EyeCream and EyeLuminator: Which is best?

As we age gracefully or ungracefully, one area that is a prime problem area for men and women alike is the eye area. The skin under the eyes and around the eyes is the most fragile and delicate on the face and is 10% of the thickness of the skin on the rest of the body. Wrinkles develop on the skin when there's a decline in the production of connective tissue protein collagen. Combine the two and you have dark circle, circles, dry skin under the eyes, crow's feet, laugh lines, whatever you want to call it...but it's a issue that most people fight as they age. 

As I have alluded to in so many blogs, skin care and anti-aging is umm....kind of a hobby of mine, even before I became a distributor for SeneGence. And really good quality skin care is not cheap. The price point for anti-aging skin care can be really pricey whether you get it from the drugstore or get a treatment from your dermatologist. 

PSA: If you are over 35 and spent a significant amount of time out in the sun, I strongly recommend that you have an annual check-up with a dermatologist. I have one who I see every year. He checks me from head to toe to make sure I don't have any funky moles or freckles changing color. 

No anti-aging creams are going to reverse time or work instantly; however, one thing that I personally have noticed to be true with skin care offered by SeneGence is that you do see results fairly quickly. So if you are quick on the draw with wanting to see results, our skin care line won't disappoint. 

And our eye creams are no disappointment. 

Anti-aging eye creams can range in price point from $20 Neutrogena creams at the drugstore to $90 at Nordstrom's to $195 on Amazon depending on what you are looking for and how much you are willing to spend. Ours? $50 for EyeCream and $55 for EyeLuminator, and a little goes a long way. 

Today at a client's request, I did an experiment. I've been using both the EyeCream and the EyeLuminator for over a year, and I usually use them 2-3 times a week. I admit, I'm not diligent about using EyeCream every night and usually I forget to put on the EyeLuminator in the morning. I remember it after I have my full face on since I keep all my skin care together. (Note: start keeping EyeLuminator in makeup area, Erica!)

So what are these items? 

Our EyeCream is made with soybean oil, kukui seed oil and Vitamin A. Its purpose: to protect the skin around the eye area and diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It is $50.

Our EyeLuminator is the EyeCream blended with Pearlizer Advanced Anti-Aging Foundation. It is $55. 

Both pots are the same size. Both creams are a firm pressed texture that doesn't move in the container or spill. The EyeCream has a lavender tint to it and the EyeLuminator looks like a firm concealer. I put on both with my ring finger. They blend very easily into moisturized skin without streaking.

So let's begin. For a starting picture, I have this. A picture of me wearing Caramel Apple yesterday on a clean face with no makeup. You can see all of my dark areas and blemishes on my face as I couldn't even find concealer in my car makeup bag to dot some cover-up on my chin. I did wash my face that morning in the shower, but I estimate that I haven't used EyeCream for at least a week. 

To experiment today, I washed my face with Normal to Oily Cleanser and treated it with Climate Control and Normal to Oily Day Moisturizer. I then applied EyeCream to the area under my eyes. Here is a close-up. 

To test how quickly you can see results, I set the timer for ONE HOUR and took another picture. Believe me, I haven't photoshopped these pictures. If I had, I would certainly have made my eyebrows look better. These pictures were taken in the same spot in my living room using the same phone with a flash on. 

What is different? 

• The skin is moisturized and has absorbed the emollients in the cream. You can see the shine on my before picture where the light reflects off the shiny areas. 
• The dark shadows are slightly reduced, especially in the bottom curve of the circle. 
• I have two laugh lines in the before picture that are very prominent right where my lower lash line begins that are diminished in appearance in the after picture. 
• The crepey appearance at the inner corner of my eyes right below my waterline is more prominent in the before picture. 

And that was just an hour. 

Later this evening, I put on EyeLuminator which is another treatment of the same cream, but since EyeLuminator is blended with Pearlizer, it acted as a concealer as well as a treatment. 

With EyeLuminator only, no makeup, on left!

And after blending in a little foundation on the right! 

