just a couple questions

Does anybody know any product that can help with the dark spots under your eyes? And what is a good way to get your pheros to diffuse slower?

Dark Spots…SLEEP!
Slowing diffusion, Oily skin, achieved by taking vitamin E supplements, using a moisturizing shower gel or an after shower body lotion.

Use a good concealer. Clinique makes a good one that is sweat resistant, I think its called “continuous coverage”.

What she said though I use bareminerals or how ever you spell it haha. Sadly my family on my mothers side is cursed with dark circles so I inherited them :frowning:

The epic battle against dark circles under the eyes !! Where to begin? :smiley:

Like you I have been cursed with these things. People used to ask me a couple of times a week if I have just spent 48h in a bar or coffeeshop (the Dutch kind ofc). It started to annoy me so much I decided to fix the issue.

We live in 2010 so the first thing one does is Google the crap out of a situation. This often results in one trying out an entire scala of pricey solutions, of which all fail. Basically it is some kind of a medical problem and there are a lot of companies trying to make a buck out of our issue.

The ‘community’ has a lot to say about possible causes. Let’s make a list out of the top of my head:

  • little sleep
  • vitamin deficiency (vitamin E and/or K)
  • metals deficiency (zinc)
  • stress
  • smoking (your lungs might be tolerant to the smoke, your skin can be allergic, this can happen after years of smoking)
  • drinking
  • genetics/heritage
  • thin skin under the eyes
  • capillary blood vessels with little oxygen
  • allergies

These are just the most common ones. Fixing one or more of those in the list, might fix your problem. But only if there is an external cause to the dark circles. In my case, it is a genetic problem. I inherited them from my dad. Pigmentation is very heavy under the eyes. (50% south-asian blood)

Before I wanted to accept it was genetics causing this, I tried a lot of fixes. Some of which might actually work for you ! But they didnt work for me.
I already stopped drinking years ago. I take vitamins and metal supplements like crazy. I sleep 8+ hours a night. So I turned to the cosmetics industry.

Man there are more products you could buy to solve this, then there are nerds at a Star Trek Convention ! Too bad, none of them fixed my problem.
There are cafeine rollers, supposed to relax and freshen the skin. There are eye patches to wear at night with gel in them. I bought bottles of cream containing vitamins E + K for 60 euros a bottle. Sticks with Q10. Sticks with cafeine. Sticks with snail goo. Some companies have entire men’s facial lines nowadays. I could go on and on. But my genetics keep all these products from helping.

So a while ago I gave up on the fixing sulution. I decided to battle the symptoms instead. If I cannot make it go away, I will hide it. And yes, this means wearing make up… every time you want to make a fresh impression.
Some dudes would never do this, because they consider this a gay thing, or they are afraid to be called gay. Well, the last decade or so there is a lot of men’s make up for sale, so somebody must be buying the stuff ! Many men who groom themselves well use some kind of make up. You don’t know this, because they do it so well, you will not notice them wearing it. And ofcourse this is the way to go.

So what does one need to cover the dark circles without anyone noticing you are wearing make up? Sillykitty said it already: concealer. And you need a damn good one. Preferably one with light reflecting qualities. Most important is you need one that is only one shade darker then you face colour tone. If you have to, have more then one colour shade, because of the summer/winter difference in your tan.

Buying stuff from the internet, will not work in this case. You need to physically move your ass to a perfume/make up shop. Why? The women who work there know more about make-up then we know about drinking beer. Also, they must actually try certain types of concealer (shades) on your face. This way you go home with the right one. Also consider buying a (expensive) brush. If you treat the brush right it will last you a lifetime. They will use a brush to put the concealer on you in the shop, and using a brush you will probably learn the fasted way to put it on yourself. All this without the world noticing you have it on. If you wanna save the bucks on the brush: Remember to never smear with your fingers under the eyes. It is the most delicate piece of skin you have on your body. Instead use a finger to tap the stuf softly around the spot you want to put it on. It is best to use the ringfinger (also called girly-finger) because this finger is the weakest one in the terms of putting out pressure.

Well what do I use?

I have two products at the moment that serve me well. It is not my intention to advertise, so if posting this is against the rules, I will delete the links later.

Both aren’t special men’s products, but I don’t care.

First, a roller with cafeine. The cafeine doesnt do crap but there is also concealer in it, which matches my skin tone perfectly:
http://www.garnierusa.com/_en/_us/our_products/product.aspx?tpcode=OUR_PRODUCTS^PRD_SKINCARE^SKIN_RENEW^SKIN_RENEW_DISCOVER^SKIN_RENEW_RTN3&prdcode=P19021
I have the darker one.

And secondly, this is expensive, but it does the job:
YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch By Yves Saint Laurent Beauty
I have the number 2 colour.

So, this is all there is to it. Use this information wisely :slight_smile: