one dark circle darker than other dark circles under eyes

And it worked: Two hours later (I guess I really needed it) I emerged with face contours I didn’t know existed, and the darkness under my eyes was less dramatic. Unlike most facials, which focus on the skin’s surface, this one aimed to stimulate my muscles and keep my skin from drooping. Instead my aesthetician, Farnaz, gave my face the most intense deep-tissue massage of my life. At Joëlle Ciocco I received nothing of the sort (in fact, I was told that I, like most Americans, exfoliate too much).

For me, a good facial has always included thorough extractions and some kind of heavy-hitting exfoliant. On a solo trip to Paris, after a few nights of jet-lag-induced insomnia and a very balanced diet of pastries and savory crepes, I took my tired face to the Joëlle Ciocco Beauty Center, an iconic institution where very chic ladies like Carla Bruni Sarkozy go to get refreshed. As we get older, we lose even more volume under our eyes, creating what Dr. Loretta Ciraldo calls a “trough.” While darkness under your eyes is something most of us deal with, you could also be prone to more extreme circles for two reasons.

The skin under your eyes is thinner than the rest of your face, so dark circles are caused by a combination of excess pigment and veins peeking through. There are definitely eye creams that can help, but ultimately dark circles come down to a complicated combination of genetics, hydration, and-yes-sleep.

While most people are hoping for a simple answer consisting of a stellar eye cream recommendation, the reality is there's no magic undereye eraser outside of Facetune. Despite how hard we try to hide them with concealer or distract with a bright lipstick, dark circles will betray us time and time again by telling the world how little we actually managed to sleep. As beauty editors, our most asked question by a long shot is “How do you get rid of dark circles under your eyes?” Whether it's at a family function or in our hundreds of Instagram DMs, we can always count on someone asking us how to avoid tired-looking eyes.

One dark circle darker than other dark circles under eyes