Best Eye Creams for Wrinkles and Dark Circles

Last Updated: September 28, 2021

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Best Eye Creams
1. Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair
2. Baebody Eye Gel
3. LilyAna Naturals Eye Cream
4. Cerave Eye Repair Cream
5. RoC Retinol Correxion Line
6. Cetaphil Hydrating Eye Gel-Cream
7. L’Oreal Paris Skincare Dermo-Expertise Eye Defense
8. Burt’s Bees Renewal Firming Eye Cream

Your eyes are your window on the world and deserve extra special care. And, as the skin around the eyes is delicate it needs a specially formulated care routine to keep your peepers sparkling and looking their best.

At only 0.5mm thick, the skin in the eye area is the thinnest on the body and requires targeted support to stay healthy and maintain its elasticity for longer. The eye area can also be prone to dark circles, bags and sagging, so choosing the best eye cream should be at the top of your beauty must-have list.

But with a dazzling and eye-opening array of products and ingredients, from peptides and caffeine to hyaluronic acid and retinol, just how do you know which eye cream to choose? We take a look at some of the best eye creams currently on the market to help you decide.

Best Eye Creams

Best Eye Creams Buying Guide

What to Look For In an Eye Cream

Formulated to soothe, hydrate and plump your delicate eye area, there are some essentials you need to consider when choosing a new under eye treatment, including:

Your eye care concerns - as well as general hydration, you may have other issues you would like to target and so matching a product to your specific eye care goals is the first thing to consider. Your priority may be fine lines and wrinkles, or it may dark circles and eyebags. You may be in your 20s looking for a light, all-round moisturizer or you have more mature skin and would like deeper wrinkle and eye lifting support. Matching your under eye cream to your own skin care needs will give you more targeted results.

Active ingredients – to tackle the various issues affecting the eye area, look for active ingredients appropriate to your own skin care concerns as well as key ingredients for overall skin health. Antioxidants such as vitamins C and E as well as plant oils are a good ingredient to look for as they help to protect the skin from cell damage. Hyaluronic acid or ceramides help to plump the eye area while retinol (a form of vitamin A) can stimulate collagen in the skin to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

Other active ingredients to look for in an eye repair cream include peptides which can help to firm up sagging skin and niacinamide which can help to lighten dark circles.

Consistency – with eye care products available as cream, eye gel or eye serum, you can match your eye care to your skin routine, with lighter liquids and gels a good option for daytime and adding a thicker night eye cream to use before bed.

Skin sensitivity – if you have sensitive skin or your eye area is prone to irritation, then opt for a non-allergenic anti aging eye cream formulated for sensitivities. Also, try to avoid any eye care products that contain artificial ingredients or added fragrances which may irritate the eye area.

Sun protection – and finally, an under eye cream which includes an SPF to protect the delicate skin around the eyes from the sun’s UV rays is always a good idea, whatever time of the year.

The Best Way to Apply Eye Cream

Your new eye cream should come complete with its own user instructions so you can get the very best results. But as a general guide there are a few steps to take when it comes to applying an under eye treatment effectively:

Eye cream is usually the first product to apply to clean skin, as it is a lighter formula to your normal day or night cream, as well as any sunscreens.
Make sure your hands are squeaky clean, then using your ring finger, scoop up a pea-sized amount of your eye cream. Your ring finger is your weakest finger and so will ensure you apply the cream to your delicate eye area with minimum pressure.
Now gently tap small dots of the cream under your eyes, starting at the inner corner and moving outwards to your browbone. Avoid getting any product in your eyes
Gently pat the applied cream into your skin, avoiding any dragging, stretching or rubbing, until the product is absorbed.
Wait for a couple of minutes so the cream can fully sink in before applying make-up or eye concealer.

FAQ

Is eye cream necessary?

The skin around your eyes is different to the rest of the skin on your face and so benefits from a cream that is specifically formulated to address its specific care needs. Your eye area has the thinnest skin on your entire body, which is also dry as it has very few oil glands. This delicate skin can also be more sensitive and often shows the first signs of ageing as your eye area is regular moving – you blink around 10,000 times a day, as well as frown, smile and even crying. The skin around your eyes is also vulnerable to stress from squinting, sunlight, pollution and other environmental factors.

As a result, your eye area needs a cream that is carefully formulated to address these issues as well as to support effective drainage without blocking, clogging or irritating the delicate skin.

When should I start using eye cream?

The beauty experts are unified on this one – the sooner the better! Using a light eye cream for wrinkles before the first signs of ageing appear can help to delay and minimize fine lines, keeping your eye area looking younger for longer. And this means you are better using an eye cream from your 20s than waiting for those first fine lines to appear.

However, it is never too late to introduce an eye cream into your skin care routine, as these hardworking multi-taskers can improve skin texture and reduce eyebags and dark circles as well as hydrate and keep your precious peepers looking bright and healthy.

How long does eye cream take to work?

When you can expect to see the benefits of a new eye cream will depend on the product, its active ingredients and the eye care concerns you are looking to tackle. An eye cream for fine lines and puffiness that’s designed to soothe, de-puff and moisturize can take effect within a couple of days, when you should see some signs of improvement. But for more targeted treatments, such as reducing dark circles or an eye cream for wrinkles that contains retinol or hyaluronic acid, can take around six weeks of regular use before any results will be seen. The key is to use your new eye product consistently, along with maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeping hydrated and enjoy the gradual improvements you see in your skin.

Can eye creams actually eliminate dark circles?

Dark shadows around the eyes can make you look tired and can be caused by several things, including lack of sleep, dehydration, too much alcohol and poor diet as well as genetics and getting older. And there are certain ingredients you need to look for in an eye cream if you want to reduce their appearance. While an eye cream for dark circles cannot necessarily eliminate all those dark shadows, they can certainly improve their appearance, especially products that contain caffeine, hyaluronic acid and retinol, which also help to plumb and brighten as well as smooth out fine lines.