Eye cream is truly dividing opinion in the beauty world. Some people swear by it (the usual argument being that the skin around the eyes is different – thinner – than elsewhere and so you want a special formula to suit you) and some people think you should just use whatever you use on your face and take it right around the eyes. Why spend on a separate product that will do pretty much the same thing, especially when eye creams are noticeably more expensive per ml than the face version?
Now I’ve been in both camps. I started very firmly on the Eye Cream Supporters Group, defected to the other side for a while, and then humbly returned to my original people hoping they’d never notice I was gone.
I’ve been an eye cream stalwart since my modeling days. I loved the way the makeup artists hit it, giving it a light deflating massage, dabbing it lightly on the lids, pressing on the browbones to wake you up and lift everything up. And of course they could have done this whole routine using a face cream, and they often did, but it was remarkable that they put such care and attention into the eye area. And that’s because if there’s one place that will look disappointed/broken first, then it’s around the eyes.
The skin is thinner, the area is completely thinner – prone to swelling, circles, sensitivity. Which brings me to my next argument in favor of the eye cream: formulation. The needs of the eyes are significantly different from the needs of the face, many times. You can have puffy eyes when the rest of your face looks fine. Why deflate the whole thing with a cooling gel? The eyes will be fine but the face will feel tight and uncomfortable. You may want to slather your face in high-strength retinoid, but the same under-eye product can be drying or too strong to tolerate.
And so there you have, in a nutshell, the two main reasons for using an exclusive eye cream: application, formulation. If I use a separate product, then for some inexplicable reason it makes me pay extra attention to how I press the product. If I just treat my eye area as another part of my face, then I don’t tend to do any special love, I just wipe on it at the same time as my cheeks. It is a cheek extension.
And if I have an eye cream with the perfect formula, day in and day out, for my eye area, then why not use it? Then the rest of my face can do whatever it wants – get a radical peel, hyaluronic acid filler, self-tan or retinoid – and my eyes will have a consistent, appropriate treatment that addresses whatever concerns. For me it’s fine lines and, er, deeper lines. Lines, basically.
The reason I defected to the anti-eye cream camp, momentarily? Research. And laziness. I fished out my routine (morning: vitamin C serum/moisturizer/SPF, night: retinoid every other night or moisturizer/moisturizer on “off” days) and the eye cream seemed overkill. (Never mind all those mists and essences that are all the rage: I just can’t see how they could have much more benefit than a good serum and moisturizer combination. Maybe that’s my next investigation.)
So I started using whatever face stuff I had to hand instead of using eye cream and afterward the serum, the moisturizer, whatever. But I’ll tell you what started to happen, and I noticed it after about three months: my eyes were much more itchy and dry. It was a remarkable difference. And I realized it wasn’t just me not i really get the eye products in the same detail as i would a separate eye cream (i’m really sick of typing eye cream at this point, please stop), if i used a strong retinoid or facial exfoliator then i was at a loss almost completely the eye area!
And so, without really realizing it, I had gone from giving my eyes their own mini-facial twice a day to giving them… not much at all. My eye cream routine was a workout (a few ten seconds), my “eyes as part of a face” routine was the equivalent of no exercise at all. Walking to the car from the front door. Some effect, but really, negligible.
I’m back to using an eye cream, safely. Every night, at least. Sometimes in the morning I skip it, because I’m much more pressed for time, and my eyes tolerate vitamin C serum pretty well anyway, so it’s not that much of a problem. But at night: eye cream ahoy. And it’s almost always one with retinol. Why; Good. It’s pretty much the top rung of the ingredient scale, and as far as eye creams go, you can pretty much guarantee that the retinol will be easily tolerated and the formula will be gentle. So if you’re seeing fine lines creeping in around the eyes, skin starting to wrinkle or becoming thin and papery, then retinol is your friend. Grind, tighten, tighten. It won’t help much if puffiness is your problem, but there are great eye creams for that too. That’s a whole separate post once I’ve recovered from having to type “eye cream” so many times.
Here are three retinol eye products worth splurging on:
[Ad info: no paid or sponsored content, featured items may be press samples and affiliate links are marked *. I have an ongoing partnership with Beauty Pie.]
Olay Retinol Max Eye Cream – £44 but currently £19.55 on Amazon here*: a beautiful, non-greasy eye cream that does the trick if you want to see a difference in skin texture. Test Olay to the high heavens to make sure the products are easy to use and suitable for the mass market, so you can be sure you won’t make your eyes fall out with it. Although start cautiously – once every few nights – just to relax.
Beauty Pie Super Retinol Eye Cream, £13 with subscription here*: contains slow-release retinol and lots of moisturizing ingredients, so it’s a comfortable cream with a nourishing feel but – like Olay – non-greasy. Use code RUTHSENTME for money off your annual subscription – you can find out more about how the subscription works here*.
Murad Retinol Youth Renewal Eye Serum, £82 here*: the most expensive option, but Murad really goes to town with their retinol range, combining three types of retinol and formulating a product that is as effective as possible while minimizing side effects. Eye serum (which feels more like a light cream) can be used around the eyes and on the lids. It seems a bit strange and scary but I have thoroughly tested this claim and it is fine and it works. Well done. It’s a very good investment if you can make it.
Here is a video of me saying all of the above:
