In this article:
How do I know which eye cream I need?
What is the most important ingredient for eye cream?
What should you avoid in eye cream?
Do I need retinol or vitamin C eye cream?
How to use an eye cream
Do I put on eye cream before or after moisturiser?
Is eye cream really necessary?
Can I use regular moisturiser as eye cream?
What happens if you don’t use eye cream?
Skin concerns don’t stop once they reach the eye area. Much like the skin on the rest of your face, undereye skin can show signs of ageing, accrue dark circles, suffer from puffiness and become prone to dryness.
However, unlike the skin covering your cheeks, chin and forehead, undereye skin is incredibly delicate and thin with fewer oil-producing glands, meaning the skin care products you apply elsewhere may not be ideal for your eye area (1).
Enter: eye creams. These products are generally formulated for the easily sensitised, thin skin under the eyes and can tackle several concerns, including ageing, lack of brightness and dryness. Want to find out which eye cream best suits your concerns for ultimate undereye skin health? Read on for our guide to eye creams, gels and lotions.
How do I know which eye cream I need?
Knowing which eye cream you need means defining your undereye skin type as well as your eye area skin concerns.
Before adding-to-cart, look at the skin under your eyes. This will help determine what eye cream texture will work the best for you. Do you have dry skin around your eyes? If so, a richer eye cream, ointment or thick lotion is the way to go. Have normal skin around the eyes? An eye gel or light serum works.
Next, take stock of your undereye concerns (puffiness, dark circles, eye bags, crow’s feet, dryness, etc.) as this will determine what to look for when shopping for eye area products.
What is the most important ingredient for eye cream?
The most important ingredient in an eye cream depends on which undereye concern you’re working on. Here's a quick cheat sheet of ingredients to look for based on eye area issues.
- Eye creams for dark circles should include skin brightening ingredients like vitamin C, licorice root, kojic acid, zerumbone, niacinamide, retinoids and other antioxidants (2). A vitamin C eye cream is a great option for dark circles.
- Anti-ageing eye cream and anti-ageing eye gel products that help reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, skin laxity and crow’s feet often include peptides, retinol, antioxidants, hyaluronic acid and other skin-restoring ingredients (3).
- Eye creams for puffy eyes or undereye bags work best when formulated with peptides and soothing ingredients and when they include a cooling metal-tip applicator that helps promote fluid retention-based depuffing (4).
- Dry undereye creams and lotions call for hyaluronic acid, ceramides and emollients such as natural plant butters and oils.
What should you avoid in eye cream?
Many of the things you should avoid in your facial skin care products you should also avoid in an eye cream. Skip out on any eye area products with denatured alcohol, essential oils and volatile fragrances. The eye area is already sensitive, why push it with known skin sensitisers?
If you’re looking to keep your eye cream as beneficial as possible, you should also avoid jar packaging. Every time you open a jar, it exposes your product’s ingredients to light and air, making them less effective. Look for air-restrictive packaging. Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Corey L. Hartman adds, “Airless pumps and containers with direct, cool metal applicators can come in handy to avoid finger contact altogether.”
Beyond this, the eye area needs to be babied due to its delicate nature. Remember, it’s often the first place where unwanted seasonal skin changes and reactions show up. For this reason, it’s best to avoid eye creams with high concentrations of bioactive ingredients. Lower concentrations are just fine for the undereye area!
Do I need retinol or vitamin C eye cream?
Retinol or vitamin C eye creams can be extremely beneficial for your undereyes if your concerns include brightness, anti-ageing, skin laxity and protection from environmental aggressors, like pollution and UV rays.
Retinol (and retinoids) as well as vitamin C (and its derivatives) have antioxidant properties which help defend and protect thin undereye skin from the pro-ageing external agents that we encounter daily, making the two ingredients good for overall skin health and anti-ageing purposes (5, 6).
These two ingredients also pack a serious punch when it comes to supporting firmness and discouraging visible laxity and crepiness under the eyes. Retinol and retinoids do this by communicating with skin, prompting its natural collagen to help skin look and act younger. Vitamin C accomplishes this feat by prompting skin to produce firmness-inducing proteins, including collagens and elastin (7).
