Disguising tear troughs, finally something that works

[otchayaniye]

Basically a tear trough is a groove or very slight indent caused by thinning skin (so appears bluer and darker than just a dark circle) and slight bagging of the eye, which creates a slight shadow. Just using a plain old concealer isn't going to properly disguise them and loading more on will make it look even worse. You can google 'tear troughs' images to see what I mean.

You can get them in your thirties and genetic factors (thinner, paler skin) exacerbate it.

I am beginning to get the start of these not badly in all honesty but it really annoyed me as I think I look ok for my
age (39) except for this, which makes me look really knackered.

I bought all the concealers -- even Cle de Peau ($$$$$$), many eye creams (they don't work but do provide a nice surface
to apply stuff) and got more sleep. It did nothing.

The only way to get rid of them is to get restylane fillers or have blepharoplasty. I was starting to consider this as it just bugged the hell out of me and was the thing I'd zero in on if I caught my reflection. I just looked so tired.

Anyway. My makeup artist friend (big, has own makeup brand) helped me out. It really has made a huge difference, so much I
want to share it as you can be like me and spend a fortune and search for hours for a perfect concealer and it won't work and
just make you look too made up (especially in this harsh British daylight) or 160 years old.

You basically need to use two shades to recess and bring out the different areas of the undereye to disguise this trough.

I use a salmon corrector (not concealer). Eve Pearl is great but hard to get (US) but Bobbi Brown corrector is also very good. I apply this on the dark area but if you have any fine lines try not to apply too much to those and really just concentrate on the dark. Tap in.

Then use a very small brush (lip liner is good, I use a very small headed Bobbi Brown concealer brush as I happen to have one) and apply a tiny amount of concealer two shades lighter (I use BB warm ivory) JUST in the shadow the slight bag creates. It helps to look down in a mirror in natural light. Only apply in this line tapping lightly in. You are effectively trying to 'bring out' this area, not the skin around it. Any concealer will do but Bobbi Brown do a good range to pick a good two shades lighter, as do MAC or you could buy a Ben Nye or Kryolan wheel -- they go cheap on eBay.

I use a large EcoTools concealer brush to tap this line in.

I then use Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder with this brush just on this line. Apply too much and it makes the under
eye look chalky, and draws attention to any fine lines. Basically I sacrifice setting power with not having too much product
or powder. Any powder will do, I just happen to have this and want to use it up.

Other tips for knackered eyes is to use a lilac wash (really brightens -- Mac Digit is lovely) eyeshadow. I avoid too much sparkle although a slight sheen is fine. And I always wear something on the waterline. Either an Illamasqua nude pencil or a darker LM one. Again, anything will do, the trick is to disguise the red rim.

This takes a light hand, good light and practice but this one trick has single handedly made me look better, less knackered
than any expensive cream or eyewateringly expensive concealer.

ooooo - Is your friend (looks over shoulder) BB???

If you have havingkittens any recs for good makeupartist tutorials I'm always on the look out. I need the big guns out sometimes for my job (have to do TV)

No, she's British, very avant garde, started out as a fine artist. I don't mind bigging her up :) One of the starters of Illamasqua and has this book out

www.amazon.co.uk/Alex-Box-Rankin/dp/095631550X

Ok, not maybe not the right look for the office .....

Otch Awesome post. Ignore the ill-mannered ingrates.

I already know about this correct/conceal technique because I do media training and all our clients (including the men) have a professional make-up artist do their 'TV face'.

Bobbi Brown does correctors in peach as well as salmon - you need to experiment to find the right colour. And be prepared to get the colour WRONG a lot before you get it right, so try and insist on samples before buying. Check the colour in daylight, indoors, in artificial light, and in a camera lens (flash and no-flash).

Great advice about the dayligh, indoors flash no flash.

I wish someone professional did my TV face -- I have to do it in the bog which has the sort of lighting that makes everyone look like they have jaundice.

Do you guys think it's worth finding a Bobby Brown counter and asking them to do the technique on me? Any other counters that would be worth trying?

I also watched a couple of tutorials last night but nothing that wow'd me. One woman did use a benefit product - it was a lightening primer - do we think this would be any good?

I would actually start cheap. Also, It's not likely BB salespeople will know about this technigue -- they may, but it's unlikely. You're better off asking them to give you a few correctors and a few shades of a lighter concealer to have a go. Then go outside as well to check in daylight.

