Hey everybody, welcome back Rachel Varga here advanced aesthetic nurse helping thousands of clients from all over the world since 2011. I'm here to help you understand the science of being beautiful to help you be as awesome on the inside and out. And yes, starting with your skincare is a really important piece of that. By the way, I do have a background in general chemistry or Gannett chemistry and biochemistry on top of my nursing degree. So I know a thing or two about good skincare and to be honest, it's all about science. Today we're going to talk about eye creams and the importance of using an eye cream. What eye creams do is they help to add an extra layer of hydration around the eyes. So a lot of times people can actually get away with using their facial moisturizer around their eyes. And sometimes people will actually pick up an eye cream to try and tighten the skin around the eyes or reduce hooded eyelids or puffy lower eye bings or fixed dark circles. And unfortunately an eye cream isn't going to do that. That's something that can be better treated with things like neuromodulators like Botox, Disport and Zio-Men and some laser rejuvenation treatments. And if you have any of those things like hooded eyelids, heavy upper lower eyelids, puffy eyelids or dark circles, you really do want to look at more treatments as opposed to skincare. All in eye creams going to do is simply hydrate the area, which is still really important. One of the questions I receive is, well, what's the best eye cream? And it really depends, right? So say you're in the winter months, you're going to want to use a thicker eye cream. If you're in the summer months, maybe you'll want to use some type of an eye serum. Some eye creams do contain things like caffeine, which can be helpful for a little bit of puffiness, but in all honesty, it's probably not going to make too much of a noticeable difference. Really all in eye cream is going to do is really hydrate the skin. But what can be helpful in an eye cream are things like antioxidants and peptides to nourish the skin. It's all about nourishing the skin. It's like taking your multivitamin and having it actually in a skincare product. That's what good medical grades can here is going to do for you. Really great ingredients in some eye creams are like metrixil 3000 or illegal peptides or proteins and peptides and antioxidants in general. But again, you really want to make sure that you're purchasing products that do have some research to back up their claims because every eye cream on the back of the bottle says it reduces eyelid puffiness and dark circles. They're really, it's not going to. The best thing for dark circles, by the way, is actually concealer. I really want to use a plug here because injectables in the lower eyelid area should actually never be used in the lower eyelid area. The lower eyelid is basically the aspect of your lower lash line to the top of your cheek here. Sometimes what can happen over time is we get the tear trough to formity, which extends into the cheek here and the maylar fat pad. You'll see this a lot on social media before and after of people having pad dermal filler in here like rustle in and juvederm and TLC hour density. There's lots of different brands out there. But unfortunately what can happen when you fill in this area, it can block blood flow to the eyes. And I've seen this so many times because I actually work with an ocular plastic surgeon. So the eyes are very much my specialty. And you can get a lot of swelling, allergic reactions and undesirable effects over time and having less than ideal impact on the skin, giving it kind of like a cobblestone effect or like this little like you can almost see a tube or a line of the filler. You really just want to leave well in a full loan in regards to fillers there. So if you're looking to undergo treatments, fillers to the cheek is great and Botox and Neuromodulars are amazing to the eyes for sorting out crow's feet and puffy lower eyelids. But really an eye cream or an eye serum isn't going to do that. Actually right before filming this, I just had a consult with a woman who said her eye cream was working for her one or two years ago, but it's not working anymore for her. And that's because as you age, your skin goes through a little bit of a tipping point. So you may not have noticed crow's feet a couple of years ago, but now you're seeing it now that can actually be related to a loss of collagen and elastin and even fat into the lateral part of your cheek here and your meal or fat pad. So I have other videos that I'm going to be doing to talk about how awesome Neuromodulators lasers are around the eye area, but you should look at an eye cream and an eye serum as a way to simply hydrate the skin. So if your skin's feeling a little bit dry and tight, then it's a great idea to add an eye cream or an eye serum to the mix. The best time to apply your eye products are right after you've washed the face. You've applied your facial serum and then you apply your eye serum. If you're using a retinal product, you actually want to avoid the eye area because you don't want it to get into your eyes and the skin around the eyes can be very sensitive. So basically follow the eye bone. Don't go past the eye bone here when you're applying your vitamin A products at nighttime. But when you're applying your eye products, basically find this eye bone and go from there all the way to your lash line. Don't be afraid to get it to your lash line. If it's a really good medical grade product, it shouldn't be irritating your eyes. And you can apply it morning and night. I find I don't really need to use eye creams in the summertime, but I do like to use them in the winter time. The approximate cost for eye creams and eye serums are a question I get all the time, and they can again range from about $50 to about $190. I find that the more expensive products get when they're really good medical grade items are basically related to how much moisture they deliver and the levels of active ingredients, which are actually what's nourishing and feeding the skin. The amount that you should be applying to your eye area should be about half the size of a pea. That's a really good sort of the baseline for how much you should be using. You shouldn't be using any more than that. After you apply your eye cream, then you do your facial moisturizer, and I actually like to put my facial moisturizer over top of my eyes even after I've done my eye cream, and then my sunscreen over top. I'm going to sunscreen every single day, non-negotiable for good skin, and then you apply your makeup. Thanks so much for watching this video on eye creams and how to pick the best eye cream for you and what they do, and also what they don't do. Please leave me a question or a comment down below, and let me know if you have taken anything from this video, and it's kind of changed what you're currently doing for your eye product application. I'd love to hear from you. So don't forget to go over to RachaelVarga.ca and continue the conversation over there. I have some great free resources and blogs and podcasts and Pinterest images and all sorts of really cool things. I also have a free newsletter, so go ahead and sign up for that because I share some things that I actually don't share on social media. I sometimes just like to share that for my subscribers there. Thanks so much for watching guys, and have a great day, and I'll see you in the next video.