True Radical Honesty From Our Community

PSA: when you’re feeling jaded, the skin around your eyes is the first to give the game away.

With the holidays just around the corner, tiredness, in some shape or form, is a sure thing. From the anxieties involved with cooking the perfect Thanksgiving dinner to a little too much festive partying and the panic of gift giving, it’s no wonder the holiday season has officially been crowned the most stressful time of the year.

Now a little bit of low-key stress is OK in small doses. But when it takes over your well-being and stops you from getting that much-needed rest and restorative me-time, your skin is going to suffer. And no place more so than the skin around your eyes.

What’s So Special About The Skin Around Your Eyes?

The skin around your eyes is slightly different to the rest of your face. For starters, it’s around ten times thinner which makes it super susceptible to the visible signs of tiredness and premature aging. Thanks to its natural thinness, underlying tissue and blood vessels are also more prominent, causing shadows and dark circles. And this is even more obvious when you miss out on your valuable shut-eye. How so? Because a lack of sleep not only encourages blood and fluid retention, but it also makes your skin appear paler due to a limited time to regenerate itself overnight.

The skin around your eyes also has a very short supply of fat and muscle. This means that collagen and elastin are even more important than ever for keeping the skin in this area strong and supported. And as you know, aging, environmental nasties, and a lack of sleep can be total killjoys when it comes to quality collagen and elastin. 

But that’s not all. Ever noticed how the skin on the outer corners of your eyes often feels drier and more irritated than the rest of your skin? The reason for this is a serious lack of sebaceous (oil-producing) glands to keep it healthy, moisturized and soft. Dang!

When you add all this together and throw in constant muscle movement (DYK you blink around 15,000 times every day?), it’s no wonder the skin around your eyes feels fatigued so darn easily. We’re exhausted just thinking about it.

How To Refresh Tired Looking Eyes

1. Get An Early Night

Sleep is the obvious way to win the battle against tired, beat up skin around your eyes, but it’s also the most important one. When you’re asleep cell turnover accelerates, collagen production revs up, antioxidants kick in to help repair damage and blood flow increases to nourish your skin with valuable nutrients. Important business, right there.

Sure, it can be difficult to get your regular zzzs but a lack of sleep causes water retention, makes the blood vessels dilate and decreases moisture levels in your skin. You might as well just invite dark circles, puffy eyes and dry skin over and have done with it.

Not on board with that? Then try to go to bed at a decent hour each night in order to get your seven hours in. Also, make sure your pillow is high enough to prop up your head a little. Lying flat messes with your circulation and can lead to water retention and bags under your eyes.

2. Use A Potent Eye Treatment

Quality eye treatments are vital if you want to keep the skin around your eyes moisturized, nourished, bright and healthy. Regular moisturizers are all well and good but they can be too rich for this delicate area, plus they’re lacking in the targeted ingredients your eyes need.

Things like hydrating hyaluronic acid, age-defying bakuchiol, firming caffeine and collagen-boosting peptides are all hella good for the skin around your eyes, so keep your, er, eyes peeled for those. We have three awesome eye treatments to choose from, including the brand new Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream which is packed with incredible ingredients to help your eyes look radiant and youthful.

Just remember, never overload the skin with too much eye cream (a pea-size amount is usually enough) and be gentle as you apply it. We like to use our ring fingers to lightly press the product around the eye area. This naturally reduces the amount of drag and pressure you place on the skin.

3. Balance Booze With Water

Alcohol is not going to do your eyes any favors at all, causing tiny blood vessels to dilate and thus contributing to swelling, puffiness and dehydration. So, if you like a tipple or two make sure you balance every alcoholic drink with a glass of water. Your eyes will not regret it. And neither will your hangover.

4. Chillax Your Skin

Applying a cold compress to your eyes is an age-old trick. But it’s a goodie. You see, cold temperatures constrict your blood vessels and help to tighten up puffy skin. And it really is as simple as that.

Keep a couple of teaspoons in the refrigerator and place these over your eyes for ten minutes in the morning for an instant pick-me-up. Or alternatively try cold, used teabags, slices of cucumber or pieces of potato. Cucumbers, in particular, are very hydrating and have incredible anti-inflammatory properties, while potatoes contain skin-brightening enzymes. 

It's also not a bad idea to keep your eye cream in the fridge if that floats your boat. Then you’ll get a little hit of refreshing coolness every time you apply it. Your eyes will be all over that.

5. Fake It With Makeup

Sleep and great skincare practices are more important than anything, but oftentimes an emergency fix is the only way to go. Especially when you’re in a pinch. Well, thankfully, there are some awesome makeup tricks for dealing with tiredness around your eyes.

Under eye concealer is, more often than we like to admit, our go-to makeup product during the holiday season. Because it really works. Just remember to choose yellow rather than pink-toned formulations as these help to neutralize dark circles.

Another fabulous beauty cheat is to use blue-black or navy mascara – the cool undertones help make the whites of your eyes look brighter and clearer. And when all else fails? Focus the attention away from your eyes and sport a bold, red lipstick instead. Cunning huh?

It’s true, those little added extras can make the world of difference to the look, feel and health of your skin.

What’s your secret to skin success? Are you a basic cleanse, moisturize, sunscreen and done kind of person? Or do you prefer to lavish your skin with as much time, care and attention as possible?

We know that most people sit in the former camp, preferring to keep their skincare routine simple and effective without the hassle of hour-long stints in the bathroom.

And that’s OK. Simple skincare is often the best type of skincare – especially if you have sensitive skin that totally freaks out if it’s overloaded with too many lotions and potions. However, while sticking with the essentials is all well and good, you could be missing out on some incredible formulations that offer amazing results for the state of your skin. Both in the short- and long-term.

