The Way to Conceal Your Own Undereyes

This is a portion of Thank You Notes, a string of letters that offer responses to the people and things that inspire us . Like many other people, Allure has spent that summer looking inward — that the location from where, as they say, beauty springs. What we discovered was pain, love, comedy, and highly effective gratitude, for the folks we all know and the planet we all live in. Then we composed.

For this one particular meme,

Beauty rituals could be profoundly calming. For decades, I’ve used the 20 to 30 moments I spend using my makeup for a sort of meditation; a short, allocated period of time that’s for me only. I usually punctuate my regular — foundation, brows, mascara, liner, and lip gloss, on a fundamental day — using a vibrant element, such as a shimmery teal Make Up For Ever eye shadow, a glowing red liquid lining given to me by one of our editors, or a flower-shaped zit decal from Squish. Each brings a little light in my daily life.

The significance of this program has improved with age, increasing in parallel with my anxiety levels, lease prices, student loan interest. However, for that half-hour facing my window each day, I’m ready to see my head for a living canvas as opposed to a projection display for many of my insecurities.

It wasn’t always this way. As a young child, I was permitted to use makeup provided that it was completely for pleasure — a principle created by my (really innovative and wise) mum that stuck around for several years. Or until mid school hit. This lively hobby become a chore which hinged on concealing: Cover your flaws, fix your scars, hide your dark circles.

As a lifelong insomniac, my undereye bags are nearly like freckles: They’re always there, but occasionally darken under specific conditions. No good or technique I attempted during this tumultuous, menstrual time really made them vanish, along with the pursuit of evenness only made me frustrated and frustrated. It was years after, using a little bit of hindsight and after a great deal of sleep, I stopped worrying and learned to adore (or at least not hate) my undereye circles — and, consequently, love beauty.