MAKEUP RULES: The truth about concealing

April 09. 2013 11:29PMBy Bobby Walsh (The Real King Bob), Special to the Weekender 

Dark circles are definitely not a girl's best friend. Here are a few tips and tricks to brighten up your eyes and, in turn, your day!

Most dark circles are shadows created by bags under the eye. Tired and puffy eyes can be easily remedied by using a cold compress, such as a cold spoon. You can also include caffeine in the mix by using a cold tea bag under the eye to help tighten and soothe the puffy area.

Deep set eyes can also give the appearance of having dark circles. A nice tip for someone with eyes that are of the deep set variety would be to think light. Light and bright colors will make anything they are applied to pop, and make eyes appear larger. This is why people wear black, because it has the opposite effect and is slimming.

If you put a concealer on the lid and follow with light champagne-toned eye shadow that will bring out the eye and brighten it. You can also use an iridescent or light flesh-toned liner to apply to your inner rim/lash line to lighten the area as well. In this application I would skip liner on the top lid altogether and just put an extra coat of mascara on.

Although most dark circles are hereditary, there are many things that can be done to prevent them: lessen your sun exposure, limit rubbing the eye area, and even allergy medication will help with dark circles caused from allergens. Though it will not remove them entirely, these tricks will limit the appearance of dark circles.

To help camouflage the stubborn spheres I would suggest first to find a warm concealer one that is closest to your skin level but with a warmer, more orange tone to it. This orange will help to cancel the blue that is in the dark circle. You can then take your regular concealer and apply that over it, followed by your foundation. You can also take an eye-brightening pencil or shadow and place it over the darker area to help light diffuse and distract from the dark circle.

When applying under-eye concealer, you want to make sure you only place the product where you have the dark circle. To get a better idea of location, stand under a light and place the concealer where you see a shadow under your eye to brighten those specific areas. If you conceal the entire under-eye area you are just lightening that whole area but still getting a shadow, so you will want to only put the light where you have the dark.

Trick: Create your own eye brightener by taking your shade foundation and adding in a loose eye shadow in a pink or peach tone with a shimmery finish, and then apply to the inner corners of your eyes to conceal and brighten.

Tip: Sedonalace.com has a 10-shade concealer palette available to take the guess work out of what concealers to buy.