When it comes to creams that tackle dark circles around your eyes, vitamin C comes out on top. This is because of the ingredient’s ability to slow the production of substances in skin that form dark spots and making skin below the eyes firmer, which in turn makes it less “see through.” However, a retinol eye cream is also a great option for dark circles too, due to the way it increases cell turnover and helps reduce the appearance of dark spots and dark circles (8). Some eye creams include both ingredients, so you don’t have to choose between the two!
“And if you have sensitive skin or experience any irritation in the eyelids from use of these powerhouse ingredients, then keep it simple with hydrating and nourishing products,” says Dr. Hartman. “It’s better to do no harm than to risk it and make the problem worse.”
How to use an eye cream
Using eye cream is as easy as following these simple steps:
- Cleanse, tone and exfoliate skin.
- Apply a pea-sized amount of eye cream, gel or lotion to the area around the eyes, avoiding the lash line.
- Pat in the eye product, don’t rub or drag the sensitive skin around the eyes, with your ring finger. Some find patting in the product from inner to outer corner works best.
- Continue the patting motion and apply cream to the eyelid if the specific product’s packaging says you can do so.
- Apply the rest of your facial treatments from thinnest to thickest texture.
- Wrap up your routine with a facial moisturiser with sunscreen during the day and a regular hydrating moisturiser at night.
Remember: Let your eye cream and moisturiser soak in before applying any makeup!
Do I put on eye cream before or after moisturiser?
Although eye creams can come in moisturising, creamy formulas, they’re a treatment and fit into the treatment step of your skin care routine.
Treatments, such as eye cream, serums and boosters, are applied before moisturisers, in order from thinnest to thickest texture. So, if you’re looking to layer an eye gel and eye cream, apply the gel first, then the cream due to their respective textures.
Is eye cream really necessary?
Eye creams are effective skin care products that can help with visible signs of ageing, puffiness, dark circles, dryness and more. They’re perfect for the person looking to home in on and tackle their stubborn undereye concerns, which usually become visible in your mid-20s. If you’re not one of those people, then eye cream isn’t necessary! A simple hydrating, fragrance-free moisturiser applied under the eyes is good enough for already healthy, hydrated undereyes with few-to-no concerns.
Can I use regular moisturiser as eye cream?
Generally, you can use your go-to fragrance-free moisturiser as an eye cream. However, as we know, the skin around the eyes is thinner, more sensitive and produces less oil. For these reasons, take the following into consideration when looking to apply your favourite facial moisturiser under your eyes:
- Avoid applying moisturisers with high percentages of bioactive ingredients around the eyes. Although okay when applied on the cheeks, chin and forehead, higher concentrations of proven ingredients might sensitise the undereye area.
- Make sure your face moisturiser contains antioxidant, soothing and hydrating ingredients.
- If your moisturiser has a thick, emollient or occlusive texture, don’t apply too close to the lash line. These textures tend to migrate and can get into the eyes.
What happens if you don’t use eye cream?
Not using eye cream is a-okay, however not taking care of the skin around your eye area is a big no. Skipping out on applying moisturising, nourishing and protective ingredients to the eye area (whether in a facial moisturiser, serum or eye cream format) can result in the worsening of any eye area concerns you’re experiencing as well as dryness plus more visible fine lines and wrinkles.
Dr. Hartman adds, “Not to mention that neglecting the eye area leaves this vulnerable skin more susceptible to environmental allergens which can cause irritation and promote premature ageing.”
Remember, our undereyes have a bit less support than the rest of our facial skin—they require more TLC. Applying skin care products that are approved for the eye area and formulated with antioxidants, skin-replenishing and skin-restoring ingredients provides this area with the extra support it needs to remain healthy, combatting dryness, environmental damage and early signs of ageing.
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References for this information:- Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, April 2019, pages 530-538
- Skin Research and Technology, May 2009, pages 2014-217
- Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, August 2020, pages 2000-2005
- Journal of Molecular Structure, June 2024, ePublication
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry, September 2017, pages 9348–9357
- Nutrients, August 2017, pages 1–27
- Antioxidants, July 2022, pages 1–18
- Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, September 2023, AB94
