How to Find the Best Eye Cream For You

The Importance of Eye Cream

Fact: the skin surrounding our eye contour is thinner and often more sensitive than that on the rest of our face. This is why our eyes are often the first area that gives away our age—or, in some cases, makes us look older than we actually are! Because this area of skin is so delicate, it’s important to dedicate a specific product to your eye contour that is formulated with ingredients that can address the concerns you are experiencing in this area.

What’s more, often the creams you use on the rest of your face are too heavy to use on the thin skin around your eye and can end up clogging pores and congesting your skin. Instead, for the best results, reach for eye creams, serums, and other formulas that have been developed to tackle everything from dryness around the eye contour to crow’s feet.

What to Look for in an Eye Cream

The next step in finding the best eye cream to address your eye contour concerns is knowing what to look for in the formula. Eye creams and serums are often more concentrated than facial moisturizers and are designed  to address common concerns such as dryness, fine lines, dark circles, and a loss of firmness that can occur on the thin skin of the eye contour. Look for eye creams that boast gentle hydrating and anti-aging ingredients and ones that absorb quickly.

Product Recommendations

In our own quest to find the best eye cream we’ve rounded up our favorites from the L’Oreal portfolio of brands.

Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado – If dryness around the eye contour is your main concern, this could be the best eye cream for you! Tested by both ophthalmologists and dermatologists, this creamy preparation is formulated with avocado oil—a rich fatty-acid emollient with amino acid proteins, vitamins A, D, and E and potassium—antioxidant beta-carotene, and shea butter. It helps to restore hydration to the skin and thanks to its uniquely concentrated texture and it doesn’t migrate into the eyes after application.

L’Oreal Paris Age Perfect Eye Renewal Eye Cream – Target five signs of aging with this eye cream formulated with antioxidants to help visibly reduce the appearance of dark circles, puffiness, under-eye bags, crow’s feet, and a crepe-like appearance of the skin.

La-Roche Posay Pigmentclar Eyes – Kick dark circles to the curb thanks to this unique formula from La Roche-Posay—a favorite in French pharmacies and Stateside drugstores alike! Created to target both types of dark circles—blue and brown—it’s formulated with phe-resorcinol, caffeine, and light reflective pigments to help fade the appearance of dark circles over time with continued use and leave the eye contour looking brighter.

SkinCeuticals Eye UV Defense SPF 50 – Like most skin care concerns, many of those that appear around our eye contour are thanks to exposure to skin-damaging UV rays. From wrinkles to dark spots, if you want to help protect your eye area from the sun, you’re going to need to use a daily eye cream formulated with broad-spectrum SPF (and wear sunglasses). This sunscreen-meets-eye cream is suitable for the entire eye area (including the eyelids) and is formulated with ceramides, SPF 50, and a tint which helps to hide shadows and dark circles instantly.

Garnier Anti-Puff Eye Roller – This roller from Garnier features a gel formula with antioxidant vitamin C, mint, and caffeine to instantly cool and refresh the under-eye area upon application. The micro-stimulating metal roll-on applicator helps to de-puff the eye contour. (Editor’s Tip: Keep this puppy in the fridge for an extra cooling sensation when rolling on!)

Top Eye Contour Concerns: Dark Circles, Puffy Eyes, Crow’s Feet

While you may be plagued by the same skin care concerns around your eye contour as you are all over your face, there are a few skin care concerns that are unique to this thin, delicate skin.

Of all the complaints people have about their eye area, puffy eyes and under-eye bags often rank at the top of that list. Causes of puffy eyes include everything from lack of sleep, fluid retention, crying, and allergies. While there are a few hacks you can try to help to temporarily reduce the appearance of puffiness in the eye area, reaching for an eye care product formulated to tackle under-eye bags is a great option. Look for products with cooling metal applicators and formulated with caffeine to see a noticeable improvement in the appearance of puffiness in the eye area.

Another top complaint? Dark circles. Dark circles around the eye contour can be caused by a number of factors including UV damage, fatigue, genetics, and allergies.  To help improve the look of your eye area reach for products formulated with antioxidants. What’s more? Reach for a daily SPF that is safe to use around your eye contour. Since UV rays can cause and worsen surface discoloration, wearing broad-spectrum SPF of 30 or more each day is important to help keep your skin looking youthful and bright.

Crow’s feet are often one of the first signs of age on our complexions. Marked by the tell-tale fine lines in the corners of our eyes that don’t disappear once we stop smiling, crow’s feet are the precursor to the other signs of aging around our eye contour including wrinkles, sagging, and loss of elasticity. Look for products that have been formulated to target these signs of aging and use them often.

Protect Your Peepers

While we’ve noted that it’s key to wear daily SPF around your eye contour to help keep dark circles, wrinkles, and other signs of skin aging at bay, note that there are other measures you can take to protect your eye contour from UV rays as well. If your eye cream isn’t formulated with SPF you can always use a lightweight, gentle, fragrance- and oil-free sunscreen with broad-spectrum SPF around your orbital bone and then apply your eye creams and concealers over that protection. You can also invest in large, fashionable sunglasses and a wide-brim hat, and better yet, do your best to avoid being outside in direct sunlight during the sun’s peak hours between 10am and 4pm. 

Looking for more eye cream recommendations? We share our favorite eye creams for nearly every eye contour concern here!