Before splashing out (BB concealers etc are £15+) go to a chemists and try it with dirt cheap stuff. If you are super pale you may have to look longer for a pale enough concealer. You'll see the effect and whether it works for you before you finesse texture and finish.

Or else get a Ben Nye or Kryolan wheel/palette (you can find them cheap, say 7-10 quid) on eBay or visit Screen Face in Covent Garden, as this will give you the shades to mix -- they often have purple/green/violet to get a corrector shade going. Obviously that is more hoo hah but you get dense pigment and the freedom to get a closer match.

Good luck.

I wonder if this ELF corrector palette would be any use initially? I'm just looking for a corrector as I now really like my concealer!

Re the Benefit product (and I think I know the tutorial you mean as a while back I thought I'd try it too) is too pink (for me, anyway), and it's a dense light reflective product.

Generally I don't favour Benefit products, I do use Boing (their concealers only come in three shades and way top dark for paler skins for this) but it's no different from the Kryolan palette I have. Just another densely pigmented concealer.

I haven't used ELF but they are rated, have a go!

Oh dear, sorry I think you misunderstood me Otchayanie - I didn't mean that you had chosen him as a guru! One one of his videos he mentioned being at the Guru Summit at IMATS which I think (hope) I misunderstood as him being a speaker. I did assume that you had posted the video just to demonstrate the technique you were describing. It's just that after some enthusiastic responses my curiosity got the better of me and thought I'd check him out.

I did guess from one of your posts a while back that you were friends with Alex Box, who is definitely a guru. I have been an admirer of her work for many years.

I personally like Pixiwoo for tutorials but I know you don't otchayanie. The thing is I look at tutorials for different reasons so what I like may not appeal to most on here. I like to get inspiration for high fashion or historical/period looks and product reviews, especially for products used to cause these kind of looks. The everyday office/wedding/TV make up is something I have a pretty good handle on so I don't go looking for tutorials for those kind of looks.

If you do TV slots regularly maybe it would be helpful to have a one to one make up lesson with a make up artist to show you how to make the best of your features whilst on camera. This would be helpful in day to day life too so a worthwhile investment. Probably not me though, as I get the impression you don't agree with quite a lot of what I say .... and I wear winged eyeliner - lol (although it is in context - I don't use it on everyone else!). Actually, if you ask around at the Artist brand counters, BB/MAC etc to see if anyone in particular does regular TV work and book in for an appointment with them. They don't mind you being discerning about who does your appointment, you don't have to just get whoever they allocate to your time slot. Or you can see who's personal make up style you like and book with them, but if you do that ask them first if they did their own make up. When the shop floor is quiet sometimes they do each other's make up so if that's the case you may not be getting what you hoped for!

Another thing you may find useful is, rather than doing your make up in the badly lit toilets, get a light up dressing table mirror and do you make up at home under even lighting conditions.

Sweetheart - you could try BB counters, or MAC, Shu Uemura, Laura Mercier. Space NK is good as it carries a few Artist brands so they will try various things on you until they get the right product for you (although this may be the rather pricier option!)

Thanks otchayaniye, I think I will although I will wait for another free shipping code

otch can I just check please - I have laura mercier secret concealer. Would I apply this in the shadowy half circle? If that isn't what you're recommending then is there a LM product that is a corrector rather than a concealer? I can't get to a BB counter near my office but there is a SpaceNK.

I was having a look at the brightening powder and may get some of that too.

I remember a while ago someone posted (here on mn) a youtube tutorial about how to apply concealer under the eye in a triangle - right up under the eye and a triangle down to the nose and all it did was make my skin look old if that makes sense. I had a try at this method this morning and limiting the concealer to just the circle does work better,

Oh I do like pixiwoo not every vid (I think I've seen most of them!) and much of it is more dramatic looks so not necessarily a starting point for makeup neophytes.

For me personally I can't at near 40 wear that much sparkly eyeshadow -- I prefer a simple 1940s-ey look, plain eye wash, maybe a darker but still pale matt colour in the crease , eyeliner and matte lipstick. Or no eyeshadow but LM pencil in waterline and blended out around the eye and then bold lip.

Thanks for the recs!

Ahh, love the 40s. I flit between the 40s and 50s personally depending on my mood and where I am going. I did a 1940s hair and make up demo at a museum event in Hertfordshire a few weeks ago actually.

