Whether they’re revealing your deepest emotions or letting the world know you’ve been on a week-long Netflix binge, trust the eyes to say it all. The skin around your eyes is the thinnest and most sensitive on your body, and the first to show signs of aging and the consequences of inadequate sleep, squinting and sun damage. Needless to say, this area needs an extra dose of TLC. And that’s where eye creams come in.
“The skin under and around the eyes is thin and can dry out easily,” says Tsippora Shainhouse, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in Beverly Hills, Calif. “While there are oil glands on the eyelids, the skin can get dry, flaky and irritated, especially when exacerbated by cold, dry winter air or by windy, summer environments,” she says. “Eye creams can be used for various reasons, including moisturizing, reducing inflammation, anti-aging, improving skin texture and reducing the appearance of dark circles.”
Best Eye Cream for Your Under-Eye Concerns
Whether it’s eye wrinkles or morning puffiness giving you grief, there’s an eye cream that’s right for you. Below, we’ve listed down our top eye cream picks for every under-eye concern.
FOR DARK CIRCLES
While the gloom under your eyes can often be blamed on lack of sleep, Dr. Shainhouse says dark circles can also be caused by several factors, including genetics, swelling, engorged blood vessels and even shadows cast by raised facial features. “Look for ingredients like arnica, vitamin K and caffeine to help temporarily shrink blood vessels,” says Dr. Shainhouse. These antioxidant ingredients are known to improve circulation and calm swelling, helping to minimize puffiness and preventing blood from pooling beneath your eyes and causing it to appear darker.
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Buy now with Dermstore SkinMedica Instant Bright Eye Cream
Buy now with free deliveryEnriched with caffeine, marine extracts, hyaluronic acid and vitis flower stem cell extract, this ultra-hydrating eye cream keeps dull skin and dark circles at bay with its advanced formula that nourishes skin while restoring its skin barrier. It delivers intense moisture, improves circulation and refines the look of hyperpigmentation.
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Buy now with Dermstore Paula’s Choice Omega+ Complex Eye Cream
Buy now with free deliveryWith omega fatty acids, ceramides, amino acids and niacinamide, this nourishing eye cream instantly perks up your eye area by improving hydration to prevent dryness and tired-looking eyes. It restores your skin barrier to allow for a smoother and plumper complexion and a more even skin tone.
FOR WRINKLES AND CROW’S FEET
Your under-eye skin tends to be drier and thinner, so it’s no surprise that the first signs of aging most people notice are eye wrinkles and crow’s feet. Moisture is key if you want to keep fine lines under control, so Dr. Shainhouse suggests looking for eye products with hydrating and moisturizing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, AHAs, ceramides, essential oils (like argan, coconut and avocado oils) and botanical extracts. “Moisturizing the skin makes the skin plumper, so lines appear less deep,” adds Dr. Shainhouse. Additionally, retinoids and peptides can help rebuild and encourage elastin and collagen production, slowing down the formation of new wrinkles and refining the appearance of existing ones.
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Buy now with Dermstore Obagi ELASTIderm Eye Treatment Cream
Buy now with free deliveryThis dermatologist-approved eye cream is formulated for all skin types, especially for those with mature and sensitive skin. Its firming formula features an advanced blend of ingredients—including a proprietary bi-mineral complex of copper, zinc and malonic acid—that strengthens the body’s natural skin renewal process and boosts collagen and elastin production. The result? A noticeably brighter and more youthful-looking eye area in less time than traditional eye creams.
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Buy now with Dermstore HydroPeptide Eye Authority
Buy now with free deliveryThis anti-aging eye cream is a powerhouse when it comes to keeping visible signs of aging at bay. Enriched with peptides, antioxidants, ceramides and hyaluronic acid, it hydrates and plumps your skin and improves circulation to give you a more youthful-looking appearance. Minerals and amino acids from crushed pearls also help to detoxify and illuminate your eye area to lighten dark circles and lessen puffiness.
FOR EYE BAGS AND PUFFINESS
Eye bags and puffiness can be particularly daunting to deal with, especially when they’re caused by factors beyond your control, like genes and the natural aging process. Much of the time, however, those puffy eyes are simply the result of poor circulation and fluid retention due to late-night junk food cravings, extended happy hours, allergies and lack of sleep. And while your body will naturally get rid of the excess water on its own, you can help the de-puffing and shrinking process along with an eye cream that contains caffeine, cucumber and antioxidants like green tea and vitamin C, which all work to reduce swelling by improving blood flow and tightening skin and blood vessels.
