While eye cream can definitely help plump up lines and soften the appearance of wrinkles, if you are using one that is too heavy and has too many oils, it can actually interfere with eye makeup, such as eyeliner and mascara, causing it to run more quickly than normal. Even with using the lightest-weight formulas, this still can occur. So while it is important to keep the area protected, if you do have a problem with makeup running, try avoiding eye cream during the day or using a very lightweight eye cream (or even an eye gel), and making sure to not apply it too close to your bottom eyelashes, as the cream can travel into the makeup areas of your eyes, causing irritation and interference.

Read: Where Exactly Should I Apply Eye Cream?

See the collection of Renée Rouleau eye care treatments.

I personally use eye cream morning and night during the winter, but come summer when the oil in my skin increases, I only use eye cream at night, not so much because of my makeup running, but rather as a person with oily skin, I really like to have the least amount of products on my skin as possible to avoid extra hydration when the air is humid…

Bottom line: Yes, use eye cream both morning and night, but at the very least, use it at night.

Do you use eye cream twice a day? Leave your comments below.

Read: Could Your Eye Cream Actually Be Causing You Wrinkles?

Have a skin care concern? See our Skin Care Tips and Videos for solutions.

It leads me to the conclusion that people associate wrinkles with dryness, as if keeping the skin moist will make them have no lines or wrinkles at all. Unfortunately, this is just not the case.

The skin under the eyes has little to no oil glands, so it really is important to use eye cream (see our Firming Eye Therapy and Synergy Eye Cream) to keep the skin moist. These creams are essential for keeping the eye area plump. But do know that the eye area is not only the thinnest skin of the face, and therefore the most fragile, but also gets a lot of repetitive or continuous movement from squinting and smiling, so this area inevitably will show lines and wrinkles.

The best way to reverse the appearance of lines and wrinkles is Botox (used in moderation), chemical peels and laser procedures.

The best way to prevent the appearance of lines and wrinkles is with daily use of eye cream, sunscreen, sunblock, and sunglasses (to avoid squinting)…

Read: Which Finger is Best for Applying Eye Cream?

So the next time you purchase yet another eye cream in an effort to alleviate the perceived dryness, if it’s not flaking, it might just be the natural aging of your skin.

Read: Are You Exfoliating Around Your Eyes? If Not, You Should Be

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If you were to take a piece of wood and hit it with a hammer, you would make an indentation in the wood. To smooth out the dent, a little sandpaper would make the dent less noticeable. The same rules apply with the skin. Wrinkles and lines are considered indentations in the skin, so by “sanding” down the skin with super exfoliators, the lines and wrinkles will appear less deep, and therefore, less noticeable. It’s truly that simple! Once the skin is exfoliated, you should then focus on giving the skin intensive hydration to fill the cells with moisture and collagen-protecting ingredients so the lines appear plumped up.

How do you safely exfoliate around the eyes?

For those of you who follow my skin care routine, you more than likely are using one of our glycolic acid serums on the face before moisturizing at night. People often avoid around the eye area thinking that it will cause irritation. While of course you want to be careful around the eye area, you want to make sure that you’re only applying the serum in the outer eye area where lines and wrinkles (crow’s feet) are visible. Eye cream (Firming Eye Therapy or Synergy) should always be applied over the glycolic serum to seal it into the skin and provide extra moisture…

Generally, because the skin is thin around the eyes, facial scrubs may be too aggressive for the eye area, but an acid serum can really do the trick at managing the signs of aging around the eyes.

Read: What Are These Bumps on My Skin?

Read: Six Skin Habits You Should Unlearn

Which products are right for you? See our nine skin types and get products recommended.

For expert skin advice, check out Skin Source–the A-Z guide on all things skin. Also sign up here for our skin tip e-newsletter, follow Renée Rouleau on Twitter and like our Facebook page. You’ll be your own skin care expert in no time!

However, I’ve gained some insight into this common occurrence through my own experience. A few years back, I decided to start showering at night before I went to bed in an effort to save some time getting ready in the morning. Shortly after, I started to notice that my morning under eye puffiness (that normally would be gone well before lunch time) wasn’t going away as quickly. Basically, my under eye puffiness was getting worse and I didn’t know why…

Well I soon discovered that the cause of this was that I was no longer showering in the morning, but instead at night. Here’s why.

Taking a shower in the morning offers two benefits for reducing under eye puffiness.

-Heat from the water dilates (relaxes and opens) lymphatic vessels to help assist with drainage of fluids (wastes and toxins) that build up in vessels. When you wash your face in the shower and the water is directly hitting you with force, this helps to stimulate excess fluids to move out of the eye area.

