I Tried the Lip Balm Hack For Perfect Undereyes: Photos

Picture this: you just got off an 11 hour flight from Los Angeles to Paris, you’re tired as all hell, and the nine hour time difference can clearly be seen on your face, specifically in the undereye region. That was me yesterday, and it’s not an exaggeration when I tell you I looked like absolute sh*t. I left Los Angeles at 2 pm, but I landed in Paris at 9:30 am their time, and when I walked off the plane, I immediately knew I needed to get it together. My main issues? A puffy face, and baggy, dark undereyes. My immediate worry after looking at myself in the mirror was that no amount of concealer was going to help, but luckily for me (and for you, if you need help in this area), there’s a hack for that.

Recently when scrolling Instagram late at night (yes, I’m aware that habit is not helping with my undereye bags), I came across a hack for the “perfect undereyes makeup.” I’ve seen (and tested) plenty of these hacks before, but this one was backed by celebrity makeup artist Scott Barnes. He touches the faces of stars like JLo — so of course, when I saw he had a viral makeup tip making the rounds online, my ears immediately perked up. And when I learned that his hack involved one of my favorite beauty products ever, lip balm, I felt like the tip was quite literally screaming my name.

To test the hack, all I needed was the Aquaphor Lip Repair Stick ($8, for two), which I already owned ten times over and, of course, packed with me for my trip to Paris. (FYI, I will go to my grave saying Aquaphor is life.)

Once I was at the hotel, after showering, I did a face mask to soothe my dry, tired skin, and I also applied some undereye patches. I like to use them when I’m doing my eye makeup to add in some extra hydration, but they’re also great because they catch any fallout from my eyeshadow. Once I finished my eyebrows and my eye makeup, I removed the patches, added some eye cream, and once it dried, started layering on the lip balm. In the videos I saw online, people were not holding back with application, layering it on just as they would on their lips. I started with a tapping motion, but eventually, I went for it in a back and forth motion.

Although everything looked great while I was walking out the door, the true test would be what my makeup looked like after dinner, but I’m happy to say that other than a little mascara smudging under one of my eyes, when I got back to my hotel room at 11:30 pm (I know, seriously, how TF did I survive), my concealer looked just as good as ever. I think it’s safe to say I’ll be using this trick whenever necessary — I just found a whole new reason to love my lip balm even more.

Renee Rodriguez is a staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.