Bye, puffy eyes: Here's a literally cool DIY coffee eye treatment
Caffeine is a fairly common ingredient in skincare, particularly in eye creams. But why? Apparently, caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, meaning it causes blood vessels to constrict and restrict blood flow. It can be absorbed by the skin which allows it to work its magic on pigmentation and puffiness in the under eye area.
Since I love staying up at night but hate waking up to puffy eyes, I decided to put the above knowledge to good use with this easy DIY. It’s quick and cheap to make, so I suggest keeping a batch stored in your freezer for the next time your eyes get puffy. Here's my recipe for the DIY coffee eye mask!
What you’ll need:
- Distilled water
- Coffee (brewed grounds are best but instant coffee should also be fine)
- Spoon
- Ice tray
- Coffee filters or cloth towels
Step 1: Brew the coffee and let it cool. The more concentrated the coffee is, the better, so don't use too much water.
Step 2: Spoon small amounts into a clean ice tray, then pop it into the freezer for an hour or two.
Make sure that the cubes are completely frozen before using them, otherwise they will end up melting too fast.
Step 3: Wrap a coffee cube in a a coffee filter (or thin cloth towel if you don't have one) and apply it directly on your eye bags. You can press it gently around each eye for five to ten minutes - something you could do while binging on Netflix. ;) The pressing motion will help drain the fluids under your eyes as well as distribute the coffee evenly .
I don’t really have wrinkles yet so I can’t tell if the caffeine really reduces their appearance but has definitely help to deflate my puffy bags! Do you suffer from eye puffiness as well? Have you ever used skincare that contained caffeine? Let us know how this DIY worked for you!
Resources: NCBI, Karger, Babcock Dermatology, NCBI 2, NCBI 3