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Buy now with Dermstore Neocutis LUMIÈRE® FIRM Illuminating & Tightening Eye Cream
Buy now with free deliveryWhen it comes to rejuvenating and restoring vitality to tired and puffy eyes, this eye cream definitely doesn’t hold back. This gentle yet potent eye cream features an advanced complex of growth factors and peptides to boost the production of collagen and elastin, encouraging firmer skin. Caffeine helps reduce under-eye puffiness, while antioxidant vitamin C protects from environmental damage. (Bonus: It even comes in an extra-rich version for dry skin types.)
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Buy now with Dermstore Sunday Riley Auto Correct Brightening and Depuffing Eye Contour Cream
Buy now with free deliveryThis brightening and depuffing eye cream from Sunday Riley gives you another reason to love caffeine. Also infused with extracts from Brazilian ginseng root, horse chestnut and acmella oleracea and black cumin seed oil, it brightens and refines dark circles and puffiness while smoothing and lifting the eye area to improve the appearance of fine lines and crow’s feet.
FOR ANTI-AGING
Collagen and elastin production start to slow down in your mid-to-late 20s and can be further accelerated by sun exposure and certain lifestyle factors like smoking, unhealthy diet, alcohol and poor sleeping habits. So when it comes to keeping wrinkles and crow’s feet at bay, it’s important to stay one step ahead. “While we can’t avoid getting older, we can try to slow it down by feeding our skin with the molecules and protein precursors it needs to protect and rebuild its collagen structure,” says Dr. Shainhouse. These include peptides and growth factors that can penetrate the surface layers of the skin and provide the necessary building blocks in creating new collagen and antioxidants (like vitamin C, green tea and açai and coffee berries) that help prevent UV-induced oxidation and collagen degradation, adds Dr. Shainhouse.
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Buy now with Dermstore SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Eye Complex
Buy now with free deliveryThis nourishing eye treatment provides immediate and lasting anti-aging results to the eye area, thanks to its optical diffusers that instantly brighten the eyes and flavonoids and peptides that improve dark circles and puffiness. It also features blueberry extract and proxylane that nourish and boost elasticity.
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Buy now with Dermstore Dermaologica Total Eye Care with SPF 15
Buy now with free deliveryWith a retexturizing and moisturizing formula that also features a chemical-free sunscreen, this eye cream lives up to its promise of total eye care. Alpha hydroxyl acids rejuvenate the eye area, botanical extracts reduce puffiness and optical light diffusers improve the appearance of dark circles.
FOR SENSITIVE SKIN
When you’re already dealing with a highly reactive skin to begin with, choosing the best eye cream can be quite a challenge. Especially since the wrong formula or ingredient can quickly result in itchy, watery and puffy eyes. Your best bet? Hypoallergenic and noncomedogenic formulas that are free of skin-drying substances like alcohol and known skin irritants like fragrances, sulfates and parabens. “Consider an eye cream with soothing properties that will quickly reduce inflammation and skin irritation, which can trigger collagen breakdown and early skin wrinkling,” suggests Dr. Shainhouse. “Look for ingredients like green tea, aloe vera, chamomile and licorice root that will soothe skin and quickly bring down any inflammation.”
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Buy now with Dermstore Eminence Organic Skin Care Wild Plum Eye Cream
Buy now with free deliveryThis nourishing eye treatment hits all the marks if you’re looking for a way to banish puffiness and dark circles without the risk of irritating your delicate eye area. Thanks to its gentle, powered-by-nature formula that features superfood ingredients like wild plum juice, green tea extracts, wheat protein and grape seed oil, it brightens the eyes, protects from free radical damage and keeps skin hydrated while maintaining moisture and refining signs of aging.
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Buy now with Dermstore Epionce Renewal Eye Cream
Buy now with free deliveryPowered by potent yet gentle ingredients, this nourishing eye cream addresses the most common eye concerns—such as dark circles, puffiness, fine lines and wrinkles—without the risk of irritating your body’s most sensitive skin. Featuring date fruit extract, meadowfoam and flax seed complex, shea butter and antioxidants, it restores and hydrates the delicate area under your eyes while keeping your skin brighter, smoother and well-hydrated.
