Surviving June While Looking Your Best

There are very few posts that require our full "editorial board" for approval, but this one was highly debated around here. For the most part, the contributors to this blog are men, straight men, sports-loving, beer-drinking, red meat-eating men. That said, we are men of the world, into art, books, and (shudder!) fashion/shopping. The tag "metrosexual" is so 2 years ago, we would prefer the more respectable, more classic gentleman.

We like to look good, but its been a little harder this month. The panda may be China's national treasure, but "panda eyes" is not a good look for men. Unfortunately, this month it's almost unavoidable for sports loving males around China. Euro 2008 (soccer/football) started last weekend and there are 2 group stage matches beginning each night (early morning), one at 00:00 and the other at 02:45. Things will get worse as the midnight game will go by the wayside during the knockout stages and most matches will be a 2-3 am start. Oh the humanity!

So what can soccer lovers/masochists do? There are a number of daily use under eye products for men (yes, most definitely for MEN) in manly packaging for men that are made specifically for men (are we starting to sound like Daffyd?). These products won't only help you get rid of those dark circles after a night watching European soccer, but can also be helpful in the future after a night out at the bars.

We haven't used all the products, but will give you a brief overview of what's out there:
Sephora Eye Countour Fluid - RMB120
Task Essential Active Eye Serum - RMB360
Nickel Eye Countour - RMB315
GF Eye Cream - RMB168
Clarins Undereye Serum - RMB340
Biotherm Homme Visibly Rejuvinating Eye Care - RMB420
Shisheido Men Eye Soother - RMB335
Kiehls Eye Alert - n/a

The majority of these products can be purchased at Sephora or most high end department store's cosmetics counters. Kiehls doesn't have a mainland outlet of its own, but Beijing's Lane Crawford may carry their products (we debated this internally and couldn't come up with the answer). Amongst the editors, the Sephora Eye Countour Fluid (works great and you can't beat the price), Kiehls Eye Alert, and Clarins Undereye Serum all have their fans, while one of us has quickly developed a preference for Sephora's new exclusive Task Essential products (though he's yet to try the eye serum). Additionally, Clarins offers a Fatigue Fighter (RMB380) that works fairly well to give you a bit of a wake up while helping your skin.

So there you go, men of Beijing and Shanghai, we can't help you in staying awake at the office (lots of coffee and Red Bull (in the old or new old cans) may do the trick), but at least you won't look like you were up until 5 am.

Finally, go Holland (and Russia)!