Three such products that often get looked over – and even bad-mouthed by certain skincare sceptics – are toner, serum and the most controversial of all, eye cream. And sure, your skin can survive without them. But is ‘basic survival’ what you really want for your skin?

We don’t know about you, but we prefer to do the best we can for our skin. Of course, overloading it with too many active ingredients or piling on serum after serum is never going to give you skin to die for, but adding in a few choice extras that are curated to help your skin be its best self? Very smart indeed.

Here’s why toner, serum and eye cream might be the exact products your skin has been looking for…

1. Toner

Toner used to be up there with cleanser and moisturizer as one of your three basic skincare steps. Until it wasn’t. Thanks to skin-stripping, alcohol-laced formulations (hello 1980s!) that sucked all the life out of your complexion and left oily skin even oilier and dry skin gasping for breath, toning lotions quickly fell out of favor.

Now, we don’t know about you, but we think that’s a real disservice, because the right toner can actually be an essential step in certain skincare routines.

What Toners Do

The basic role of a toner is to help remove any lingering traces of makeup and other debris left behind after cleansing. And to prepare your skin for the next stage in your skincare routine. But that’s not all, often packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other skin-loving ingredients, toners are also able to help balance, brighten, firm and clarify your skin. Some toning treatments may even contain alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) like glycolic acid and lactic acid which help to gently exfoliate your skin and improve texture and tone without too much irritation. Big win.

Does Your Skin Need Toner?

Oily, combination or acne-prone skin types will definitely benefit from the right kind of toner as certain ingredients like witch hazel and salicylic acid can work wonders for minimizing enlarged pores and reducing oil production. Similarly, other toners that are formulated specifically for dry or sensitive skin may contain soothing or calming ingredients like rose water or aloe vera – both of which are awesome for helping to reduce redness, irritation and flaking skin.

The key – no matter your skin type – is to avoid strong, synthetic fragrances and harsh, drying alcohols like isopropyl alcohol or alcohol denat. Instead, look for hydrating ingredients like glycerin and hyaluronic acid which are always a great shout for adding much-needed moisture to all skin types.

Try: We have two toners that are great for almost all skin types. Ocean Minerals Super Toner is the brightening, clarifying must-try, while Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner contains just one special ingredient (pure Moroccan rose water) and is the queen of calming and soothing.  

2. Facial Serum

You might have noticed we’re big fans of facial serums here at TruSkin. And we will never apologize for that. Why do we love them so much? Because serums are absolutely integral for targeting the things you don’t love about your skin. Be it discoloration, dullness, pesky pores or sagging skin, there’s a serum out there that might just change your life…

What Serums Do

Serums are light, fast-absorbing, gel- or liquid-based products, applied after cleansing and toning, and before moisturizing. Unlike regular moisturizers that create a thin, protective layer over the surface of your skin to help lock in hydration, serums are made of much smaller molecules which means they absorb deeper into your skin to more effectively target your specific concerns.

Due to their molecular structure, serums don’t often seal water into your skin (which is why you should always apply moisturizer on top), but instead they use potent, active ingredients to get other important jobs done. Retinol is a big favorite in the serum world, as are tea tree oil, exfoliating acids, hyaluronic acid, MSM and peptides.

Does Your Skin Need A Facial Serum?

Yes! Serums contain the highest concentrations of active ingredients so if you’re looking to address concerns like poor texture, breakouts, dullness, hyperpigmentation, wrinkles or dehydration, you must include a serum in your skincare life. No arguments.

The one thing to remember, however, is that serums can be potent business, so you should always patch test any new product before use. Our regular serums are all recommended for daily use while our super serum are recommended to use 2-3x per week. However, it’s also wise to think about introducing one just a few times a week to begin with. Then you can move onto daily use as your skin acclimates to all that good stuff.

Try: Whether you’re looking to say goodbye to dull skin with our award-winning Vitamin C Facial Serum or to big up hydration with our Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum, our line-up of seven effective facial serums has something for everyone. If you looking for a multi-tasking wonder-kid, however, one that checks all the boxes, try our new Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum +.

3. Eye Cream

The question of ‘do you really need an eye cream?’ is one we get asked a lot. And the answer is… well, it depends. Does the skin around your eyes give you grief? Do you have excessive dryness, puffiness and/or dark circles in this particular area? Then yes, you probably could benefit from a specific treatment for your eyes. But if it’s seems OK, truckin’ along, minding its own business, then maybe a good, lightweight moisturizer is enough.

What Eye Creams Do

Eye creams are similar to face moisturizers in texture and functionality, but they have some fundamental differences. You see, the skin around your eyes is slightly different to the rest of your face. It’s thinner, more delicate and contains fewer sebaceous glands making it more prone to dryness and the visible signs of aging.

Because of these key differences, eye creams are usually lighter and gentler than face creams in order to avoid overloading the skin. They also contain specific ingredients to target those undereye concerns that don’t affect the rest of your face. Bags and dark circles being the main culprits, of course.

Does Your Skin Need Eye Cream?

Concerned with lines, wrinkles, dark circles, puffiness or crepiness around your eyes? Then an eye cream is exactly what your skin needs. Ingredients to look out for include hyaluronic acid for hydration; peptides to target lines and wrinkles; caffeine for de-puffing; cucumber for cooling and brightening, and licorice extract which is great for helping to relieve redness and dark circles.

Just remember, when it comes to any topical eye treatment, less is always more. A tiny amount (the size of a small pearl) should be more than enough for both eyes. And always use a gentle touch to dab the product around the eye area before moisturizing.

Try: Peptide Eye Gel and Hyaluronic Acid Eye Cream are both fabulous choices for the skin around your eyes. We love Peptide Eye Gel for dealing with the signs of aging then go to HA Eye Cream when we’re in need of some extra hydration. But the choice, of course, is always yours!