What Are Under-eye Masks?

Building up the perfect skin care routine can take a bit of time. In addition to ensuring you’re giving attention to every part of your face and body, finding products that work for you is of the utmost importance. Even if your favourite skin care influencer swears by a brand, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right fit for you, and this is a particularly important consideration for under-eye masks. 

Under-eye masks, also called eye patches, are highly popular right now, and for good reason—they help brighten, depuff, and hydrate the skin underneath your eyes. Because under-eye skin is incredibly delicate (eyelid skin is the thinnest skin we have), it is also the most sensitive skin. This means that using the right product for you should be your main focus.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of under-eye masks, let’s go over what they are.

What are under-eye masks?

Under-eye masks are crescent shaped patches that are supposed to be used directly underneath your eyes. They are enriched with serums with high potency and active ingredients that aim to help better the look and texture of your under-eyes, helping to correct the effects of poor sleep, too much sun, inadequate makeup removal techniques, and dry, irritated, or ageing skin. Just like face masks, they are more effective than under-eye creams because of the fact that these patches feature concentrated ingredients.

What should I be looking for?

Before finding the perfect under-eye mask, you need to determine what sort of change you’d like to see as most under-eye masks have some sort of targeted function. 

If you’ve been staying up late and bingeing Netflix, which likely results in dark circles, you should be looking for under-eye masks that aim to brighten. If you’ve been consuming a lot of sodium, resulting in puffiness, you would want an under-eye mask that helps to depuff. If you are hoping to reduce the look of wrinkles around your eyes, a hydrating or smoothing under-eye mask would work best.

Though under-eye masks have their differences depending on the brand and its central function, one underlying thread of all under-eye masks is that they all help to cool skin, reducing inflammation. Whether or not your under-eye mask is effective in the long run, it will, at the very least, help with inflammation. 

Ultimately, the goals of tightening and brightening are key, as they help to reduce the look of tired eyes. Look for active ingredients such as collagen, hyaluronic acid, cucumber, peptides, collagen, retinol, and caffeine to tighten and brighten your under-eyes.

Should I use under-eye masks?

The answer is a resounding “yes”! Dermatologists believe that taking care of the skin underneath your eyes is just as important as taking care of the skin on the rest of your face. While efficacy may vary from brand to brand, under-eye masks are reported to be effective. 

WIth that said (and we’ve said it before), it’s very important to ensure that what you’re using is right for your skin. Since eyelid skin is so sensitive, you should use under-eye masks with caution.  

Some believe that keeping masks on for longer than instructed can yield better results, but this is not the case. Be sure to use exactly as instructed. 

If one brand doesn’t work for you and irritates your under-eyes, move on to the next one. There are so many under-eye masks on the market for you to sample that there is no need to remain faithful to one brand. Finding one that works means that you will have hydrated, bright, and wrinkle-free under-eyes in no time.

Do you use under-eye masks? What brand has worked best for you? Check out our collection of under-eye masks.