*Polish is Essie Between the Seats*

Aside from my kit, this might be the TULA product I have gotten the most excited about in the past year and a half. And that is saying something since you all know I keep enough TULA stocked and on reorder to give a small town their entire skincare routine.

When it comes to my inbox, your top beauty concerns generally go as follows:

1. How to keep volume in your hair.
2. How to prevent wrinkles and acne at the same time. Your twenties and thirties- goodness! You can either wake up with a new blemish or new wrinkle, you just never know. ha!
3. How to help with Dark eye circles

If you’ve e-mailed me in regards to #3 the past two years or so, I’ve been pretty blunt forward in the fact that there isn’t a TON we can do about dark circles. Contrary to what many $90 eye creams will tell us, we can’t 100% get rid of them. Just like with pore size, dark circles are thanks to genetics and things like blood flow. #ThanksMama

However, there are things we can do to aide the process like get more sleep and provide proper nourishment to the eye area using the right kind of eye cream for your skin. There are treatments on the market to brighten the eye area, and while I’ve found a few I love for tightening, the brightening ones don’t typically play nice with your makeup. You’ll put your concealer on, feel like you look like Kelly Ripa on her morning show, look in the mirror 15 minutes later and see product build up under the eye. It’s cruel.

That is….until I got to test this one product. Let me warn you, this product was so loved at first sight that I DM’ed TULA saying “OMG! OMG! OMG!” and they e-mailed me freaking out thinking I had an allergic reaction and wanted to call me so we could find out what was wrong. Then, I sent them this photo I’d taken at 6 a.m. and said, “No! I’m saying OMG because look at the difference!“

Did I ever intend on showing anyone this photo? Goodness, no! I took this way too early in the morning before I had even brush my teeth. I was simply testing how this product reacted after 4 hours of sleep. This post isn’t a collaboration, so again I didn’t think I’d share this photo. But when I went to write this, I knew I had to show you my first reaction to the balm.

Well, hello! ha. The left side {left on photo} has the eye balm, where the right side of the photo does not. You can see the balm brightened my entire undereye area and smoothed the texture for makeup application. The left side of the photo just looks tighter and more awake. This doesn’t act like a “filler” product, which some do and that’s why they don’t play nice with makeup. But I’ve shared before, TULA, makes their products to work in conjunction with your makeup. Their gel-cream moisturizer was made to act as a primer and their illuminating serum goes great mixed IN with your foundation. This eye balm can play fair and square with your Tarte Shape Tape or concealer of choice.

So what is this product and what does it do? I’ve been testing this since August of 2018 and here’s what I’ve learned along the way:

TULA Glow & Get It 

Cooling & Brightening Eye Balm

Let’s Talk Science:

This balm is made with probiotics and superfoods to not only act as an aid in your beauty routine but as nourishing eye care. Speaking of probiotics, did you catch THIS article from Vogue last week discussing WHY probiotic skincare works? The probiotic will balance your eye area no matter your eye issues. The probiotic strain is Lactococcus Ferment Lysate and it also has caffeine in it to tighten and firm the look of skin. There is aloe, apple & watermelon to hydrate the eye area and fill in lines & wrinkles. This helps smooth the eye area so your concealer can go on flawless. Blueberry is added so your delicate eye area can soak up some antioxidants and be protected from elements. Lentil conditions and protects this area since it is so sensitive and then Tocopherol {Vitamin E} nourishes the skin to promote healing. Lastly, you’ve got Hyaluronic Acid which is a super hydrator and will keep this area looking plump- which we all want! When that area is sunken in on me, it screams “Maxi was teething!”

Let’s Talk Results:

1. You apply this after you moisturize, so you can wash, tone, use eye cream, then serum, moisturize and eye balm! Or you can simply wash, moisturize and use the eye balm. You do whatever fits your fancy! You can apply this 360 degrees around the eye and orbital bone to give a glow effect before makeup.
2. Once you apply this, you will immediately get a cooling sensation. It wakes me up but also feels SO good if I’m tired or have a tension headache. Even if I’ve had sinus headaches or migraines, I’ll apply this on my orbital bone and then use my roller over it and it gives such relief!
3. Next, you may notice the “highlighter” effect- I will show a photo of this swatched in natural light below. You might immediately think, “Um..Katey… this is a bit much! It has a pearlescent tint!” Don’t worry, it is supposed to do that! Allow this to set for 5 minutes- you can pat your ring finger on your eye area to blend in {but I don’t typically, the 5 minutes works}- drink some coffee, do some morning affirmations and you’ll be shocked at what it does in 5 minutes! It blends into the skin, the ingredients work their magic, it smooths out texture and brightens up dark circles. You’re then left with a perfect canvas to apply makeup and a brighter, more awake look! You also don’t have to wear makeup with this- you’ll see in the before and after that, you could totally skimp. Honestly, I think I’d apply this on my cheek bones during the summer for a natural glow- it is that good. Can you do that, TULA?! Because I’m going to…
4. Speaking of makeup, you can apply this AFTER you’ve done your makeup. This is the perfect purse makeup bag essential, as it can be applied over your concealer midday, blend in with your ring finger or beauty blender and you are good to go! I have a photo of me after doing that when I was on Good Morning Texas below.
5. What about sensitive skin? I’ve said this before in an Instagram Live, but sensitive skin is such a broad term and what makes one person react could heal another person’s skin. For me, I have a VERY sensitive eye area {y’all know I get eczema BAD there}. I get scared to test eye creams that aren’t in my usual arsenal as many can bring my eczema back. *Cough* I’m looking at you new-to-me eye cream brand I used around September 25th. *Cough* This balm made my life so much easier over the fall when my eye eczema was acting up. It didn’t irritate my eye area and it helped me brighten the red patches. Now, I’m not saying to put this on your eczema or dry skin- I wouldn’t say that to someone if I couldn’t see their skin. I’m no Dermatologist, but I can just tell you my experience.

Let’s Talk Details:

This eye balm retails for $28 and yes, my discount code will work for you! Use code “KATEY” at checkout to get it 20% off. This will make it $22.40 + shipping!

This photo is in natural light taken 5 minutes apart. On the left is when I first applied the balm and it looks like a highlight stick. I waited for 5 minutes and you can see how it looks as it melts into the skin and goes to work. You can see how my hand {and even vein in that area} looks more smooth.

A quick selfie before I went on GMT. I put my makeup on at 3:45 am, drove to Dallas and touched up with my eye balm and a beauty blender. I didn’t want to put on more conealer, but this helped me look awake and refreshed!

Let me know if you try this eye balm!