Gotta bag it up

One of the hardest things about make up is covering those pesky under eye bags. You can do everything right and put everything where it’s meant to be, but sometimes even spending up to hundreds of pounds on what is essentially face paint doesn’t hide all of our imperfections. Contrary to what our mums believe, under eye bags are not always caused by lack of sleep and staying up till the early hours of the morning binge watching Netflix. But, in fact, a whole range of factors can cause those dark circles we all hate so much. For example: genetics, oversleeping, air pollution, veins in that area, allergies and many more.

There are two different angles to take when approaching eye bags, one of them is in the preparation. This includes drinking as much water as you can throughout the day, to keep your skin as hydrated as possible from within, and of course filling up on fruit and veg rather than carbs and other fatty delicious foods. Also, if you have the money to invest in skin care, this is a very good place to start. For example, these days there are so many under eye masks available in both high and low end brands, which are so easy and simple to use - and are mess free! I also read somewhere that girls as young as 20 should now be thinking about eye creams, not just to avoid wrinkles but also to keep the eye area moisturised and avoid saggy skin in later life. If at all in the morning you are feeling particularly rough you could also roll on an easy under eye brightening cream. The cool metal ball of these products is often all that is needed to wake you and your face up in the morning.

The second, and my personal favourite route to go down is the make up route. Obviously, the make up industry is saturated at the moment with products that claim to hide every blemish and imperfection you’ve ever had on your face and sometimes it is hard to know which product works best for you. Coloured concealers are often a good route to go down for the under eye area and depending on your skin tone and the shade of your eye bags, you will need to choose which is right for you. How colour correcting works is by putting the opposite colour on a colour wheel on top of your problem area, the colour will be cancelled out and much less visible. So, for example, if you have particularly purple tones in your under eye area, you would need a yellow toned concealer to cancel them out. The same if you have blue-ish grey undertones, you would need a pale pink concealer. Some people don’t like this step because it means adding one more step to the make up routine and you still have to put concealer on top anyway, but in my opinion, used correctly, coloured concealers really do work.

The type of concealer you choose depends on your personal preference. Often for a heavier coverage look, a concealer which comes in a pot is a much better choice, but often this can feel heavy so some people prefer a more liquid option with a dufour applicator. Just remember that if your skin is prone to creasing, set the concealer with powder. And, if all else fails, go back to basics and slice up some cucumber. And pray.