Have you ever watched Fleur de Guerre's tutorials on youtube? She isn't a make up artist or hairdresser but is a 1940s style model and style icon and has her look pretty much sorted. She does some good hair ones too.

No, but I will do! Thanks (my evening sorted!)

This is her blog too which you might like

www.diaryofavintagegirl.com/

I really don't know where to start with all this! I have no idea on colours / skin tones etc etc so even the thought of buying something 2 shades lighter than my skin tone is highly confusing!

I'm also not so near to anywhere that has big make up counters and don't get the oppertunity to go very often with 2 kids and working full time!

How am I going to be able to figure out what products to use and how to do the make up?!?!?

sweetheart - can you get to a makeup counter in your lunch hour?

I hear you on the not having the time, I can no longer shop as I work part time and can't very well take my toddler on a long shop -- luckily I work in London and there is a SpaceNK and two large Boots near me. Or I get my husband (SAHD) to pick things up for me if he's passing Oxford St on way to the Zoo. He's nice like that (havingkittens he also was very uncharitable about Wayne Goss's video he caught me watching, but for other reasons!)

Or I buy off eBay or off sites and hope for the best (resll if need be)

Are you celtic? You may have freckles, be pale to medium pale and have cool undertones. BB Light Bisque corrector might be a good choice.

Are you non-freckled, medium pale to medium

Are you olive skinned (yellow undertones)

Black or Asian

Of course, I'm simplifying this massively but just sak yourself what sort of shade you are on a spectrum of pale to dark and then what sort of warmth your skin has, cool, prone to reddish, dark circles may be purple, or warm, more sallow and yellow?

I'd try out concealers and the ones that seem to melt into the skin without looking ashy or chalky or orange are most likely to match yoru skin. Then simply go two (sometimes one is ok) shades lighter in the range (it's guesswork, try a couple) for the shade to cover the groove.

Cheapo small brush - reckon you could get one in superdrug for a few quid, and you're good to go.

If you really don't know, you could try a palette because then you'd be able to mix and match and lighten the heaviness with cream etc. Yuo have total flexibility then and can practice when the kids are in bed (of course daylight will be an issue here but still)

I hope I haven't made this sound more complicated than it is. I have my preferences having bought out half of Selfridges' concealers/brighteners over the past few years. I have just got my routine down to a fine art. Still have to whack it on at 5.45 in the dark in a taxi on my way to work. On the days I look after my girl I make it a game and she (sticks her fingers in) hands me the bits I need. Do my whole face in about 5 mins.

No way I could do it in lunch hour - the places with make up counters are at least a 20 - 30min drive away. I'm white with paleish skin. I have no idea on undertones?!?!?! I'd guess at maybe pink but I could just as well be yellow! I have some minor freckles in the summer but nothing in winter.

I currently use the No 7 concealer in number 1, the best selection of makeup my local boots has to offer (along with a small range or rimmel, loreal, maybaline etc)

I'm going to have to invest some time in this aren't I!

ok, update and info for you ladies!

I went for my consultation this morning only to be told the clinic don't do the proceedure. Apparently it is highly specialised and most places won't touch it with a barge pole because the risks outweigh the rewards. She said surgery was an option but not one I'm willing to take.

What she did say that was very interesting is that sometimes it can be caused or made worse my fluid around the eyes and she suggested it may help to take water retention tablets so of course I went straight to boots and got some. I'll let you know if I notice any improvement over the next week or so.

Thanks for the update Sweetheart, back to square one then, the makeup application hasn't worked for me. Looks sort of ok from the front (looking straight on) but if I catch a glimpse from the side the groove is not disguised.

Reporting back here as well.

I have found that foundation up under the eyes, followed by concealer brushed into the groove, powder brushed onto the groove only (lots of not-so-fine lines here, power does them no favours) and a bit of Benefit Dr Feelgood mattifying stuff dabbed over the whole lot is producing impressive results. Thank you for this thread!

Hi everyone,

I'm a 30 year old male with tear troughs and came across this thread. I'm assuming this technique is done with the likes of women's make-up but was wondering if it can be used on men without any look of wearing make-up.

Any information would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks!
Jeremy

Jeremy - on The Apprentice this week there was a company that specialised in mens no make up 'make up' - maybe if you google for that - might have some stuff??