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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.

We love skincare technology and exciting new ingredients but sometimes, even we have to admit, the old beauty tricks are the best.

As you get older you soon realize that mom/grandma/your Auntie May was right about a lot of things. Their stingy toilet paper rationing might have been questionable (what was that all all about?) and their ‘fun meter’ was often way out of whack (according to you, of course!), but when it came to looking after their skin, they may have been on to something.

Back in the day, skincare was much more straightforward. There were no Botox or laser facials to be had and the closest they got to a treatment serum was some kind of cooking oil found in their kitchen cupboards. However, there’s a lot to be said for the simpler things in life. Don’t get us wrong, we’re all about innovative ingredients and ground breaking skincare technology, but certain, old-school skincare tricks have been passed down through generations for a reason. They work.

Read on for five of our favorite vintage beauty hacks you’d be wise to add to your skincare routine.

1. Sleeping On Silk

Ten years ago we bet you didn’t give a damn what kind of pillowcase you slept on. Surely it made zero difference to your skin, right? Well, actually, it kinda does. And if the onslaught of satin and silk pillowcases currently available are anything to go by, (not to mention the number of TikTok videos there are about them) it seems this trusted beauty trick has made a welcome return.

So what’s the deal here? Well, according to The Sleep Foundation regular cotton, linen or flannel pillowcases have a slightly rough surface which causes friction against your skin. This means that if you tend to toss and turn throughout the night you’re likely to crush and fold your skin into your pillowcase, causing creases which could eventually become permanently etched in. Go for a silk pillowcase, however, and the smooth, slippery surface allows your skin to glide over it with much less friction and, fingers crossed, fewer lines and wrinkles as a result. Silk is also believed to absorb less moisture from your skin than cotton which helps to keep your skin and hair better hydrated while you sleep. So there's that.

A few problems, however: silk pillowcases a) are pricey, b) often require hand-washing (yawn!) and c) are not vegan-friendly since silk comes from silkworm cocoons. The good news is that satin pillowcases can offer just-as-good benefits for your skin (and hair) and are budget-, vegan- and washing machine-friendly.

2. The Magic Of Olive Oil

Olive oil has long been used to benefit the skin and hair thanks to its high antioxidant and fatty acid content. As you know, antioxidants are super important for neutralizing the collagen-crushing effects of environmental aggressors like the sun and pollution. And fatty acids? Well, they’re excellent for fortifying your skin’s barrier function and helping to moisturize at a surface level. So put them together in one kitchen cupboard ingredient and it’s no wonder your mother couldn’t get enough of this stuff, often slapping it on before bed to reduce dryness and ‘feed’ the skin through the night.

Olive oil isn’t for everyone, however. Because it sits on top of your skin it can be fabulous for dealing with dryness and dehydration. It’s also great for removing makeup and can be an incredible treatment for people with eczema. But if you have oily or acne-prone skin this layer of oil can clog your pores and exacerbate breakouts.

If you sit in the latter camp and don’t fancy slapping pure olive oil all over your face, we get that. And boy do we have the ideal solution. Say hello to Vitamin C Super Serum+ which contains olive oil squalane. Nice.

3. Witch Hazel To Tone

Ask any older relative who’s been consistently into looking after their skin and most will tell you that, in days gone by, they’d often reach for witch hazel as a post-cleansing toning treatment.

Witch hazel is harvested from the bark and leaves of the witch hazel plant, a small tree that grows wild in Asia and the east coast of North America. It’s a natural astringent and full of anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and antioxidant compounds which is why many households ensure they always have a bottle at hand to topically treat a variety of ailments from hemorrhoids and dandruff to bug bites and acne. As a sidenote, it also makes for a pretty effective house cleaner! But we digress…

Although it’s wonderfully healing and great for balancing oily skin, witch hazel can be pretty potent in its purest form. Instead, enjoy its benefits while taking care of your complexion with our Ocean Minerals Daily Face Super Toner which combines this awesome tonic with other powerhouses like vitamin C and glycolic acid.

