How to Remove Dark Circles

• 12 Ways to Get Rid of Dark Circles
• 9 DIY Dark Circle Eye Creams
• Hiding Dark Circles with Makeup
• Prep H for Dark Circles?

Prevention

• 5 Main Causes of Dark Circles
• Does Sleep Cause Dark Circles?
• 10 More Causes of Dark Circles

12 Ways to Get Rid of Dark Circles

• 1-thru-9 gets rid of dark circles caused by allergies.
• 10-thru-12 gets of dark circles caused by aging, bad skin care or sun exposure.

1. Use a Cold Tea Compress

Use a cold tea compress with rosemary tea bags to increase circulation to your eyes. Soak the tea bags in cold water and squeeze excess water from the tea bags and then place the bags over your eyes for 15 minutes.

Tip → Tea bags containing tannin will help decrease the amount of swelling and discoloration from under the eye area.

2. Use Cucumbers

Slice a few fresh cucumbers and place them in the refrigerator or freezer for an hour. Then place the cool cucumber slices over your closed eyelids for 10 minutes. Other than the cold… Cucumbers remove dark circles by lightening up the skin.

3. Use Rose Water

Dip a cotton ball in rose water and apply under your eyes for 10 minutes. The rose water will penetrate the skin to soothe your tired eyes and soak up toxins causing dark circles.

4. Use Crushed Mint Leaves

Crushed Mint Leaves can be applied beneath the eyes for 20 minutes. The mint from the leaves provides a cool, tingling sensation to increase circulation.

5. Anything Cold

Placing anything cold on your eyes for 10-to-20 minutes will shrink the dilated blood vessels causing dark circles. The cold will also reduce the puffy eye bags

The magic behind home remedies like tea bags, spoons & cucumbers is the COLD.

• Cold Clay Facial Ice Mask

6. Nostril Cleansing

Spas in India use an all-natural nasal cleaner to get rid of dark circles. Tilt your head slightly and pour water in one nostril and the water will come out of the other nostril. This remedy will also make your skin extremely radiant.

7. Drink More Water

Drink at least 1-to-2 liters of water daily to flush out toxins causing dark circles & to prevent puffy eyes. Water also keeps your skin moist allowing vitamins to restore your skin → 18 Ways to Get a Flatter Stomach

8. Stinging Nettle

When allergies cause your dark circles… You can use natural antihistamines without any side effects of allergy medications like Stinging Nettle, Bromelain, Quercetin & Vitamin C

9. Acupressure

Acupressure is a natural Chinese remedy used for dark circles. Using your index finger, press very firmly against the bone just beneath your eyes and hold the pressure there for 3 seconds. You should repeat this process 10 times each morning to get rid of dark circles.

10. Vitamin C

Moisturizers with Vitamin C and Antioxidants will help support the collagen under your eyes. Dab the moisturizer on the delicate skin under your eyes instead of rubbing.

• Premier Dead Sea Facial Serum
• Beauty without Cruelty Renewal Moisturizer

11. Vitamin K

Some cases of dark circles may be a sign of a Vitamin K deficiency. Get a cream with Vitamin K and apply to the under eye area daily as it can help aid in the reduction of discoloration and swelling.

• Reviva Vitamin K Cream
• Foods High in Vitamin K

12. AHA

AHA or alpha hydroxy acids & Retinoids thicken up the thinner skin under your eyes so dark circles are less visible.

• Retinol Correxion Sensitive Eye Cream

9 DIY Dark Circle Eye Creams

• DIY eye creams remove dark circles by injecting collagen producing vitamins, shrinking the blood vessels, moisturizing & lightening up your skin.
• Use them daily for at least 2 weeks or until your dark circles gradually disappear.

Important → Use your softer ring finger when applying eye creams. The harshness of your index & middle fingers may wrinkle your skin.

1. Licorice Extract

• 3 Drops of Vitamin K
• 2 Drops of Licorice Extract
• 1 Drop of Aloe Vera
• Apply to Eyes before going to sleep.

2. Coconut Oil

• 1½ tsp. Coconut oil
• 1 tsp. Vitamin E oil
• ½ tsp. Sweet Almond oil

3. Potato Remedy

4. Buttermilk

• Mix 2 tsp. of buttermilk & ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
• Put mixture on your dark circles.
• Let it stay for 15 minutes.
• Do not get turmeric in your eyes.

5. Nutmeg

• Mix Nutmeg Powder with Vitamin E oil
• Apply mixture to dark circles.
• Place 2 cotton pads in water, fold them & cover the application.
• Let it stay for 30 minutes.
• Remove cotton pads & massage into dark circles.
• Rinse off.

6. Almond Oil

• Almond Oil & Honey. Mix 5-to-6 drops of almond oil with 1 tbsp. of raw honey. Massage mixture into dark circles, leave on overnight & rinse off in morning.
• Almond Oil & Avocado. Blend 3 slices of avocado with 5-to-7 drops of almond oil until smooth. Apply around eyes & leave on for 20 minutes before rinsing off.
• Almond Oil & Milk Paste. Mix almond oil and powdered milk into a paste. Apply on dark circles. Rinse off once dry.

Almond Oil for Hair Growth

7. Turmeric

• 1 tbsp. yogurt.
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. tomato juice.
• Mix into a paste, apply paste & leave on dark circles for 10 minutes.
• Wash off with cool water.
• Do not get turmeric in your eyes.

8. Honey

• Honey: Apply a thin layer of honey onto dark circles. Wash off after 20 minutes.
• Honey & Coffee: Mix coffee grains, water & honey. Apply it to your dark circles. Wash off after 20 minutes.
• Honey & Potato: Grate potato in ice water. Strain water. Add 1 TSP honey. Apply mixture to CLOSED Eyes. Wash off after 10 minutes

Honey Masque for Dark Circles

9. Castor Oil

• Rub a few drops of castor oil between your fingers until it gets warm.
• Then massage into your dark circles for 1-to-2 minutes.
• Leave on overnight.

