Many of us suffer with under eye bags and overall face puffiness at one time or another. Some causes of under eye bags are allergies, bad food choices, not drinking enough water and not getting enough sleep. Puffy eyes can make us look tired, old, sad and even sick! Luckily, I have 6 easy and natural remedies for puffy eyes that work fast and are tried and true!
Doing makeup tutorials, I really try not to air brush. However, the camera likes to accentuate texture so if I’m puffy under my eyes, it’s very obvious.
I’ve learned over the years to go easy on the carbs, alcohol and salt the day before as well as get good sleep but sometimes my face is just puffy. I’ve had to come up with a few quick and easy things I can do to ensure I take a good picture that showcases the makeup and not my flaws.
I will say, puffiness is usually one of the skin issues that can often be fixed quickly and cheaply. You just need a few nuggets of information in your back pocket and you’ve come to the right place for that!
What Causes Puffy Eyes?
Often times puffy eyes are a result of poor lifestyle choices. Water retention from eating processed and/or salty foods as well as laying flat when you sleep can cause you to have excess fluid under the eyes. Not getting enough water and sleep are also culprits and when remedied, puffy eyes are typically greatly reduced.
Smoking and drinking do you no favors on any aspects of health and they are very much contributors to excess puffiness in the face.
Allergies can cause loads of inflammation. After all, it is our body’s number one defense when reacting to an allergic reaction. I’ve written a more in-depth post about how to deal naturally with allergy attacks and what blend of essential oils work wonders for inflammation due to allergies.
Unfortunately, genetics and age can also be to blame.
As you age, the muscles around the eyes become weaker. Fat moves down and creates under eye bags.
If you suspect your under eye puffiness is from genetics and age, take heart because my suggestions can still help to reduce the appearance of under eye bags no matter where they’re coming from. Plus, a great concealer never hurt anyone!
6 Natural Remedies for Puffy Eyes:
- ICE. Cold reduces swelling. It works wonders.
- Caffeine-Not to drink but to apply!
- Lymphatic Drainage Massage or Tapping
- Drink LOADS of water. This will help flush excess fluid and toxins out of your system.
- Sleep on 2 pillows instead of one. Laying flat allows fluids to pool around your eyes.
- Use eye pad masks!
Ice Does Wonders for Under Eye Bags
The cheapest yet most effective beauty tip I can give you for puffiness is to grab an ice cube. Cold, especially ice reduces inflammation within minutes. This is why you ice a sore or damaged body part. It’s a miracle worker to reduce swelling!
Read my post on Ice Facials to learn about all the insane benefits of using ice on your face.
While good ole’ ice cubes work great, you can enhance their beauty benefits and de puffing power by using frozen green tea cubes, aloe cubes straight from the leaf or a cucumbers/rose water recipe as ice cubes!
Also, I always wash my face with cold, cold, cold water every morning. Not only is it refreshing, it helps tighten and firm.
For an easy and quick ice facial without any dripping, try an ice roller. They’re fantastic. Mine is always ready to go in my freezer!
Cold spoons and cucumber or potato slices are a few other natural ways to help with under eye bags.
One more suggestion-Invest in a skin care fridge. Cold skin care is not only refreshing, it reduces puffiness!
Topical Caffeine for Puffy Eyes
Caffeine is not just for drinking when it comes to waking up! It can be used topically to help reduce inflammation!
I have several DIY posts on this matter! For an easy eye serum try out my Firming Eye Serum recipe that incorporates witch hazel, aloe and a couple coffee beans for a quick and easy caffeine infusion!
For an oil based roll on that will not only de-puff but also deeply moisturize, try out my Coffee Bean Eye Roll on recipe that also involves adding a couple coffee beans directly to the product.
If you prefer an eye cream and are feeling confident in your DIY skin care skills, check out my Coffee Bean Eye Cream recipe which is a dupe of 100% Pure’s Coffee Bean Eye Cream!
For an easy and quick remedy, you can use green tea or black tea tea bags directly over the eyes!
Lymphatic Drainage & Tapping for Puffy Eyes
I’ve not done a lot of research on lymphatic drainage on the face but I know that by implementing a few simple massage techniques, especially using a gua sha stone, you can do wonders for encouraging fluid drainage in the face.
HERE is a video of a simple lymphatic massage technique you might find useful.
I personally like to tap. Tapping, think jazz hands tapping gently around the eyes, will stimulate drainage. It’s a technique I would incorporate in the massage portion of my facials when I worked as an aesthetician. It’s easy and quick yet very effective.
Eye Mask Pads for Puffy Eyes
Eye Mask Pads are the new craze in the skin care world but you must be aware that while they seem harmless, many contain harmful ingredients such as parabens! That’s why I stick with 100 Percent Pure.
Their Eye Masks contain all natural ingredients that give the delicate skin under the eyes a brighter, more awake look using only the highest quality, safe ingredients. They de-puff and smooth with aloe, caffeine from matcha green tea and green coffee, cucumber, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid and plant cellulose.
As you can see, each mask is full of goodness to “de-bag” your eyes! The mask material “hydrogel” is composed from 95% organic aloe water and 5% plant cellulose made to intensely hydrate.
Bright Eyes Eye Pads are a miracle. I can’t express properly how puffy my eyes get when the trees start budding. My eyes itch, water and balloon up and until now the only thing I could do was use ice to reduce the swelling which can be uncomfortable and messy.
Bright Eye pads are so comfortable on the skin and what’s neat is that you can wear them for a LONG TIME. The longer you wear them, the thinner they get because the water gets absorbed into your skin.
I noticed an immediate difference the first time I used the eye pads. I don’t have too much dark under my eyes but I do have some and it was greatly diminished. My skin looked brighter and the bags were GONE. I was reading reviews to see what other users were saying and several people called these eye masks “better then concealer”!
I highly recommend Bright Eyes from 100 Percent Pure. These are now my go-to before every blog shoot and even before early appointments after a night of indulgence or allergy issues! Shop 100 Percent Pure HERE.
I’ve done further research on under eye bags and puffiness and formulated a DIY puffy eye roll on that I’m loving! I keep it in the fridge and apply it first thing in the morning.
I hope you’re encouraged and excited about these easy and natural remedies for puffy eyes! They really do work wonders!
Lifestyle choices always play the biggest role in how our skin looks. Topical remedies coming in second. Make sleep, water and healthy food a priority then tackle your skin care.
xx, Jenni
P.S. If you’re concerned about dark circles under your eyes, a whole other ball of wax, you might want to read my article on how to remedy under eye circles.
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Lol…I have had these in my bathroom for at least two months! My puffiness usually ends up over my eyes, so these wouldn’t help with that. But I’m still going to try them. And like you, Jenni, eating stuff I am sensitive to totally puffs me up!
Elizabeth-whip those babies out-they feel so good on your eyes and you won’t believe how moisturized that skin will feel!
Thanks for sharing such a useful information with us. This is a great post.Thanks a lot
Really great eye pads. I was looking for the same. I have puffy eyes. I want to try these eye pads.
This genius. I will definitely follow this. Thanks for sharing.
I have really dark eye circles. my mom thought I have some liver disease but I don`t it is just my skin like this. I have tried to apply some cucumber slices but the effect is temporary. I have even considered an eye bag surgery in Singapore but I will totally try these pads first. Thank you for sharing
I loooooove these! I keep mine in the fridge… the eye mask plus the cold is like magic.
I was looking for good eye pads but I didn’t find any. This article really helped me as I have used so many home remedies already and it didn’t work for me I really needed readymade solution for my problems. Now I want to get my hands on this eye pads as soon as possible.