It was 8:46 a.m. on a Thursday in mid-October. I’d slept six hours, ice-rolled my face, and made it to my desk with a ginger kombucha in hand. Still, my reflection said: overextended. A colleague asked if I was sick. I wasn’t. Just deep into Q4—with a to-do list involving rescheduled SATs, hospice consults, and a shower that didn't drain properly.
Tired eyes are hard to cover. You can have clear skin, a fresh haircut, maybe even a little color on your cheeks from your weekend hike in Topanga Canyon—but if your eyes are puffy or heavy-lidded, you will still look like someone who fell asleep reading Instagram reels about longevity in bed (full disclosure: if you are not already following @peterattiamd, I highly recommend).
So I made it a project. Over the course of several weeks, I tested everything from prescription drops to cooling tools to every clean mascara that claimed to lift, curl, or fake a lash extension. I also asked a few derms I trust—Dendy Engelman, MD; Dhaval Bhanusali, MD; and Anetta Reszko, MD—what actually works.
Here’s the short list: nine things that make your eyes look more awake—even when you’re running on menopausal-mom fumes.
1Depuff with Cold
I start every morning the same way: caffeinating my brain and chilling my face. I keep goop Lift + Depuff Eye Masks in a little beauty fridge in the corner of my bedroom and slap them on while brushing my teeth and checking Slack. “Cold therapy narrows blood vessels and helps drain excess fluid that accumulates around the eyes,” explains Engelman. Reszko recommends using anything from chilled eye masks and cold spoons to high-tech depuffing wands. “The cooling effect helps reduce puffiness and brightens the overall appearance of the eye area almost instantly.” Bonus points if you use your fingertips—or a device like Therabody TheraFace—to do a light, five-minute lymphatic massage, guiding excess fluid out toward the temples.
2Lift with Microcurrent
On days when my lids feel particularly heavy, I add a four-minute sculpting session using the ZIIP Halo. After applying conductive gel, I trace it along my brow bone in slow, upward sweeps. It feels like a little workout for your eyelids—oddly satisfying once you get past the sensation of watching your brow quiver like there’s a tiny tadpole swimming beneath it.
“Microcurrent tools can give the area a subtle lift when used consistently,” says Reszko. “They stimulate the tiny muscles around the eyes and improve circulation.” Just don’t expect miracles overnight. “They do work well—but the key word is temporary,” adds Bhanusali. “They can last a few hours but won’t produce long-term structural change.”
3Treat with Actives
In the morning, especially if I’m about to layer on concealer, I start by prepping my eyes with goop’s Bright-Eyed Vitamin C Eye Cream. The gel-like texture melts in instantly and leaves the skin hydrated but not shiny. It’s packed with vitamin C to brighten and help neutralize free radicals from UV exposure and pollution—especially helpful now that I spend my days in sunny Santa Monica (no more vitamin D deficiency for this former New Yorker). It also contains niacinamide and peptides for collagen support, plus caffeine to visibly depuff and wake up the eye area. “Caffeine is a great option to help wake up the eyes,” says Bhanusali. “And ingredients like vitamin C, niacinamide, and peptides can help with brightness, collagen support, and hydration,” adds Reszko.
If my skin is particularly dry—and I’m not planning to put on concealer—I’ll use Alpyn Beauty’s Line-Filling Eye Balm instead. Like the goop cream, it contains vitamin C, caffeine, and brightening botanicals. But the texture is richer and more balm-like, thanks to hydrating heavy-hitters like squalane, sodium hyaluronate, and ceramides, which help lock in moisture and restore the skin barrier. It also includes bakuchiol (a gentle retinol alternative), wild chokecherry, and mica for a soft-focus effect that instantly softens crow’s feet and subtly illuminates the eye area.
At night, goop’s 3X Retinol Eye Lift is my current go to. “For true volume loss, ingredients like retinol or certain peptides can help stimulate collagen,” says Bhanusali. I use the cool metal tip to do a quick lymphatic sweep—from the inner corners out toward the temples, up over the brow bone, and finishing with a few light presses near my ears.
4Brighten with Prescription Drops
I don’t use Upneeq every day, but these prescription drops are great for special occasions when I really want my eyes to sparkle. “It’s FDA-approved to treat acquired ptosis or droopy eyelids,” says Engelman. “It works by activating the Müller’s muscle, which helps lift the upper eyelid. The effect kicks in within minutes and can last all day.”
