In our I Tried It series, columnist Leah Rumack test-drives the latest and buzziest cosmetic procedures. This time around, she discovers how to look less tired—without going under the knife.

“You look tired,” my 7-year-old informs me one morning as I fumble around for the coffee press. “You look better with ‘mascary.’ You look creepy without it.”

He’s not wrong. I do look tired. As I’ve slid into my 40s, my “mascary”-less eyes have taken on a constant weary look. And since genetics also blessed me with dark under-eye circles, countless eye creams and even a fancy plumping eye treatment mask from Valmont full of arnica, green tea and caffeine have produced only minor, temporary improvement. I need to bring in the big guns.

“Eyes are the number one thing people talk about when they describe looking tired,” says plastic surgeon Brett Beber. He explains that, in addition to the fine lines in your tear troughs, which seem to deepen with every passing year, the brow tends to descend as we age, and eyelid skin gets looser. He reaches over and pushes the skin on my upper lid gently skyward. Suddenly I look refreshed. “You’re getting to the point where you could have upper blepharoplasty,” he says cheerfully. “Forties are a good time!”

During an upper blepharoplasty (i.e. an eye lift), a surgeon trims the excess skin and fat on your eyelid—sometimes just under a local anesthetic, which isn’t horrifying at all! And while I’m not ready to go under the knife—not to mention I don’t have $4,000 and two to three weeks during which I can hide a bruised post-surgery face—I decide to proceed with a three-part, non-surgical treatment plan.

While the skin around the eyes is often treated with lasers, that kind of procedure also comes with about 10 days of downtime. Instead, I opt to play with Beber’s new toy, a radio frequency machine—which uses heat, not light—called the Venus Viva. The other upside of radio- frequency-based treatments is that they can be used on a wider variety of skin tones, whereas lasers aren’t recommended for darker skin.

I sign up for four monthly nano-fractional radio frequency treatments (about $150 each) to resurface the skin—my collagen will be purposely damaged, kick-starting the creation of new collagen—interspersed with eight weekly sessions of multi-polar and magnetic pulse treatments (from $100-$180 each) to tighten the skin and help with dark circles. Beber also recommends “whisper amounts” of Botox high up on my forehead for a little lift. Too much Botox can actually cause drooping, encouraging your forehead to fold over your eyebrow like a sweater at the Gap. (It’s happened to me before and it’s not a good look.) People sometimes also get fillers in their tear troughs, but because I don’t have deep hollows to be filled or fat pads that need to be evened out, fillers won’t help much in my case.

The nano frequency hand piece looks like a little rectangular stun gun, and the heat is delivered through 160 tiny pins. The aesthetician pulls down the skin under and above my eye and sizzles away. Each zap only takes about five seconds, but damn, it does not tickle—it feels like I’m being bitten by a tiny, angry waffle iron. You can get numbing cream, but because that takes at about 45 minutes to take effect and the treatment only lasts about 15, most patients don’t bother. Afterwards, it looks like I’ve been punched in the eyes or like I have a weirdly specific sunburn. I’m puffy and tender but it only lasts about a day.

During the second treatment, the aesthetician wants to up the intensity, but I’m so chicken they need to bring Dad in to talk me off the ledge.

“It’s not going to be totally comfortable,” Beber says, warning me that if I go with a lower intensity, my results aren’t going to be as good. “It’s up to you…”

Okay, fine, Dad. For the next three treatments, I let them squeak up the intensity by small increments. In retrospect, a numbing cream would have been worth it for me.

Between each monthly waffle iron session, I get three weeks of nice, warm eye massages. The “DiamondPolar” hand piece—which uses a combination of multi-polar radio frequency and pulsed electro magnetic fields— glides over my skin. It’s pretty hot, but isn’t unbearable. Also, Beber injects the Botox into my brow in tiny amounts a couple weeks apart to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.

At the end of the regimen, I look more rested, and the fine lines under and around my eyes are definitely reduced, though I don’t see much change in the darkness of my circles.

I need one final touch.

Eyelash extensions have become increasingly popular over the last few years, and lash shops are starting to become the new nail bars. Though I’ve been known to pile on mascara like it’s my job, even my well-documented fondness for a lash-y, baby doll look hadn’t yet helped me get past the horror stories I’d heard of natural lashes being damaged and broken by under-skilled lash technicians (Long story short: Get a recommendation!)

“You can’t have more weight than your natural lashes can hold,” explains Linh Nguyen, the owner of Beyond Beauty, an award-winning lash salon in the Annex neighbourhood in Toronto. She also explains that I’m using my eyelash curler too much—she holds a mirror over my head as I’m lying on the table. “See? These ones are all broken. Leave them alone and they will grow.”

I’m at Beyond Beauty for a new set of full volume extensions. It’s $325 for the more than two-and- a-half hour initial treatment, and with touch-ups required every two to five weeks at $100 to $150 a pop, this could quickly become an expensive beauty obsession. But obsessed I am. When I get up halfway through the application to go the washroom, I catch sight of my mascara-less yet suddenly uber fabulous new lashes and am already besotted. I start madly calculating how I can stretch my beauty budget—I’ll dye my own hair! I’ll get fewer manicures!—to make room for this clearly totally necessary service.

The next morning I wake up and go downstairs, fluttering my new eyelashes.

“You look so pretty Mommy,” my son says, confused.

I float grandly through the room and pick up the coffee press with a flourish.

“Yes,” I agree. “Yes I do.”

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    Blended beneath arches, this pale pink pencil gives brows a youthful, lifted look.

    Benefit Cosmetics High Brow Highlight & Lift Pencil, $30, sephora.ca

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    Up and Out: That's this mascara's M.O. It lifts and lengthens to open eyes wide.

    Bobbi Brown Eye Opening Mascara, $38, bobbibrowncosmetics.ca

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    One end features a firming eye cream while the other boasts light-reflecting particles.

    Charlotte Tilbury Mini Miracle Eye Wand, $55, charlottetilbury.ca

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    Smooth on this luminous base to extend the wear of shadows and energize your gaze.

    Clarins Instant Light Eye Perfecting Base, $26, clarins.ca

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    This makeup artist fave weightlessly sets concealer while brightening under-eyes.

    Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder, $35, holtrenfrew.com

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    The beloved sandy shadow tops lids with subtle, universally-flattering radiance.

    Stile Kitten Eye Shadow, $23, stila.ca

  • Quick Fixes for Tired Eyes

    Part highlighter, part cover-up, the cult-classic pen diffuses dark circles in a flash.

    Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat, $51, yslbeauty.ca

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