Hydrogel patches for the under-eye area, from Natura Siberica's oblepikha — sea buckthorn — range. Each patch is a soft gel crescent soaked in serum, worn for fifteen to twenty minutes.
How they actually work
A hydrogel patch is mostly water held in a gel matrix. Laid on the skin it does two things at once: it delivers water, and it seals the area so that water cannot evaporate. That combination — called occlusion — pushes far more hydration into the top layers of skin in twenty minutes than a cream can, because a cream is competing with the air the whole time.
Hydrated skin is temporarily plumper, and plumper skin creases less. That is why the area looks smoother straight afterwards. It is a real effect and a genuinely useful one before an event or after a bad night — and it is temporary, lasting hours rather than days.
Sea buckthorn
Oblepikha is one of the more remarkable plants used in cosmetics: the berry carries a great deal of vitamin C — several times that of an orange by weight — along with carotenoids, vitamin E, and palmitoleic acid, one of the few plant sources of a fatty acid that also occurs in human skin.
Getting the most from them
Chill them. Keep the jar in the fridge. Cold constricts the small blood vessels under the eye, which does more for morning puffiness than any ingredient in the serum, and the sensation is considerably better.
Place them on clean, dry skin, pointed end towards the nose, on the orbital bone rather than up against the lashes.
Do not leave them on until they dry out. Fifteen to twenty minutes. Once a patch has given up its water it begins to take moisture back from the skin, which defeats the purpose.
Do not rinse afterwards. Tap the remaining serum in and carry on with your routine.
Note
Single use. For external use only — avoid direct contact with the eye. Patch test first if your skin is reactive.
Natura Siberica
Natura Siberica
Natura Siberica
Natura Siberica
