Here’s how to fade those stubborn circles…

If you’ve read part one of my Eye Treatments post, you’ll know that there are several different causes for dark circles – some of which are treatable, others of which aren’t. However, if you’re really concerned about your dark circles, there is a way to incorporate the most effective eye treatments into your routine to give you the best shot at fading those suckers.

Incidentally, this routine also happens to work really well in fading fine lines around the eyes too. You may notice a reduction in lines before you notice the reduction in darkness.

There are two active ingredients, Vitamin K and Retinol, that have been proven to be very effective in treating dark circles when used together. But before we get to that:

Sunscreen – If you have dark circles, they may look worse than they actually are because of the sun ‘tanning’ them darker. Use a decent protection sunscreen under your eyes as well as your face to prevent that.

Vitamin C and tone correctors – Another good option is to use a Vitamin C serum or skin tone corrector underneath your sunscreen to fade any excess darkness under your eyes. If you already use one on your face, just take it underneath your eyes as well. If you don’t use one, you may want to look into buying one or you can use one of the Vitamin K creams I recommend that contain Vitamin C too. Recommendations for serums, tone correctors and sunscreen can be found here and here

Now onto the two key ingredients you’re going to want to use to help fade those circles:

Retinol - Retinol can strengthen the skin around the eye area. By using a low strength retinol product, you can help to strengthen and thicken the skin around your eyes to hide any visible veins or darkness. Retinol also enhances the action of Vitamin K.

Vitamin K – Asides from being a very potent antioxidant, Vitamin K helps to strengthen blood capillaries and clot the ones under your eyes than can leak and cause a distinctly ‘bruised’ looking under eye area. Dermatologist reviews of this ingredient are pretty thin on the ground at the moment but the ones that are out there show very very positive results with long term use.

Incidentally, these products should also help to diminish the appearance of fine lines under your eyes too. Love a multitasker!

Now that you know what you need, how are you going to use them? Generally speaking, this is a good routine to follow. Of course you can use less if you want (or if you have very sensitive skin).

So, what kinds of product do you need to look for?

Retinol

Retinol is a potent ingredient and it can irritate the eye area if you use too-high of a concentration. It’s best to stick to low concentrations that you can buy in-store like the ones below.

• Neutrogena Ageless Intensives Deep Wrinkle Eye Cream - This is a nice, moisturising yet light cream with a low amount of retinol. Pretty much perfect.

• Roc Retinol Correxion Eye Cream – This award-winning eye cream is slightly more moisturising than the Neutrogena one but it performs quite similarly. A nice alternative if you live outside of the US.

• Avene Ystheal+ Eye Contour – This Avene eye cream contains a healthy amount of retinaldehyde which is a more potent form of retinol. It’s the strongest of the products listed here but it’s still gentle enough to be used on the eye area. The light cream formula sinks right in and the level of retinol is great if you have a seriously dark (or wrinkled) eye area.

• Skinceuticals Reinol 0.5 – I’m adding this one in to say that if you have an all-over retinol product that you like, there’s no reason why you can’t use it underneath your eyes too. Just as long as it is store-bought (nothing prescription strength) and at a low concentration, it’s fine. Neutrogena, RoC and Green Cream also do all-over retinol products that you might want to look in to. I’ve reviewed them here.

Vitamin K

Skincare companies are only just starting to catch on to how useful Vitamin K can be in fading dark circles. These are the best I’ve come across to date:

• DDF Erase Eye Gel – This is a gel based Vitamin K treatment so it’s great if you don’t want to layer too many thick products on your skin. The Erase Eye Gel also includes a little bit of Vitamin C and some antioxidants to help brighten the skin there too.

• MD Skincare Lift and Lighten Eye Cream – This light cream formula is great because not only does it contain Vitamin K, it contains Vitamin C as well Kojic Acid which helps to fade any extra darkness you may have picked up beneath your eyes from the sun.

• Peter Thomas Roth Power K Eye Rescue – This thicker eye cream contains a large amount of Vitamin K as well as Vitamin C and Kojic Acid just like the MD Skincare one. This is probably one of the most celebrated anti-darkness eye creams out there.

• Jason Vitamin K Cream Plus – A more afforable option than the others, the Jason Vitamin K Cream Plus has a nice moisturising texture and contains a very good amount of Vitamin K. This was originally designed to fade bruises but as it’s cult reputation as a dark circle-fader increased, they rebranded it. Both versions are the same though.

And that’s it, the two products (used in conjunction with a good sunscreen) that are your best bet in fading stubborn dark circles. Remember, some dark circles are hereditary or so severe that you can’t fade them away using topical products. What you can do, however, is lighten them with products like these and use a light concealer to do the rest of the work (more on those later!).

As far as order of application goes, the rule of thumb – as with all skincare – is to apply the thinner product first and then the thicker one on top. If they’re about the same texture, apply the retinol one first.

Hope that helps, if you’ve had any success fading your dark circles, please share your experiences below!