Dealing with Puffiness

We've all had those nights when you go to sleep crying or just don't sleep at all or even sometimes bad allergies and you consequently develop puffy eyes. It's red, it's noticeable, and it's definitely unattractive. It can take some time for the puffiness to diminish and especially in the mornings, time is not usually something we have. How can you make the puffiness go away? While you may not be able to make the puffiness completely disappear, there are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind.

Something that almost always helps is cold. If you're crying the night before, go to bed with a cold pack on your eyes to minimize swelling or when you wake up see if you can't get some of the puffiness to go down with some cucumbers (yes they actually do work for this) or a cool pack from the fridge. Besides diminishing the puffy look, cold packs feel good on tired eyes and give your eyes a sometimes needed rest. One of the ways to better prevent and treat puffy eyes is to stay hydrated and stay away from food and drink that may dehydrate you (e.g. chips and alcohol). One of the big things not to do is to rub your eyes if they're puffy. Rubbing will only aggravate your eyes more and may even lead to more watering—definitely not what you want.

If your puffiness is especially bad or you just don't have time to fiddle with it, there are a few makeup tricks that could help you out. Put some concealer all around the eye (including the lid) and follow that with applying some light, loose powder. Put some dark liner on your upper lid, apply some eye shadow, curl your lashes, and finish it off with some mascara on the upper lashes only. This succeeds in taking the focus away from the puffy area under your eyes and drawing it more to your upper face and eyes.

Puffy eyes are without a doubt a pain and a beauty hindrance, but fortunately there are ways to combat it and diminish its appearance. Good luck with ousting your puffiness!