrinkles

As we age, our skin starts to wrinkle and sag because of a loss of collagen and other external factors such as the sun, health issues, smoking and injuries. Since we can’t stop the inevitable, there are certain steps we can take to reduce the appearance of eye wrinkles and other facial sagging. One way is by doing facial exercises!

Facial exercises are a great way to tighten up your face, while saving time and money. Think of these exercises like weight lifting. Lifting weights help to tighten and tone your body. Apply this same reasoning to your face. If you are doing contractions and applied resistance to specific muscles in your face, your skin will in turn tighten, increase muscle size and provide a natural face lift. Facial exercises can reduce droop jowls and cheeks, tighten your whole face and help diminish the signs of eye wrinkles and puffy eyes.

There are two different types of exercises: isometric and resistance. In a nut shell, isometric exercises tone and firm face muscles. It can be uncommon to have dramatic results with this form of exercise. It is greatly dependant upon your age and if you have extensive muscle loss.

Resistance exercises, on the other hand, work to strengthen and build your muscles. This is the form that brings all the much needed oxygen and nutrients to your face to feed your staved skin cells. These exercises really fill out and lift up your face. In my opinion, resistance is more effective and much more time efficient.

This is one of my favorite facial exercises I do daily! It’s specializes on eliminating forehead wrinkles. First step is to lift your eyebrows up as far as you can. Then, put your fingers at the top of your forehead. Slide your fingers down toward your eyebrows in a smooth motion. Think of it as pushing your raised forehead back down.

When your fingers meet your eyebrows, lower your forehead into a frown and slide your fingers back up to your hairline. You are doing the exact opposite as the previous step. Now you are trying to push your forehead back up. When you have done this, you have completed 1 set. Make sure to do 10 sets each day!

Although we can’t completely stop the aging process (although we would all like to), we can now put up a good fight to help reduce signs of aging and wrinkles! Good luck ladies!

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Eye Wrinkle Cream for Sensitive or Allergy-Prone Eyes

A reader recently commented on one of my posts saying that allergies are making her eyes red and itchy and causing excessive puffiness and eye wrinkles when she wakes up in the morning. She also said that eye wrinkle creams seem to be making the symptoms worse. If this is the case, take a good look at the ingredients list on these eye wrinkle creams. You may be having an allergic reaction to one or more of the ingredients. I would definitely suggest talking to your doctor to determine if the products are causing a reaction.

If your current eye wrinkle cream often irritates your eyes, stop using it immediately. You may want to consider a chemical-free product, such as the Juice Beauty line. These products are made of 95% certified organic ingredients without pesticides, parabens or other harmful toxins. Juice Beauty makes a great eye wrinkle cream called Juice Beauty Green Apple Nutrient Eye Cream.

Juice Beauty Green Apple Nutrient Eye Cream

It contains vitamin E and avocado oil to hydrate the eye area, green tea and cucumber oil to decrease puffy eyes, vitamin C to brighten and protect the skin, and vitamin A to stimulate cell regeneration and reduce eye wrinkles.

Another natural tip is to place cool green tea bags over your eyes. Place two tea bags in hot water, then remove the tea bags and let them cool. Once they are cool, prop your neck and shoulders up on a few pillows to allow gravity to reduce the fluid that has gathered under your eyes. Then place a tea bag on each eye lid and lie there for 5-10 minutes. This not only helps decrease eye puffiness, but it also helps sooth the eye area, making it a great homemade treatment for those with itchy allergy-prone eyes.

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How to Fake a Good Nights Sleep: Part 2

As I discussed last week, millions of people don’t get the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night. When we are sleep-deprived, our eye wrinkles become more prominent, and we get puffy eyes and dark circles. Basically, the less sleep you get, the older you tend to look. So, if you can’t get enough sleep, what can you do to look more awake during the day? Allure Magazine shared helpful advice on the Today Show for faking a good nights sleep. Here are a few of their tips on how to reduce puffy eyes and use makeup to conceal sleepy eyes:

To reduce red, puffy eyes:

- Place ice cold spoons, cold cucumbers or bags of frozen peas over the eyes.

