Spanx For Your Eyes — For Real

While it may feel like there's a beauty product out there to combat every type of skin problem — hello, nipple-chafing cream and cellulite buffer — there's one beauty woe that continues to stump brands and consumers alike: undereye bags.

Caused by pads of fat that push forward as skin stretches and muscles relax under the eye, prominent bags can be attributed to genetics or aging. Sadly, outside of surgery, there's nothing on the market that can actually make a marked difference in shrinking those pesky bulges. Sorry, fancy eye creams — plumping via moisturizing and actually diminishing are not the same thing.

Enter Living Proof. The brand, known mostly for making your bad hair days a thing of the past (oh, and its slightly famous co-owner), is taking its scientific expertise and tackling excess eye baggage. Its new Neotensil at-home treatment was developed by leading dermatologists and scientists from MIT and Harvard (including Dr. Rox Anderson, the godfather of laser technology for the skin) and offers consumers a way to dramatically minimize those bothersome bumps.

Neotensil features a new technology Living Proof has dubbed "Strateris." It forms a breathable, invisible film on your skin that is undetectable to the naked eye and acts as shapewear for your bags. Stick with us, here — the film has been engineered to "want" to shrink and become flat. You apply the first layer, the Reshaping Base, to the skin and then apply the second Activating Layer. These two form a kind of grid on the skin's surface that compresses and reshapes, forcing lax skin, wrinkles, and bulges to lay flat. It's essentially Spanx for your eyes.

The product must be applied on clean skin, and there is a very specific application process — the brand was adamant in saying that if it is not applied precisely, the product will not be as effective. For this reason, Neotensil is only being sold through doctor's offices. Your doctor will need to confirm that you do indeed have undereye bags, which is not the same as puffiness. A good way to tell the difference? Look up — if the "bags" shrink, then you have puffiness, not traditional undereye bags.

Once your doctor has determined that your bags are severe enough to make you an ideal candidate, he or she will show you the precise way to use the product. You need to cleanse the area with cleansing wipes (included in the kit) to remove all makeup, creams, and oils. The product must be applied on bare skin, using the included applicator. Once you've applied both layers, you'll wait five minutes for it to dry. While you will start to see the effects within an hour, peak correction should occur at the three-hour mark and then plateaus. The product has been tested to stay on the skin for up to 24 straight hours.

Because the product creates a physical barrier on the skin, the makers have also said that Neotensil has shown some significant results with improving hydration of the skin. The film acts as a barrier that, while breathable and light, prevents moisture from being released from the skin, much like a heavy cream or ointment. For that reason, many women may choose to wear their Neotensil overnight, replacing their regular eye cream.

Removal is simple — the kit includes pads, which you soak in the remover solution and press onto the film. This loosens it up so it can easily peel off. All components of Neotensil have been tested on a variety of skin types, including super sensitive, and will not cause irritation.

The one big downside (well, besides the price tag) is that you cannot wear makeup over it, aside from a sold-separately powder that the brand has created specifically to work with it. Another thing that's important to note: Neotensil will not erase dark circles. However, some consumers may find that their circles — the ones caused by the shadows their undereye bags create — will be considerably diminished. For whatever darkness remains, the SPF15 powder will take care of it.

While the product can't cure undereye bags (wishful thinking), this represents a giant technological leap forward for an otherwise unsolvable (sans surgery) problem. The brand has also hinted that they have high hopes for the potential of Strateris and using it for even more indications — think creating a physical barrier that helps protect eczema rashes from irritation or providing a temporary fix for stubborn cellulite. After seeing this stuff in action up close, we're thrilled and excited by the possibilities.

Living Proof Neotensil, $500 for a seven-week supply, Living Proof for providers.