-In addition to the heat helping with the circulation, your vertical position in the shower helps drainage move out of the face area.

Note: Particularly for skin with redness and rosacea, it’s important to not use hot water (use lukewarm) when washing your face, as it can damage your capillaries (long-term) and make matters worse.

Interesting, huh? Needless to say, I do not shower at night anymore!

Read: Do You Have Under Eye Bags?

Read: Can Eating Pickles Cause Under Eye Puffiness?

Read: Yawning Can Cause Under Eye Puffiness
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Of the five fingers one can use to apply eye cream, the ring finger is the weakest finger so therefore should be the one used.

Where should eye cream be applied?

Eye cream should be applied only to the oribital bone around the eyes. Where is the orbital bone? With clean hands, gently press the skin under the eyes until you find the bone just at the top of the cheek bone. Follow it around the eyes with your fingers so you can actually feel the entire circular bone. This is the area where eye cream is formulated to treat.

How should eye cream be applied?

Eye cream should be applied in gentle patting motions making sure to avoid avoid rubbing and tugging. It’s important to avoid applying eye cream too close to the lash line as the product will actually end up in your eyes, picked up by your eyelashes. Every time you blink the hairs will lift microscopic amounts of product and it can eventually deposit into your eyes.  Anything that enters the eyes can be an obvious irritant and cause unnecessary puffiness…

See the collection of our eye care treatments.

Read: A Simple Trick for Reducing Under Eye Puffiness

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New Beauty Magazine: “The Firming Fix: Synergy Eye Cream. Peptides have the ability to signal the skin to produce more collagen, making it an essential in anti-aging skin care. This treatment harnesses its power in an eye-specific solution that claims to tackle puffiness, fine lines, darkness, and decreased elasticity. $59.50 www.ReneeRouleau.com“

Read: Are You Using an Eye Cream? If Not, You Should Be

Lucky Magazine: “Do Facials Cause Breakouts?” Renée recently met with Maura Lynch, Senior Beauty Editor at Lucky Magazine to answer this commonly asked question!  “The short answer: No. The long answer: Facials are not supposed to cause breakouts. If someone is telling you that facials bring all that congestion to the surface and that’s why your face freaks out after a treatment–they’re lying.” Read full answer here.

Read: 10 Reasons to Get a Facial

PinkMemo: “Best Face Forward: The year has been rough on our skin, so, we ran to facial fave Renée Rouleau for a rejuvenating fix. Popular in Europe, her Bio Visage Lifting Facial is like an insta-facelift, minus the under-the-knife part. In fact, it’s just what it’s called–a facial–but the low-level electrical current impulses seem to magically lift skin, tighten, soften wrinkles, and get rid of that ruddy look we seem to achieve from too much sun, secondhand smoke, and, now that winter’s here, too much skin-drying time near the heater. Plus: You’ll see major improvements in your skin after just one facial. Must be magic.” See the feature here.

Click here for before and after pictures of our amazing Bio Visage Lifting Treatment…

Read: Skin Firming Tips for Those in Need of a Lift

Get products recommended for your skin type by choosing one of our nine skin types.

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It’s so important to treat the eye area gently because this is an area where not only the skin is thin but the area is subjected to a lot of wear and tear from smiling, squinting and rubbing of the eyes. This translates into wrinkles and fine lines. Since many people use eye makeup and have to remove it nightly, it’s important to do this gently.

I always suggest using a liquid, oil-free, fragrance-free, no-sting eye makeup remover like our Soothing Eye Makeup Remover as these don’t contain irritants and oils that can seep into the eyes and cause unnecessary under eye puffiness. Apply eye makeup remover to a toning cloth or cotton pad and gently press down on the eye, holding for 20 seconds. This gives your eye make up a chance to dissolve to avoid unnecessary rubbing and touching. Then after 20 seconds in downward motions wipe away eye make up and mascara. Flip over pad or cloth and move in an upward direction to get underneath the top lashes. Voila!

See our best-selling Toning Cloths. They are fuzz-free, economical and will make you never want to go back to cotton balls again!

See our high-performance eye creams like Synergy Eye Cream, Firming Eye Therapy and Vitamin C Eye Serum.

Note: I don’t recommend wearing waterproof mascara on a daily basis (or not when needed) because it makes for a difficult removal–and more rubbing and tugging of the eye area.

Read: Where Exactly Should I Apply Eye Cream?

Read: Could Your Eye Cream Actually Be Causing You Wrinkles?…

Which products are right for you? See our nine skin types and get products recommended.

