Tag Archives: under-eye shadows

Well, Dollfaces, you can colour me amazed.

As many of you know, I’ve been complaining about the dark shadows under my eyes for a loooong time now, and I have to admit, I’d actually reached the point where I was about to give up on them. Absolutely nothing worked: creams, concealers, highlighters, lifestyle changes - no matter what I did, I still looked a lot like a raccoon, and, short of booking myself in for expensive surgery, I’d started to feel that I’d just have to learn to live with the Shadows of Mordor, as I’d come to think of them.

Obviously I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this. I actually think dark shadows are more ageing than wrinkles, and I was permanently walking around looking like I hadn’t slept in weeks. I was tired of shelling out for products that didn’t make much of a difference, though, so when my current eye cream ran out and I started scanning the Boots website for a replacement, I was guided mostly by price.

That’s the main reason I decided to take a chance on Nivea Visage’s Aqua Sensation Anti-Shadow Eye Cream. At £5.99, it’s definitely one of the least expensive eye creams out there, and while I’d learned not to trust the claims of shadow-blasting creams, I figured it couldn’t hurt that this one promises to “effectively reduce puffiness and the appearance of under eye shadows “. So I bought it, and started using it as soon as it arrived.

As far as the appearance and texture of the product go, there’s nothing much to write home about. It comes in a 15ml glass pot, and is a white cream of medium consistency, with a very faint fragrance. It contains cucumber to refresh and de-puff the eye area, vitamin E to nourish and protect, plus magnesium, ginseng and light-reflecting pigments to get rid of those blasted shadows. I had absolutely no expectations at all about this product: I thought that, at best, it would probably be a reasonably good under-eye moisturiser, so you can only imagine my surprise just a few days later when I looked into the mirror one morning and noticed that my eyes were looking better than usual. Quite a bit better, actually.

Now, I’m not going to tell you the dark circles have disappeared altogether, because they haven’t. They are, however, looking significantly better, and are more like the “normal” dark circles people with pale skin tend to get, rather than the “I am actually a vampire and I haven’t slept for fifteen years” look I was previously sporting. I’m using much less under-eye concealer than I used to, and I really notice a difference in the under-eye area. I don’t think there are any other changes that could account for this, so I’m assuming Nivea has done exactly what it promised to do, and trust me, no one is more surprised than I am.

I noticed an improvement after just a few days use: I’ve been using the cream for about two weeks now, and while I can’t say that the shadows get less noticeable every day (they don’t), I’m still very happy with this, especially given the low price.

Is it just a fluke? I really hope not, but if you want to try it for yourself, this is £5.99 from Boots.