4. Nice, Ice Baby

We hate to break it to all you Tiktokers out there, but skin icing is not new! Hollywood makeup artists have long raved about the benefits of running ice cubes over the face to reduce puffiness and get skin glowing. It’s a trick that’s been passed down for decades.

When you think about it, the concept of applying cold water or ice to brighten, tone, smooth and depuff your complexion makes sense. After all, cold temperatures constrict your capillaries which stimulates blood circulation, encouraging oxygen and nutrients to flood to the surface. However, you need to know how to do this properly because freezing cold temperatures can also cause redness, irritation and dehydration if not dealt with carefully.

For starters, you should never apply actual ice cubes straight to your skin because they can strip the skin of natural oils, killing your skin’s barrier function and even causing ices burns which is no fun. Instead, wrap ice cubes in a soft handkerchief or cloth and gently work them in circular motions over your skin for five minutes max. Oh, and always work on clean skin – we love to cleanse first with our Soothing Cleansing Milk.

Even better? Invest in some ice globes which are glass or metal wands with balls on the ends that are kept in the fridge or freezer and awesome for massaging the skin. These give you all the benefits of the frigid temps, without all that melty mess.

5. The Classic Eye Depuffer

While we’re on the subject of cold things, hands up if you remember your mom or older sister lying on their bed with either cold teabags, potatoes or slices of cucumbers on their eyes? Classic. But this age-old beauty tricks is not to be knocked.

The concept of popping a couple of cold things over your eyes for 10 minutes is similar to placing ice cubes on your skin – cold temperatures make your blood vessels contract which reduces puffiness, tiredness and dark circles. The light pressure also helps drain excess fluid. Plus who can knock the stress-relieving benefits of lying down and enjoying a bit of me-time once in a while?

What you use is totally up to you but slices of cucumber are great because they have a high water content which helps to boosts moisture under the eyes. Potatoes, on the other hand contain skin-brightening enzymes. And cold tea bags? Well, depending on the type of tea used, you can help tackle all manner of eye issues. Chamomile is soothing and great for calming redness while lavender tea may help relieve dryness. Green and black teas contain caffeine so they should be your go-tos for tightening the skin and reducing under eye bags.

We also like to finish this kind of treatment with a little eye cream just to really drive the eye-loving point home! Try Peptide Eye Gel if you’re looking for a good all-rounder.

Fine lines and wrinkles are totally natural, but if you want to lessen their impact, you might want to take a look at some of these seemingly innocent lifestyle habits.

We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve warned you about the perils of the sun and its effect on the number and intensity of your wrinkles. Ditto for stress, smoking and a lack of sleep. But while these things are up there as the most common culprits of aging skin – the sun being the number one offender, of course – there are plenty of other everyday lifestyle habits you probably didn’t realize were affecting the rate at which your skin aged.

Obsessed with your Stanley water bottle right now? Well, for one thing, who isn’t? But for another, you might want to rethink that whole drinking-from-a-straw situation once you’ve read the rest of this article. You have been warned…

Drinking From A Straw

One of the main reasons smoking is so bad for your skin (toxic chemicals aside) is the repetitive motion of puckering up your lips. How so? Well, this repeated action contracts a ring of muscle around the mouth area called the orbicularis oris muscle. Over time, this causes your skin to lose elasticity. And you know those lines you see when you purse your lips? Instead of going away after you relax your mouth, they start to become permanently etched in.

Same thing happens if you drink through a straw all day long.

What To Do: As much as we know you love your Stanley Quencher try not to drink out of it 24/7. At home, switch it out for a regular glass and when you’re out and about go for a water bottle that doesn’t have a straw. Oh, and if you get offered a straw when you next order a gin and tonic in a bar, say no. Those fine lines around your lips – as well as the environment – will be forever grateful.