5 Benefits of Castor Oil for Hair

Concealing Dark Circles

• E.L.F. Corrective Concealer
• Lightweight Concealer Stick
• SuperStay Better Skin Concealer + Corrector
• Sonia Kashuk All Covered Up Concealer
• 7 Makeup Tricks to Look Younger

Don't Use Prep H

Yes, Prep H quickly shrinks the enlarged blood vessels under your eyes causing dark circles but… Using it too often will make your skin thinner making your dark circles worse.

5 Main Causes of Dark Circles

You won't be able to get rid of dark circles UNLESS you know why you have them. For example… Cucumber slices over your eyes will not work for dark circles caused by aging and eye creams will not work for dark circles caused by allergies.

1. Bad Skin Care

The skin under your eyes is translucent & it's only .5mm thick compared to 2-to-3mm on the rest of your body. The dark circles you see are the blood vessels under your skin producing the unwanted darker tone.

As you get older or age prematurely due to bad skin care… Your skin loses collagen making it even thinner, so your dark circles become more visible.

Solution → Anything to make your skin produce more collagen like AHA & adding Vitamin A, C, K, E to your diet.

2. Too Much Sun

Overexposure to the sun causes your body to produce more melanin which adds more color to your skin but the extra color to the already thinner skin of your eyes will only make it appear darker than other areas on your face.

Wear sunglasses with 100 percent UV or UV 400 protection or wear an eye sunscreen like SkinCeuticals Eye UV Defense to prevent this.

Solutions → Eye creams to lighten up your dark circles and/or Makeup to conceal your dark circles

3. Puffy Eyes

Puffy eyes will only make your dark circles look darker → 11 Ways to Get Rid of Puffy Eyes

4. Allergies

Allergies cause BOTH dark circles & puffy eyes.

• Allergies enlarge the blood vessels under your eyes making your dark circles easier to see.
• Allergies cause puffy eye bags by increasing water retention under the eyes.

Solutions

• Antihistamines like Zyrtec or placing anything cold on your eyes for 10 minutes to shrink your blood vessels.
• Eliminating allergens or whatever irritates your eyes the most.

5. Iron

Not enough oxygenated blood will get to your eyes if your diet is low in Iron. When it's hard to figure out what's causing your dark circles… Adding more iron to your diet will clear up any dark circles.

Your iron levels are more likely to be lower during pregnancy & menstruation. Avoid caffeine as it reduces the amount of iron your body can absorb.

Does Sleep Cause Dark Circles?

• NO, not getting enough sleep DOES NOT cause dark circles but it does cause puffy eyes which makes dark circles more visible.
• Not getting enough sleep also causes you to have dry dull skin due to a lack of circulation making the dark circles under your eyes much darker → 8 Ways to Make Dull Skin Glow
• Get 6+ hours of sleep → 16 ways to sleep better

10 More Causes of Dark Circles

1. Smoking

3 ways smoking causes dark circles under the eyes.

1. It destroys the collagen under your eyes making the skin there thinner, so your dark circles become easier to see.
2. It makes your skin look duller, so your dark circles look much darker.
3. It affects the quality of your sleep → Why sleep causes dark circles

How to STOP smoking for good in 2018

2. Rubbing Your Eyes

It's important not to rub your eyes as this can irritate the eyes and the capillaries found under the skin can break.

3. Nasal Congestion

When your nose in congested, the veins draining the eyes cannot do their job so dark circles occur. You can fix this with Sudafed or a natural decongestant

4. Alcohol

• Alcohol speeds up the aging process. It damages the collagen in your skin hiding the dark blood vessels under your eyes.
• Alcohol, smoking, too much caffeine and/or not drinking enough water dehydrates you making your skin dull. This gives your eyes a sunken appearance bringing out your dark circles more.
• Alcohol also dilates the blood vessels under your eyes making your dark circles more prominent.

8 Reasons Alcohol Makes You Fat

5. Your Laptop

Staring at a TV or computer screen for a long time strains the blood vessels around your eyes making them larger. The larger blood vessels make your eyes darker.

Make sure to take small breaks (even if its looking away for 30 seconds) every hour to prevent this.

6. A, C, E, K

You're more likely to develop dark circles at any age without enough of these 'look younger' Vitamins in your diet. Vitamins are needed to produce enough collagen to keep the skin under your ages thick enough to hide any dark circles.

• 19 Foods high in Vitamin A
• 33 Foods high in Vitamin C
• 26 Foods high in Vitamin E
• 20 Foods high in Vitamin K

7. Makeup

The makeup you're using may cause an allergic reaction where you'll damage your eyes with all the rubbing and scratching. Leaving on irritating makeup at night will only cause your dark circles to get worse.

You also don't want to 'rub off' our makeup and use a gentle makeup remover instead.

8. Medications

Some medications can add darker color to your eyes, dilate blood vessels and/or increase eye puffiness.

9. Stress

Stress & fatigue doesn't directly cause dark circles but… It can lead to pale skin making dark circles more visible → 100 Ways to Reduce Stress

10. Your Face

If you were born with deeply set eyes, then the shadows it creates will only make it seem like you have dark circles. The only way to fix this is with fillers

More Ways to Look Younger

• Top 4 Ways To Get Rid of Wrinkles
• 13 Ways to Look Younger
• 37 Home Remedies for Age Spots

More Tips

• 11 Home Remedies for Puffy Eyes
• 27 Foods for Clear Beautiful Skin
• 10 Ways to Look 10 Lbs. Slimmer