Is it necessary to have both of these? No. The Eye Cream can be used alone under makeup, but if you are like me and could use a little help evening out your skin tone and appearance under your eyes and want more help during the day than at night, EyeLuminator may be your friend. Nighttime skin care is important because this is when your skin is at rest, but the beauty of EyeLuminator is that it has makeup AND skin care in it so it is treating your skin while you are looking your best...skin care combined with makeup. Great stuff. A little goes a long way. 

If you are interested in purchasing these products or hearing about how to use them together with the Dark Circle Eye Treatment, concealers or MakeSense, please feel free to contact me!

Dark Circle Eye Treatment: Take the bags to the curb!

Dark Circle Eye Treatment, or DCET for short, is one of the best products that we offer where you can see immediate results within about twelve hours. AND...you don't have to use it all the time. For the longest time, this wonderful product was out of stock, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a tester so I was able to test it. The skin below your eyes is very thin and delicate, and as such, black circles can develop quite easily for a number of reasons, usually not enough sleep, being sick, sleeping on your stomach, certain medications, rubbing your eyes really hard during allergy season....it's basically a type of bruise from the blood vessels under your skin leaking blood and the light refracting off the delicate skin making the "black" or "blue" show up more. 

I don't really understand the chemistry behind DCET and I'm not going to try, but I can tell you that I don't use this product every day. I use it when I need it. If I am not sleeping well or pulling long days or late nights, I will apply it. If I notice that I have shadows, I will apply it. If my eyes are puffy from crying (yes, I cry, girls do that!), I will apply it. It does contain SenePlex, our patented cellular regeneration serum, so from using it and from the little bit I gleaned in biology class in high school is that it basically hastens cellular growth of the skin below your eyes, making the skin not AS translucent and the circles not as prominent. 

Directions for use: You are recommended to apply DCET on clean dry skin before you moisturize with a small amount day and night. A small pearl-sized amount beaded onto your finger is plenty to use on both eye areas since it is very rich and very concentrated. Use your ring finger so as to not put added strain on the delicate undereye skin and spread it around gently until it is absorbed. Moisturize as usual....I use Climate Control and my Day or Evening Normal to Oily Moisturizer after applying.

I decided to test this serum with before and after pictures the first week I started my blog and I was staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning playing with HTML, so this first picture was taken on Thursday, October 19, 2017. See the black smudges? If you look close you can actually see almost a varicose vein broken in the rounded part of my orbital socket! Imagine that the skin below your eye is like a leaf...and all the little veins in the leaf are the capillaries below your eyes. When one breaks and releases blood into the skin below your eyes, it appears black because blood is actually a blackish-red traveling through your veins when it is deoxygenated. Deoxygenated blood is darker due to the difference in color between deoxyhaemoglobin and oxyhaemoglobin.

What I noticed immediately the next morning after this picture was taken was that the skin under my eyes was a little firmer, more even in skin tone and I looked less....well, tired. And I didn't feel the need to immediately reach for some natural concealer or EyeLuminator. 

This picture was taken after 72 hours, Sunday, October 22. 

And this picture was taken after almost a week on Wednesday, October 26. 

I don't know if you can see the difference in pictures as well as I can in daylight, but it's amazing. And trust me when I say that I am TIRED ALL THE TIME!

Like I stated above, I don't see the need to use this every day. I used it twice a day during this testing period to show how great it works, although I might be using it all the time after this experiment. I also made sure I got enough sleep at night and drank plenty of fluids. I am also on blood thinners, so my black circles are a tad more prominent for that fact, so there's my full disclosure. 

It has no odor. It is not oily or greasy. It does not leave a color on your skin and you don't feel it tingling or stinging after application. The only difference I noticed was that the skin under my eyes felt softer and more moisturized. And as stated before, it does have SenePlex in it which will help with aging. I am prone to genetic issues with the skin under my eyes (my mother, uncle and my grandfather all have this problem) so I have to work at this a little harder than the average 42-year-old. 

Black circles, red circles, or puffy eyes.....this could possibly be your miracle skin care item! Contact me if you are interested in ordering it! I have one in stock but this is easy for me to order if you have to have it!