Tag Archives: under-eye shadows

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time at all, you’ll probably know that I have a bit of an obsession with my under-eye area going on at the moment. This means I’m more or less willing to try ANYTHING that claims to make that area look better, so when the lovely people at Fragrance Mad offered to send me something from the Skin Doctors line to review, Instant Eyelift was my product of choice.

In retrospect, this probably wasn’t my wisest move ever, and, in fact, using this product has allowed me to realise that what I have under my eyes isn’t actually “bags”. Nope, they’re just very dark shadows. Sure, they may look a bit like bags, but it is but an illusion caused by the dark stripes that run underneath the eye sockets (or at least, they do when I’m not using something that gets rid of them – more on that subject next week), but they’re not, so an eye lift isn’t exactly what I need, as tempting as it sounds.

This is a shame, really, because if your eyes ARE in need of a lift, this product may well be of interest to you. This is a clear serum which comes in a pump-action dispenser, and is applied under the eyes to lift and smooth them. It’s an instant effect, but not a permanent one, so while it’s claimed that this will make your under-eye area look better within a few minutes of application, it won’t stay that way. In fact, it’ll last for about eight hours, before returning, Cinderella-like, to normal.

I’ve tried this a few times now, following the instructions on the box, which tell me to shake the bottle thoroughly and then apply a few drops of serum under each eye. Importantly, you’re not supposed to use your facial muscles any more than necessary while it’s drying, which will tale 2-3 minutes. What’s actually happening here, you see, is that the serum is forming a “film” over your skin, which will tighten it and hold it in place, creating the illusion of smooth, non-baggy eyes. In other words, it effectively “freezes” your skin in place, although the word “freezes” is misleading here, because a) it’s not cold and b) you will still be able to move the skin afterwards – it’s not going actually immobilise anything. The reason they tell you not to blink your eyes too much, or screw up your face, say, while it’s drying is that if you do that, it’ll just seal the expression lines you’ve just made in place instead, and no one wants that, do they?

Naturally, as soon as I knew I wasn’t supposed to move my face while I this serum was drying, that was ALL I could think about doing. I kept getting an almost-irresistible urge to screw my face up into the most grotesque shape possible, just to see what would happen. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Thankfully, I managed to restrain myself, and sat out the three minutes with my face as expressionless as an ACTUAL doll face.  As I waited, I could feel the serum starting to take effect. It’s a curious kind of sensation, and a little bit like the feeling of a clay face mask drying on your skin: you can feel the skin tightening as it dries.

Once it was done, I looked in the mirror, expecting to see someone several years younger staring back at me. Nope, it was just me. In fact, I didn’t really see much of a difference at all, although I have to point out that this is probably because I don’t really have “eye bags” as such. From the tightening I could feel going on, I have a feeling this would have a much more obvious effect on someone who DID have pronounced lines or sagging under the eyes, although I’m curious as to what would happen at the end of the eight hours: does your face just suddenly dramatically collapse, I wonder, causing you to age instantly in front of whomever you happen to be talking to at the time? That would be… well, kinda cool, actually, as long as it wasn’t ME doing the ageing. I do enough of that already, thanks.

I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to wear makeup on top of this, as it basically creates a “film” on the skin. To my relief, though, my makeup went on as normal, so I was able to apply my usual trowel-load of foundation and under-eye concealer. (I still looked like a raccoon today, though. I seriously need to get more sleep.)

Here’s a before-and-after shot from the Skin Doctors site, to give you an idea of what this SHOULD do, and I just want to stress that this is NOT ME:

Pretty dramatic, huh? And this reinforces exactly why I’m still in the wrong age group to be able to really tell you whether this works or not: my eyes don’t quite look like the “before” shot yet, although just give me a few more months and I’m pretty sure I’ll get there.

If you’re there already, however, and you want to try this out, it’s currently £9.99 at Fragrance Mad: click here to order it.