Disclosure: I received product samples. This post contains affiliate links; opinions shared here are 100% mine.

No matter how many layers you pile on during the winter days, your face and hands are likely exposed to all of the chilly air. Drink gallons of water, get proper rest, and all that but the winter weather can still take a toll. My eyes are extremely sensitive to any changes in the environment; they can get dry or watery, itchy or tired at the drop of a hat. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and I should have started to take care of the skin around my eyes long ago. However, it’s still not too late to take action. If you’re in the same boat, here are some ways to maximEYES your winter look with just a few simple products.

InstaNatural sent me their Youth Express Eye Gel which, for the record, also works wonders on the forehead area! I wasn’t surprised to see that aloe is top in the ingredient list for this product. It has a gentle aloe scent with cucumber notes.  The cream spreads so easily that I had more than enough for my whole face with just one pump.  On future applications, I used only half a pump and still had enough.  I gently put this around my fine lines and focused especially on the puffy areas under my eye. So that you could see the contrast, I applied the eye gel on only the right side of my face. See the difference?  The astigmatism in my right eye makes me look tired in photos; sometimes my eye even appears to be half-closed. You might notice it in some of my fashion posts.  The eye gel really helped to wake up that lazy right eye — so much that now the left eye looks like the sleepy one!

Another great product that I used in this photo was the new mascara I received in my February Birchbox.  Mascara makes me happy and I’d try a new one every day.  The Benefit Roller Lash Mascara that came right in my mailbox is a keeper; I’ll definitely be purchasing this one! The brush is amazing and catches every single lash to really pull it out of its shell.  Eyelash curlers look like torture devices to me, and my lashes agree.  With the Roller Lash mascara, my lashes held the curl without being punished. My sister came over the night I used it for the first time and asked me what mascara I was using. I hope she got it in her Birchbox, too!

If you aren’t ready to splurge on new skincare or mascara, there’s one last weapon in my arsenal for winter beauty.  February’s BeautyBox5 came with this awesome new polish from Revlon.  It’s from the Colorstay line and has the best brush I’ve ever used. Something about the shape and thickness of the brush makes the polish go on so smoothly and firmly that I only needed one coat to be ready to walk out of the door!  Several people asked me where I went for my manicure.  It lasted for at least four days without a topcoat.  I was super impressed with this polish and can’t wait to get more shades.  The other items in my BeautyBox went to my daughter; she was enamored with the bubble gum lip balm (perfect pink for a little girl) and the Marsk glittery shadow.  I wasn’t thrilled with the Avon eye pencil only because of the shade — it looks like a concealer more than an eye pencil to me.  The GlamGlow exfoliator was a nice gift to my dry skin!  Still, the nail polish definitely won the award for this month’s BB5 favorite.