For expert skin advice, check out Skin Source–the A-Z guide on all things skin. Also sign up here for our skin tip e-newsletter, follow Renée Rouleau on Twitter and like our Facebook page. You’ll be your own skin care expert in no time!

What are under eye bags?

The term “bags” refers to loose, sagging skin under the eyes that has lost its firmness.

Why do bags appear?

Bags start out in the early years as under eye puffiness and over time, the connective tissues that attach the skin to the orbital bone deteriorates resulting in loose, sagging skin. Bags start to show around the age of 50, when the skin naturally starts to lose its tone. For many individuals, bags are hereditary and for others it can be from years of allergies that caused them chronic puffiness around the eyes.

What can I do to help reduce bags?

Since bags are loose skin, it’s impossible to restore that loss of elasticity once the bag is formed. Cosmetic surgery will give you the most noticeable improvement.

What can I do to prevent bags?

To prevent bags, you must prevent puffiness:

-Get your thyroid checked. Under eye bags may be related to a thyroid function. Hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid) causes myxedema which makes changes to the connective tissues, which causes a loss of tone in the under eye area. Consult with your doctor.

-Get plenty of sleep. Being tired at night results in yawning and yawning makes the eyes tear. The excess fluids around the eyes will cause puffiness which weakens elasticity under the eyes accelerating under eye bags. (Read: Skin Tips for Reducing Dark Under Eye Circles)

-Control your allergies. One of the biggest contributors to under eye puffiness (and eventually bags) is from allergies.

-Avoid smoking. Smoking inhibits circulation and is the major cause of oxidative stress in the body resulting in a weakening of collagen and elastin fibers.

-Use eye care products containing skin-firming peptides. Peptides renew skin’s firming mechanisms to return skin to a more youthful-looking appearance. See our Firming Eye Therapy for lifting and tightening the eye area.

How do I reduce puffiness?

-Place a bag of frozen peas over the eyes. Cold temperatures constrict blood vessels, preventing the flow of fluid into tissues and diminishing puffiness in the process. (Read: Do Cucumber Slices on the Eyes Help Reduce Puffiness?)

-Keep your head elevated while you sleep. Sleep on two pillows at night to encourage proper drainage to reduce unnecessary fluid retention in the morning.

-Avoid salty foods at night. The sodium in foods encourage water retention under the eyes resulting in excessive swelling of the eye tissue. If you are trying to avoid puffiness under the eyes, it’s best to avoid salty foods at night and drink a lot of water to flush your system. (Read: Which Type of Food is Most Likely to Cause Under Eye Puffiness?)

So if you are someone who has many, many skin care products that leave you without any real results, it’s simply because you cannot reverse bags using topical products. So preventing under eye puffiness is key.

Did you find this informative?

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Did you know that yawning is a cause of under eye puffiness? Here’s why:

If you stay up past your usual bedtime, chances are you’ll be yawning more. When you yawn, the act encourages your eyes to water which creates swelling and puffiness. Excessive yawning is actually the equivalent to crying during a sad movie because of the fluids it creates. So before you stay up past your bedtime to watch that last show or to read just one more chapter, consider the side effects. Just one more reason to get a restful night of sleep. It’s called, “beauty sleep,” for a reason…

Readers, what do you think?

Read: Do Cucumber Slices on the Eyes Help Reduce Puffiness?

Read more information about beauty sleep.

Read: Why Does My Skin Look Better After a Good Night’s Sleep?

The Eye Cream: Firming Eye Therapy works to lift and tighten the eye area using the latest collagen-protecting peptide technology, while delivering moisture to replenish the delicate eye area.

Who it’s for: Those concerned with under eye bags, loss of tone and general aging of the eye area.

What’s in it:

Chlorella Vulgaris Extract – anti-enzyme microalgae peptide to protect firmness

Matrixyl 3000 – firming, wrinkle-smoothing protection

Sea Whip – anti-inflammatory, calming agent

Sea Water – retains skin’s natural moisture to smooth away fine lines…

Firming Eye Therapy does not contain parabens, dyes or artificial fragrances and is safe for sensitive eyes.

Why you should use it: If you’re in the market for a really good eye cream using advanced skin-firming, wrinkle-reducing ingredients, this one’s for you!

Introductory Offer: Enter promo code FET2010 to receive 20% off our new and improved Firming Eye Therapy. Expires: 12/31/10

Read: Could Your Eye Cream Actually Be Causing You Wrinkles?

Questions about your skin? Be sure to email us. We’re here to assist!