Four Steps to Banish Dark Circles
Fake a full eight hours sleep with Liberty’s guide to ingredients, tools and techniques to help reduce undereye bags
By: Harriet BrownRead more
Four Steps to Banish Dark Circles
Fake a full eight hours sleep with Liberty’s guide to ingredients, tools and techniques to help reduce undereye bags.
By: Harriet Brown
In beauty terms, it’s an age-old dilemma: how to get rid of dark circles, or lessen insomnia induced undereye puffiness. You’ve likely heard the old wives tales: everything from cold teaspoons to teabags touted as a potential saviour, but this is 2024: and the biggest names in beauty now have the science backed solutions that we actually need.
From vitamin C to peptides and clever colour correction. The latest generation of beauty innovations offers targeted ingredients and research backed formulations that could make the dark circle dilemma a thing of the past.
While for many of us, dark circles are genetic, they can still be eased with a little help from a few very special products and ingredients: designed to brighten, depuff and conceal. With that in mind, read on for Liberty’s four top tips to help get rid of dark circles
The Liberty Guide to Reducing Dark Circles
1. Start with a Mask
If puffiness is your problem, look for products that can soothe and energise, like 111 Skin’s Cryo Sub Zero De-Puffing Eye Masks,£80 for 8. These clever hydrogel masks are enriched with seaweed, a peptide complex and hydrolysed collagen and have a delightfully cooling effect on the skin. If you’re not a fan of the eye patch look, try the Express Eye Contour Mask from Sisley, £120. Just as powerful at de-puffing, but in more of a classic creamy formula: gently tap this under eyes with your ring finger working from the inner corner out.
Our tip? Whichever mask you choose, keep it in the fridge for added cooling properties.
2. Think Ingredients
Once you’ve indulged in your calming eye mask, it’s time to add a dedicated eye cream. But which to pick? The key is to look for hydrating and brightening ingredients: antioxidants such as vitamin C, as well as peptides, hydrating hyaluronic acid or caffeine.
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If you’re partial to a richer, cream formula, you can’t get much more luxurious than La Mer’s The Eye Balm Intense, £215, which is designed to hydrate and firm. If a lighter gel texture is more your thing, then REN’s Radiance Brightening Dark Circle Cream, £49, is lightweight and impressively luminising, with elderberry extract to help neutralise free radicals (tiny particles that can trigger dark circles and puffiness).
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REN Clean Skincare
Radiance Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream 15ml
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La Mer
The Eye Balm Intense 15ml
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Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Emma Lewisham
Skin Reset Eye Crème 15ml
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Votary
Super Bright Eye Gel 15ml
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Kiehl's
Midnight Recovery Eye Cream 15ml
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Omorovicza
Blue Diamond Eye Cream 15ml
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Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Augustinus Bader
The Eye Cream 15ml
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3. Use Your Tools
Remember the cold spoons hack? Turns out, they were on to something. Cooling, ceramic and high tech applicators are all the rage in the eye care world – and with good reason. Not only does the cooling effect help to soothe skin, but when used correctly – in a gentle, sweeping motion under the eyes – they can also help depuff and revive eyes, subtly lifting the eye area over time. We love the ceramic pen applicator on Chantecaille’s Rose de Mai Eye Lift, £134for an effortless fatigue-free finish.
4. Learn the Art of Colour Correction
In an ideal world, we’d all drink enough water, get eight hours of sleep and religiously apply our eye creams every day. But let’s be honest: that doesn’t happen. That’s where colour correction comes in.
Rather than using your regular, brightening concealer on those dark circles: get smart with the colour wheel. By using shades that neutralise the sleep-induced tones, you can instantly perk up your complexion.
According to the experts at Bobbi Brown, those with bluish-purple under eyes should opt for a “bisque” shade – with subtly orange tones to help counteract the coolness. Those with greenish-brown under eyes should opt for a “peachy” shade to neutralise.
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Surratt
Perfectionniste Concealer Palette
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Bobbi Brown
Skin Corrector Stick 3g
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Jones Road
The Neutralizer Pencil 2.9g
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Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Chantecaille
Le Camouflage Stylo 1.8ml
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Trish McEvoy
Instant Eye Lift Concealer
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Hourglass
Vanish Airbrush Concealer 1.3ml Travel Size
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Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100