If you have dark undereye circles, then you likely already know the basics for covering them up. Concealer types and techniques have shifted in and out of vogue over the years, all promising to make our eyes look bright and plump.
And if you have dark undereye circles, then you know that a lot of these “tricks” don’t actually work. In fact, depending on the cause of your dark circles, concealer might not even be the right tool for the job.
I’ve struggled with undereye circles since before I knew they were a “problem” to fix. (Thanks, stress and genetics!) But it wasn’t until I watched a Sephora PRO Artist tutorial that I realized I’ve been trying to correct my eye circles completely wrong.
Identifying The Problem To Figure Out The Correct Solution
David Razzano of Sephora PRO begins his tutorial by explaining that not all undereye circles are the same. While discoloration can be fixed with a color corrector and full coverage, that’s not a one-size-fits-all technique.
Sometimes, Razzano explains, undereye circles are caused by a natural recess of the skin over the eye socket. This has to do with your bone structure, not how much sleep you got last night. You need a different technique to fix these types of undereye bags.
1. Prep The Undereye Area With A Caffeine Infused Cream
The first step to Razzano’s eye bag-removal technique is one I’ve never thought to consider: prepping the undereye. (Isn’t waking up and washing my face “prep” enough?!)
Razzano recommends Origins Ginzing brightening eye cream with ginseng and caffeine. The caffeine stimulates blood flow and plumps the undereye area.
The potent eye cream depuffs and brightens the undereye area, while the lightweight formula allows for product layering without unsightly creases. Split a pea-size dab of cream between both undereye areas, dabbing the product lightly with your fingertips.
2. Lightly Conceal Using A Shade That Matches Your Skin Tone
Next, Razzano uses a concealer that closely matches the model’s skin tone. He places two to three small dots under each eye with the applicator. Then, he uses an angled concealer brush that mimics the pad of a fingertip to blend the product.
Milk Makeup’s Flex Concealer blends into the undereye area without caking or creasing. The featherlight concealer is also infused with blue lotus and chamomile to moisturize and calm the skin, respectively—two must-haves for tired, dull skin under the eyes.
The magic behind Razzano’s recommended concealer brush is the bristles’ shape. The tapered, rounded oval shape mimics the pad of a finger. So, you get the most natural coverage while still getting the control and precision of a brush.
Razzano dabs the concealer all over with the fattest part of the brush. But for this next step, you’ll want to implement the narrower precision side of the brush.
3. Tackle The Inner Corner Shadow With A Brightening Cream
Up until this point, I figured I had this technique down already—it was my products, not my methods, preventing me from getting my desired results. But I was wrong. In this next step, Razzano focuses on the dreaded inner corner shadow.
The inner corner shadow starts near the tear duct and swoops down away from the nose. It’s often the outermost rim of an eyebag, and it’s incredibly difficult to conceal. Here’s where the magic happens.
Unless you address the inner corner shadow directly, Razzano explains, your eyebags will still be apparent. The trick to truly hiding your eyebags is to create an illusion of light by strategically using two different concealers.
To master this illusion of light and shadow, Razzano uses a much more sheer, almost watery concealer in a lighter shade than the first concealer. The Tarte Aquacealer Concealer used in the video is no longer in production, but Rare Beauty’s Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer is an excellent dupe.
He swipes the product onto his hand, picking up the concealer with the narrow side of his brush. Using the slim side, he dabs concealer directly into the inner eye shadow—nowhere else. Precision is key here.
The inner eye shadow is the most deeply set part of the eyebag. By using a bright concealer, you bring this area forward to match the space above it with the slightly darker concealer. If you spread the brighter concealer up to the main undereye area, then the light is dispersed unevenly again, and the illusion is lost.
4: Set With A Lightweight Brightening Powder For All Day Staying Power
Finally, Razzano finishes the look by brushing on a layer of Laura Mercier’s Secret Brightening Powder. Rather than using a large powder brush, Razzano uses a small eyeshadow brush to keep the application precise and strategic.
This airy powder illuminates the undereye area without sucking out moisture or caking into lines. It also locks in the two concealers for all-day coverage, keeping you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, whether it’s 2 pm or 2 am.