- Another way to reduce this inflammation is to take an antihistamine. Or, put nasal spray, such as Afrin, on a cotton ball, and place it on your eyelids for a few seconds. (I have not tried this personally, but if you do, I suggest being very careful not to get any nasal spray in your eyes.)

To conceal eye wrinkles and dark circles using makeup:

- Use an eyelash curler before applying mascara to make eyes look more open.

- Use concealer around your eyes to camouflage dark circles. Then, dab a little shimmer powder or cream on the inner corners of your eyes to make them glow.

- Apply foundation with light-reflectors, such as Lancome Photogenic Lumessence, to make your face look brighter and more awake.

Of course, the best way to look refreshed and awake is to get more sleep! But, when a good nights sleep isn’t possible, just fake it!

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How to Fake a Good Nights Sleep: Part 1

According to the National Institute of Health, 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders. If you’re one of these people, a new mom or just a busy person in general, you know what it’s like to lose sleep. It’s not always a pretty picture in the morning - accentuated eye wrinkles, red, puffy eyes, dark circles and a dull, lifeless complexion. So, if you truly can’t get the recommended 8 hours of sleep, how can you alleviate these symptoms of sleeplessness? Fake it!

Allure Magazine and The Today Show shared the following tips to faking a good nights sleep:

- When you wake up, do 10 or more jumping jacks to get your body moving. This also helps to move the fluid that has retained around your eyes during the night causing puffy eyes and under eye bags.

- Take a cold shower or place your face in a bowl of ice cold water. It will help stimulate the body and wake you up.  Also, try using peppermint body wash.  (I don’t know about you, but the idea of taking a cold shower would keep me in bed all day. Talk about unpleasant!  If you’re like me and this tip is just too horrific to endure in the morning, take a shower that is at least a few degrees cooler than your normal shower.)

- Use an exfoliating scrub to remove dead skin cells and brighten your complexion. (With regular use, this also helps reduce the appearance of eye wrinkles.)

- Apply a moisturizer that has little bit of self tanner in it, such as Olay Touch of Sun.

Olay Complete Touch Of Sun Daily Uv Facial Moisturizer Plus A Touch Of Sunless Tanner 2.5oz

From personal experience, this Olay moisturizer is awesome. Not only does it have moisturizing vitamin E and protecting spf 15, but it really does give just a “touch” of a tan look that can be built up over multiple uses. On a side note, I also highly recommend Olay eye wrinkle products. I especially like the Olay ProX Anti Aging Starter Protocol, which contains Age Repair Lotion SPF 30, Eye Restoration Complex and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream.

Check back next week for more tips on faking a good nights sleep, including how to dramatically reduce eye puffiness and use makeup to make eyes look more awake.  Until then, sweet dreams!

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Exclusive 20% Off Storewide Sale at SkinCareRx

One of my favorite online skin care stores, SkinCareRx, is having a 20% off storewide sale!  They have a great selection of eye skin care productions, including eye wrinkle cream and products to reduce dark circles and puffy eyes.

Simply enter the code word NEWCART20 at checkout to save 20% on your next purchase.  Plus, get free shipping on any orders over $49!

Click on the image below to start shopping!

Free Shipping at SkinCareRx.com

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How to Reduce Puffy Eyes from Allergies

I live in one of the worst places for allergies, and lately I’ve seen many people - myself included! - with red, puffy eyes and inflamed under eye bags.  If you also suffer from allergies, don’t give in to the temptation to rub those itchy eyes!  First, consult your physician on the best way to relieve the irritation.  The skin around your eyes is the thinnest, most delicate on your face, and rubbing or stretching this skin will break down the skin’s collagen and elastin, leading to premature eye wrinkles and sagging.  Then, click on the video below to learn how to reduce those puffy eyes.



How to reduce puffy eyes

The only thing I recommend doing differently is to use your ring finger, rather than your middle finger, to blend in eye wrinkle cream.  Your ring finger is a weaker digit, so you will put less pressure on that delicate under eye skin.

The eye pads referred to in this video are Shiseido Benefiance Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Mask pads.  The ginseng extract in these pads helps tighten the skin and reduce puffiness, and the retinol, a vitamin A derivative, helps to smooth eye wrinkles.  They’re also great for lightening dark circles, another common symptom of allergies. 

 

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