On me, the lifting effect is subtle (at 53, there’s only so much my Müller’s can flex these days) but the drops do have another very appealing side effect: They make my eyes look so white and bright it’s like someone flipped on high beams inside my head.
5Apply a Multitasking Concealer
My dark circles don’t need to be erased so much as coaxed into looking less... haunted. So lately, I’ve been gravitating toward concealers that do more than just cover. Not only do these hard-working formulas absorb into skin more seamlessly than their makeup-only counterparts, but they also offer a suite of skincare benefits along with great coverage.
Currently, I’m rotating between a handful of formulas that all blur the line between skincare and makeup. The Kosas Revealer Super Creamy Concealer is my weekday workhorse—creamy, forgiving, and packed with peptides, caffeine, and hyaluronic acid—it’s like a daytime eye cream with coverage. If I’ve slept a little too hard on one side of my face and need extra help, I’ll layer in a dab of the Kosas Extra Bright Color Corrector underneath—it’s serum-y and sheer, and the peach tint helps neutralize blue-ish circles without making me look like I’m wearing makeup.
If I’m heading outside, I’ll swap in the Supergoop Bright-Eyed Mineral Eye Cream, which has SPF 40 and a subtle tint that perks up my whole face. And for days when I’m feeling extra dry, the Tower 28 Swipe Serum Concealer is a favorite—it melts in like skincare, evens things out, and never creases.
6Highlight Strategically
Once the eye area is lifted and depuffed, I reach for my makeup bag. I start by lining my lower waterline with a nude pencil (never white; it reads mime-core) to neutralize redness and instantly open the eye. Then I dab a touch of champagne shimmer into the inner corners and under the brow arch to reflect light. “That pop of light at the inner corners and under the brow bone gives the eye an instant lift,” says makeup artist Matin Maulawizada.
Nude Eyeliner
7Curl Your Lashes
Celebrity makeup artist and RMS Beauty founder Rose-Marie Swift doesn’t hesitate when asked how to fake an instant eye lift: “Curl your lashes—always. It’s the quickest, easiest eye lift out there. I don’t care if you wear mascara or not, a good curl opens the eyes, adds lift, and instantly makes you look like you had eight hours of sleep.”
Her method matters: “Don’t just clamp once at the base and call it a day—start at the base, then walk the curler up the lash in little pumps to get a soft, natural curve. Finish with black mascara for that full expression.”
If your lids are hooded or sagging, Swift recommends tilting your chin up and looking down into a mirror. “That gets you closer to the root without pinching the skin. And curl in steps: base, mid-lash, tip. Little pulses—not one big clamp or you’ll get that horrible L-shape bend. You also want to make sure you're holding the lash curler totally straight so your lashes lift straight up, rather than out to the side, to get the best lift. You want soft lift and separation.”
8Apply a Lengthening Mascara
For my droopy lids, finding the right mascara is tricky—too thick and it smudges into my crease, too dry and it flakes off by 2 p.m. Lately, I’ve been reaching for Kosas’s Soulgazer mascara, which somehow manages to lengthen and lift without clumping, smudging, or stiffening. “The peptide we use—Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17—creates the ideal conditions for keratin production, which is what gives your lashes their strength and structure,” says Sheena Zadeh, founder of Kosas. “Over time, that means your lashes can actually look longer and fuller.”
It’s the kind of detail you may not notice after one application—but as Zadeh points out, “while you’re getting that instant lift and definition, the formula is also working to improve your lashes long-term.” The result is a mascara that lifts and defines instantly while building stronger, healthier lashes over time.
9Lift Your Brows
Brows also play a key role in creating the illusion of a lifted brow. But again: technique matters. “Most people draw the tail down, and that pulls the whole eye with it. Big mistake. The trick is to angle the tail slightly up and feather it out with super light strokes. Brows should look like hair, not pencil marks. If I can see the beginning and end of your stroke, it’s too much.”
Her pro tip: layer a microfine pencil with powder. “Use a micro fine pencil to draw in strokes, then finish with strokes of brow powder using our brow brush to soften the look." If you want the tint to be more exaggerated, wet the powder before applying (a tinted brow gel also works, with the added benefit of helping to hold the shape). Just try not to overcompensate a sparse tail (a better long-term solution: use a lash-enhancing serum that's clinically proven to thicken and improve the appearance of brows over time). With the pencil, where your bone structure naturally ends. "You don’t want to look like you drew your face on with a ruler. Besides, you want the most dense part of your brows to be the arch—this also helps to lift the brows.”
