Reduce eye and face puffiness with the right skincare products.

IF you have great skin, it wouldn’t do to have puffy eyes, dark circles or droopy eyelids as it will certainly mar your overall appearance. According to medical aesthetician Dr Anna Hoo, puffiness around the lateral part of our eyes is common.

“The muscles around the eyes are used regularly due to our facial gestures. That makes the muscles stronger, which tends to drag our eyelids downwards,” explained Dr Hoo at the launch of Clarins’ latest eye and face products recently.

Eye on the prize: The new Clarins Defining Eye Lift and Shaping Facial Lift Wrap.

Puffy eyelids is also related to salt intake, heat and fatigue, which slow down micro-circulation and increase the permeability of blood capillaries, leading to puffiness around the eye area.

Tissue around the eyes, that are essential to support the eye and act as a shock absorber, comprises six fatty pockets. These pockets are naturally larger in volume in Asians. When they are particularly large, the top eyelid fold (or palpebral fold) is less visible and eyes appear half-closed.

Asian skin tends to have more melanin pigments as well. The higher amount of pigments, combined with an accumulation of pigments from the blood under the skin, causes dark circles to form.

The new Clarins Defining Eye Lift gel targets these problems and aims to counter heavy-looking eyelids and brighten the eye contour.

Organic oat sugars within the formula help give a lifting effect. Organic ginkgo biloba is said to promote drainage while Alchemilla plant gives a brightening effect.

The oil-free formula, to be used morning and/or evening before your regular eye contour product, works best if applied using Clarins’ manual auto-lifting method.

Complementing the Defining Eye Lift is the new Shaping Facial Lift Wrap, developed to reduce puffiness caused by lack of sleep, stress and heat.

The thick cream formula is said to eliminate fluids to provide a shaped, contoured effect, smoother skin texture and a brighter complexion.

Generally, Dr Hoo advocates the use of good skincare products from an early age.

“Women should start using lifting skincare products from the age of 20 to preserve a youthful look,” she said. “Skincare is the safest option and can also be very effective if you are patient in waiting for results. Even if you go for invasive or non-invasive treatments, you still need to use good skincare products after that.”

She shared five guidelines to achieving good skin – drink at least three litres of water a day; exercise at least three hours a week; eat a healthy diet of natural foods and also vitamins or supplements; and be disciplined in keeping to your beauty regimen which should include a good suncare product.

“Last but not least, sleep early, preferably by 10pm, as our body properly detoxes from 10pm to 2am,” she concluded.

> Price: RM190 (Clarins Defining Eye Lift) and RM180 (Shaping Facial Lift Wrap). Available at all Clarins’ counters.

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