30-Second Summary
- The skin around your eyes is the thinnest and most sensitive, so you should take extra care when treating it.
- There are several common mistakes you may be making that could make your eye area look older, puffier, and darker.
- Some mistakes to avoid include not using any product at all, using too much, and not using products that fit your specific needs.
9 Common Eye Cream Mistakes That You Should Stop Making
If you’re looking to maintain a youthful, healthy-looking appearance, you should be taking care of the way you treat your eyes.
Because the skin around your eyes moves around so much, it is one of the first places to show wrinkles. The skin in this area is also thinner than on the rest of your face, you should take care of how you treat it.
Unfortunately, there are some common mistakes you may be making that, instead of getting rid of dark circles and puffy eyes, are only making them worse.
Here are 9 of them and what you should be doing instead.
- Not Using Any Product at All. If you don’t already have a skincare routine in place, then you need to start one up. Cleaning your skin every day and applying a moisturizer will help you maintain your youthful appearance.
Make sure you do your research and look for the best anti-aging eye creams available on the market. Ingredients like peptides[1] are especially good for helping with wrinkles and keeping skin smooth and bright.
Eye creams that contain hyaluronic acid and squalane may deeply hydrate your skin, adding volume and eliminating lines.
- Using Too Much Product. While applying product to the eye area is important, some people get a little overenthusiastic and start applying too much.
Remember that the area around your eyes is, rather, small. Also, bear in mind that the price points of many eye creams tend to be higher than your regular moisturizer.
For these reasons, you should only ever need to apply a pea-sized amount to get the results you’re looking for and to keep yourself from needless overspending.
- Applying It in the Wrong Place. If you’re applying your eye cream all over your eyelid and to the outer corners of your eyes, you’ll need to rethink your application method.
Eye creams like Plexaderm aren’t meant to be applied all over the eye. They also won’t be effective on certain parts of the eye, which means you’re just wasting product. You should gently dab a pea-sized amount in a semi-circle about an inch underneath your eye.
- Applying It Too Roughly. It’s not just about the product you’re using and where you’re applying it. It’s about how you’re applying it, too.
Because the skin around your eyes is so thin and delicate, harshly and roughly applying it or tugging at your skin will only make dark circles and puffy eyes worse.
When you apply the cream, use your ring finger to very gently tap it into your skin. This will help you evenly distribute the product and ensure that you’re applying it safely to your skin.
- Not Giving Your Skin Time to Absorb It. Doing your research and finding the best anti-aging eye creams available on the market and learning how to apply them correctly will help you get and maintain and healthy and youthful appearance.
But your eye cream isn’t going to work effectively if you don’t give it time to. That’s why it’s important not to move onto the next step of your skincare process until the area around your eyes has had the chance to take in the product you’ve applied there.
Once you’ve applied your eye cream, let it sit for a minute or two before moving onto the next step of your routine to give your skin time to take it in.
- Applying It in the Wrong Order. The order in which you apply your products has a lot to do with how effectively they work on your skin. If you want to get the best results from your eye cream, then you should make sure that you’re applying it when you’re supposed to be.
Your eye cream will have specific instructions as to when you should apply it. But generally, heavier products like eye cream should be applied after light products like a moisturizer.
- Only Applying at Night. Are you only washing and moisturizing your face once a day? Perhaps you’re doing it in the morning and at night, but you’re only applying your eye cream before you go to bed. Just like a regular moisturizer, you should be applying your eye cream twice a day.
Remember that the skin around your eyes is super delicate and sensitive. It also takes up a lot of time during the day. Eye creams like Plexaderm are super rich and full of ingredients that will nourish your skin day and night, offering it the protection it needs.
- Applying It to Dry Skin. There’s a lot that goes into determining if an eye cream is right for you. But no eye cream will be as effective as you want it to be if you’re not applying it in the right way.
One of the factors that will influence the effectiveness of your eye cream is the state of your skin when you apply it. Many people mistakenly apply their moisturizer and eye cream to dry skin. But these products actually work best when applied to damp skin.
That’s because one of the ways these products work is by locking moisture into the skin. But if there’s no moisture present, then there will be nothing for your eye cream to lock-in.
If your skin is dry when it’s time to apply your eye cream, use a small spritz of water to moisten the area.
- Not Paying Attention to Your Needs. There’s no one-size-fits-all for skincare. If you want to have a youthful and healthy appearance, then you need to make sure you’re purchasing an eye cream formulated for your needs.
Always check the ingredients of a product before purchasing. If you’re looking to get rid of dark circles, look for ingredients like niacinamide[2]. Retinoids are great for anti-aging, but you should only ever use them in the evening.
The Bottom Line
Having a proper skincare routine will help you easily maintain a youthful and healthy appearance. But there’s more that goes into your routine than just buying any old eye cream and applying it however you like.
To get the best results from your eye cream, make sure to avoid the above mistakes and apply your eye cream the right way for the best, longest-lasting results.
References:
1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6835901/
2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921764/
Sharon Trusty is a fashion blog author who has been writing about her own style and other people’s styles for more than eight years. She likes to share her thoughts on all sorts of topics, from dating to make-up tutorials to what she should wear today, and everything in between.