Friday, May 7, 2010

Clarins Eye Care

I discovered a Benefit eye product that I recently bought was causing eye area dryness. Silly me, I should have known better, as my skin always reacts badly to Benefit products. I think I've thrown away enough money now, though, finally! Right?

So driving home from work the other day, I happened to take a look in the mirror to check my hair (I started flat ironing my hair and checked how it was holding up at the end of the day). Weill, I not only noticed thin lines emanating from under the eye outwards, but also noticed some brown spotting on the outside of the eye area. Eeek! This needed professional help, and plastic surgery is too expensive. The next best thing is to look for age-defying eye care products.

So I decided to go to my local Macy's and look up the Clarins product line. I always hear great things about their products in regards to sensitivity and specialized products for managing the aging process. I was a little tentative though, because I thought they only specialized in dry, older skin, and not so much on congested, oily or combination skin. But Nora, the specialist on duty when I showed up, put me at ease immediately. She helped me learn everything there is about the Clarins eye care product lines, and proceeded to try an array of products that targeted my concerns right on the spot.

She first recommended using their gentle eye-makeup remover using non-edged cotton rounds (Nora also had a bad experience as I did, while removing eye makeup with a thin-edged cotton round.Eek!). Walgreens and CVS have great ones, and Swisspers helped define the standard. You are to use the cotton round with eye-makeup remover as cool compresses. Leave the cotton on the eye for a few minutes allowing you some relaxation, and getting day-long old makeup to slowly but thoroughly melt away. She said this would also be a great time to use a lip exfoliator and lip balm.

After removing the eye makeup she recommends applying the Advanced Extra-Firming Eye Contour Cream-the application is extremely lightly with the tip of all fingers shaped as crescents, on the socket bone under the eye and over the eye, tapping and then swooshing lightly. This is then followed by the Skin-Smoothing Eye Mask which helps exfoliate and plump at the same time.

Clarins uses natural botanicals to assist with the soothing factor of each and all of their products. Their chamomile toner smells spectacularly light and soothing. All the products have an extremely light scent, very delicate and soothing. I had zero reaction. I read on one of the product boxes that it "respects the natural Ph of tears" so you know these guys are good at what they do. I'm going to ask my mom, as I'm sure she used to try the Clarins line when she lived in Europe and before she became uber-allergic to most products as she is now.

This is definitely a line I am growing to like more and more. Nora was too kind and had me leave with a ton of samples. Their physical sun blocks are amazing, for example. A very little dose goes a LONG way with Clarins products, so you're sure your investment will last you a bit. These are indeed costly products, but the quality so far has blown me away considering my disappointment with high end Chanel skincare products a few years ago.

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