We often associate stress, genetics, and a lack of sleep with dark circles, crow’s feet and bags under the eyes.
And though these elements can certainly add years to your face and make you look older and more tired than you are, they’re not the only contributing factors.
You might be surprised to learn that some of our everyday habits are to blame, causing your eye area to age prematurely.
To give you a helping hand, we’ve put together five things you might be doing wrong, and offer remedies to keep restore your eyes’ youthful appearance…
Wrong eye creams
Don’t be fooled: spending hundreds of pounds on an eye cream doesn’t mean it will work miracles and turn back the clock.
Though quality is important, you must also consider a cream that has been designed to suit your needs and target those pain points on your eyes.
If your primary concern is fine lines and crow’s feet, consider an eye cream that contains retinol, which can smooth lines and wrinkles.
And make sure that your cream is packed with moisturising ingredients such as hyaluronic acid.
This can plump the skin, reduce the appearance of your wrinkles, and make it harder for new wrinkles to form prematurely.
Bags under your eyes?
Look for an eye cream with caffeine, which can stimulate circulation around the eye area and reduce the appearance of puffy and baggy eyes.
If you’ve got dark circles that you’re desperate to get rid of, look for ingredients such as vitamin C and vitamin K.
These can strengthen your skin and reduce swelling and discolouration around the eye.
Bad diet
Whilst there are hundreds of ways to “turn back the clock” and keep skin looking its best, none beat a healthy, balanced diet.
Stock up on nutrient-rich foods to ensure a bright, youthful complexion.
Foods high in vitamin K (green leafy vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, and cereals) can help your skin produce new cells and collagen, a natural alternative to botox.
Vitamin C, on the other hand, can brighten your skin and prevent further ageing damage. Think broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kiwi, orange, papaya, red pepper, sweet potato, strawberries, and tomatoes.
Foods high in vitamin B (whole grains, poultry, milk, beans, seeds, spinach) can train your body to produce more fatty acids, ensuring natural skin elasticity.
Although boring, we recommend cutting back on sugar, red meat, white bread, alcohol and salt.
These foods accelerate the ageing process, causing your eye area to wrinkle, puff and droop.
Makeup removal
It’s so tempting to roll into bed after a busy day without taking off your makeup, but not doing so can cause eye irritation, blackheads, premature ageing, dry lips, dry skin, and even cysts.
According to a survey from Bustle, one in four women wear makeup to bed to impress their partner.
However, taking it off before you go to sleep is so important for your skin’s health.
And where many women go wrong is in rubbing their makeup off too harshly or vigorously.
We get it: if you’ve applied a long-wearing or waterproof mascara, it can seem impossible to get it off your face on a night.
You might end up tugging at and damaging the delicate skin around your eyes, but this can cause broken capillaries and dark circles over time.
Use an oil-based cleanser or micellar water, patting and rubbing gently around your eyes.
Overplucking your eyebrows
The average British woman spends more than £200 a year on achieving the perfect eyebrows, and seven minutes a day in front of a mirror maintaining them.
Though it might be tempting to get a pair of tweezers and pluck your eyebrows every few days, be careful not to overdo it.
As you age, eyebrow hair growth can slow or stop entirely.
We all want fuller, thicker eyebrows – they’re a sign of good health.
Rather than spending hundreds on threading and waxing treatments and over-plucking your brows, rely on makeup and eyebrow enhancers.
Conditioners, serums, and gels can be used to transform your brows and frame your face.
It’s cheaper and futureproofs your appearance!
Leaving nature to it
Whether you want to hear it or not, we’re all ageing: it’s a fact of life.
However, as well as relying on eye creams and makeup, it is possible to train your facial muscles to slow or reverse the signs of ageing.
As you age, your face shape changes because your muscles tug on and crease your skin.
Though it might not be possible to look like a teenager again, you can achieve facial rejuvenation without surgery using a device such as Oralift.
Oralift activates facial muscles and reduces and delays signs of facial ageing.
But how does the Oralift device work, we hear you ask?
When wearing the Oralift device, your teeth are separated by a much greater distance than their original freeway space and react by altering their fibres to create a new resting length and a new freeway space.
This helps to repair capillaries, releasing a Mechano Growth Factor, which triggers the body’s natural healing and rejuvenation process.
Over time, this process delivers continuous results and slows down the ageing of your face, naturally.
Though certainly not an exhaustive list, recognising these five common habits and making changes can slow down the ageing process around your eyes and allow you to hold onto your youthful looks. To find out more about Oralift and read our success stories, click here.