Let’s Be Honest, Are Eye Creams Really Necessary?

Are eye creams an important part of an effective skincare routine? Or are they just fancy moisturizers in smaller packages? Read on for everything we know about the skin around your eyes and why an eye cream can actually be a very smart choice.

Skincare companies like ours exist because we want to help you make the most of your skin. We’re not here to pull the wool over your eyes or force you to spend your $$$s on pointless lotions and potions that you don’t actually need. That’s why we think about every single product before launching, ensuring we produce only the very best formulations for your skin, with the highest quality ingredients and years of skincare intel.

This leads us neatly to a slightly contentious skincare topic: eye cream. Cynics might believe these are just industry hype, but they’re so much more than luxurious items that do very little. In fact, an eye cream can really take your skincare routine to the next level – especially if you have specific concerns about the skin around your eyes.

Of course, if you’re young and haven’t yet had the pleasure of welcoming things like dark circles, crow’s feet, puffiness and sagging skin to the eye party, you’re probably OK living without an eye cream. For now, anyway. However, if you’re long past those glory days of youth, this small but unassuming skincare great can be a powerful weapon against the visible signs of aging around the eyes.

What’s The Deal With The Skin Around Your Eyes?

Skin is skin, right? Wrong. Sure, the general structure of your skin is similar all over your body, but it’s not the same.

The skin around your eyes, for example, is way thinner than the rest of your face. This means its barrier function is similarly thin and collagen is less readily available. This small area of your face also contains very few sebaceous glands which, as you know, are important for producing sebum and helping to keep the skin soft, supple and moisturized. Couple all this with the fact the skin around your eyes also lacks muscle and fatty tissue and it’s no wonder that it ages up much quicker than the rest of your face. It can be drier and more sensitive. Underlying veins and vessels can also be more visible, and the skin under your eyes, in particular, is prone to becoming loose and lax lightning fast.

So there you go. The skin around your eyes is very different from the rest of your face. And it consequently has quite different skincare needs.

Is This Why Eye Cream Is Important?

In a word, yes. Eye creams are quite different to regular face creams because they’re built to tackle a different kind of skin with a whole bunch of unique issues. For starters, sure, most eye treatments contain those all-important moisturizing ingredients but, in general, eye formulations are way gentler than classic face moisturizers which can easily overload the skin around your eyes.

Another way eye creams and face creams differ? Their level of potent, active ingredients. Things like retinol and exfoliating acids, for example, are a great way to tackle the signs of aging on your face and neck, but the concentrations used for your face can often be too powerful and irritating for your eyes. It’s also wise to avoid strong alcohols, synthetic fragrances and harsh preservative around your eyes. But, tbh, we also like to avoid them on our entire faces and bodies. Just saying!

Then there’s all the stuff that eye creams do contain – intentionally put there to deal with eye-specific concerns like dark circles, puffiness, sagging, volume loss and fine lines. You’ll often find ingredients like caffeine, licorice and kojic acid in eye products which work hard to treat under-eye bags. But do you really need those in your regular face cream? Probably not.

And that’s the honest truth about eye creams. Sure, a gentle face cream is fine if you simply want to keep the skin around your eyes moisturized. But if you want to target deeper issues than pure moisture, then a treatment tailored for this specific area is priceless.

3 Of The Best Eye Creams To Try Now

With all that in mind, we couldn’t leave without a nod to our awesome line-up of eye-loving skin treatments…

1. Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream

Part of our new Longevity range which launched last year this healthy aging eye cream is already proving to be a huge hit. The secret to its success comes from bakuchiol, an ingredient that’s still fairly new to skincare but has been quite rightly deemed nature’s answer to retinol. And that, dear friends, is no mean feat.

Studies show that bakuchiol offers all of the skin-regenerating benefits of retinol – improving cellular turnover and accelerating collagen synthesis – but is way kinder to your skin, making it absolutely perfect for the delicate skin around your eyes. This lightweight eye cream combines bakuchiol with coffeeberry extract and lingonberry stem cells to not only strengthen the skin but to help improve the appearance of dark circles and puffy eye bags at the same time. We call this one of our ‘must-try’ products.

2. Hyaluronic Acid Eye Cream

Say hello to our creamiest, dreamiest and most hydrating eye treatment that steadily and effectively promotes firmer, brighter skin around your eyes without overloading it with heavy ingredients. Because that is so not want you want in an eye cream.

Hyaluronic acid is the name of the game here, which visibly plumps the skin by drawing moisture to the surface and bidding farewell to unwanted dehydration. But that’s not all this weightless treatment has to offer. Oh no. It also contains vitamins E and B5 to offer antioxidant protection while soothing, nurturing and empowering your barrier function to keep up the hard work of keeping moisture in, and the bad guys out. Add in a little glycolic acid and vitamin C for their awesome brightening powers and you’ve got yourself a pretty fabulous all-round powerhouse for tired eyes.

3. Peptide Eye Gel

Powered by peptides and with a feather-light gel formulation, this daily treatment is your go-to for tackling fine lines, battling eye bags, sorting out dark circles and basically dealing with pretty much any eye concern you throw at it.

Peptides are known for helping to support collagen and elastin so we harnessed this knowledge and teamed a special peptide complex with plant stem cells, licorice extract (a whizz for reducing puffiness) and hyaluronic acid to offer the skin around your eyes everything it deserves in an eye treatment. We’re talking antioxidant protection, awesome hydration, anti-inflammatory care and gentle, plant-powered potency. Skin aging, beware, this eye gel is truly a force to be reckoned with.