I always have ugly dark circles under my eyes. What can I do to get rid of them?!

You're not alone, sistah. A lot of us suffer from those pesky dark circles. Sometimes it's hereditary, other times it can be caused by allergies, lack of sleep or vitamin deficiencies. Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to make them less noticeable or, in some cases, disappear completely!

1. Be healthy! Make sure you're keeping totally hydrated and eating healthy foods. Drinking lots of water will help improve blood circulation and, in turn, make those dark circles not so dark. And getting all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs is important to improving skin. So make sure you're eating your fruits and veggies!

2. Avoid salt. While consuming some salt is OK, eating it in excess can be unhealthy. Too much salt can also be detrimental to your circulation, making your veins appear purple-ish under your skin. Salt is in a lot of prepared foods (and at restaurants) so eating nutritious goodies is key.

3. Don't rub. Stop rubbing those eyes, girl! You could be causing skin irritation which means tiny capillaries just under your skin are breaking, leading to a li’l discoloration.

4. Get your beauty sleep! When you're sleep deprived, your skin appears paler, making dark spots stand out more. Make sure you're getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Not only will this help shoo away those dark circles, it'll also have you feeling energized and healthy.

5. Relax. Place cucumber slices or cool tea bags over your eyes for about 10 to 15 minutes once a day. Both have been proved to reduce puffiness and skin discoloration, and give your face an overall fresh feeling! Eye creams containing Vitamin K and retinol are also really helpful.

6. Cover them up! Still not getting better? Pick up an under eye concealer. We like this one by Physician’s Formula. Dust some mineral powder over it and go.

7/30/2009 7:00:00 AM