Every so often, we get an email about a natural beauty line that sends our special authenticity detector off the charts.

You know when you can just tell that someone a) is the real deal, and b) would be really fun to have dinner with? Well, when Karen King from Chicago emailed us about her new organic skincare line La Bella Figura, that’s what happened. We wrote her back and asked what she thought her stand-out product was, which is when she told us about her Decouverte Eye Repair Serum.

Plagued with hereditary dark undereye circles—not to mention the occasional not-enough-sleep and too-many-cocktails nights—Karen says she was on a mission to find natural ingredients that would be great for her eyes. “In our research we discovered barbary fig seed oil. I was very interested in the composition of this oil with its very high linoleic acid content and because it contains Vitamin K, which helps stop leaky capillaries, one of the main reason for dark circles. However, I was very skeptical because it is very hard to get, time consuming to produce, and therefore very costly.”

Well, after experimenting on her own mug, she found barbary fig seed oil to be so great that she made an eye serum for the rest of us.

Now, to be honest, I’ve never had much of an undereye-circle issue but I totally have smile lines around my eyes (doesn’t bother me) and in the last few months I have thought the skin under my eyes might feel thinner and as a result, a little darker (bothers me a bit). Also, there are the puffy-eye days. We all have them thanks to things like salty food, booze and tears, and they suck.

I’m happy to report that La Bella Figura eye serum noticeably reduces inflammation on puffy-eye days, hydrates the lines around my eyes, and, yes, the skin under my eyes feels somehow thicker and looks less dark. It’s true! Even if I feel bad recommending a product that costs $115.

Now, am I sleeping better than I did last month? I don’t know, I think so? But the point is, it’s hard to know what’s what—but that’s always the case with beauty products.

There are no silver bullets, lifestyle accounts for a lot, so do our genes, and so does diet, but products certainly can and do work, in their way. I’m going to say this is one of those products.

Here are the ingredients:

100% Pure Organic Argan (Argania Spinosa) Kernel Oil, Organic Opuntia Ficus Indica (Barbary Fig) Seed Oil, Organic Rosa Rubiginosa (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Wild-crafted Lycopersicion Esculentum (Tomato) Seed Oil, Wild-crafted Coffea Arabica (Coffee Bean) Oil, Wild-crafted Rosa Damascena (Rose Otto) Flower Oil, Organic Tanacetum Annuum (Blue Tansy) Flower Oil, Organic Helichrysum Italicum Oil, Organic Cymbopogon Martinii Motia (Palmarosa) Oil, Organic Lavandulia Augustifolia (Lavender) Oil.

Also, check out her charming, candid blog here.

Found an eye treatment you think…works?

Image via La Bella Figura

Siobhan here! Below is a post from our friends at Well+Good and I couldn’t be more happy to read it. I’ve long suspected arnica would be great for undereyes, where the capillaries and skin are so delicate, because it’s terrific on bruises. I use arnica gel on my frequent leg bruises, and feel it works wonders to speed healing. I have even joked to friends that arnica is my magic bruise eraser. It doesn’t work immediately, but I find I heal more quickly than if I were to leave the sucker alone. In any case, try it on your booboos, and without further ado:

Magic-sounding ingredients abound in eye creams that promise to de-puff, unwrinkle, and lighten dark circles.

One simple ingredient that may actually do something for these skin-care woes? Arnica montana, a decidedly low-profile botanical that’s widely used in homeopathic medicine for bruising and massage oil for sore muscles.

How it works? “Anti-inflammatory arnica is one of the best known herbs for dispersing trapped fluids, which is why we use it in our Restorative Eye Creme,” explains Tata Harper, the formulator-founder of the luxury natural line, who also grows the herb on her Vermont farm. “It works by stimulating the activity of white blood cells to relieve congestion, thereby reducing under-eye bags,” says Harper.

Mmmm. We love Tata’s eye cream. Read the rest, and Melisse’s product recommendations here.

Have you ever tried arnica?

Image via