Your Smartphone

What would we do without our digital devices? They are pretty much everything in today’s modern world. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. However, your smartphone, in particular, plays a huge part in the health of your skin. For one thing, constantly looking down while texting, gaming, emailing and browsing can accelerate the formation of creases or bands around the circumference of your neck, aka ‘tech neck.’ Similarly, squinting and frowning at your phone can add even more lines and wrinkles both on your forehead and around your eyes.

Your digital devices also emit something called high-energy visible (HEV) or blue light which studies suggest are just as damaging to your skin as UV light. Blue light not only has the potential to disrupt your skin’s natural barrier function but it can promote inflammation, encourage discoloration and accelerate collagen damage which is a one-way ticket to fine lines and wrinkles.

What To Do: Use your phone less (ha, if only it were that easy!) and always hold it upright so your head isn’t looking down all the time.

You must also try our awesome Longevity skincare range. This collection of three healthy aging products contains lingonberry stems cells which have been shown to help protect your skin from blue light damage.

The Way You Sleep

Getting lots of quality sleep is majorly important for the state of your skin, but skincare experts also agree that the way in which you sleep carries just as much weight on your skin’s aging process. Sleeping on one side, for example, causes creasing on that same side of your face which can increase your chances of developing fine lines on one side more than the other. Similarly, sleeping on your front and smushing your face into your pillow every night creates repeated pressure on your entire face – a sure-fire way to invite fine lines and wrinkles to do their worst.

What To Do: A silk pillowcase can help reduce friction, but your best bet is to change your sleep position so you sleep on your back with your head slightly raised. This avoids repetitive face-to-pillow contact and stops excess fluids from pooling under your eyes which helps stop dark circles and puffiness. Extra bonus right there.

Forgetting To Wear Sunglasses

Squinting is another one-way ticket to fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes as it causes your periocular muscles to repeatedly contract. And if you continue to do this day after day you will soon see exactly what we mean when those cute lines around your eyes turn into deep crevices that just won’t go away. Squinting also contributes to those annoying vertical lines between your eyebrows – glabellar lines or 11s – making it a real no-no if you care about aging skin.  

What To Do: Wear shades whenever you go outside – even if it’s bright but not particularly sunny. This’ll immediately stop you squinting and will also protect the skin around your eyes from those damaging UV rays. And if you find yourself squinting at your computer or the TV? Well, it might be time for an eye test. Just saying.

Finally, to help keep the skin around your eyes moisturized and youthful-looking, apply an eye cream morning and night. Try our Peptide Eye Gel which helps support collagen production to minimize premature aging.

Allergies

Do you find yourself continually rubbing the skin around your eyes during the allergy season? This happens when your body’s defense system reacts to an allergen it feels threatened by. Mast cells in your eyes then release chemicals like histamine to try and get rid of these allergens which causes your eyes to become red, watery and itchy.

Allergy triggers can come from many things, including airborne pollen and pet hair, but the worst thing you can do for your skin is to vigorously scrub away at your eyes. This seriously upsets your collagen supplies, thinning your skin, wearing it down and inviting lines around your eyes to do their worst.

What To Do: If your eyes are constantly itching, the most important plan of action is to find out why, so talk to your doctor if symptoms persist. In the meantime, try eye drops and if you can't help but rub your eyes, reduce damage by using just the pads of your ring fingers rather than your whole hand. This will help reduce pressure and friction.

Swimming

We hate to knock any form of exercise but swimming in chlorinated water can be pretty harsh on your skin (and your hair for that matter!). Chlorine is great for sanitizing water and eliminating any contaminants that may otherwise cause infection and illness. But it’s not ideal for your delicate skin. In fact it’s a natural irritant that strips natural oils and moisture from your skin’s protective barrier. This is OK in small doses but if you swim every day and don’t protect your skin, this can potentially cause dryness and dehydration. And two things wrinkles love in order to thrive are dryness and dehydration.

What To Do: A pre-swim shower is a great way to reduce chlorine damage because if your skin is already wet, it will absorb less chlorinated water. Smart huh? Of course, you should also shower immediately after swimming and moisturize all over to replace lost sebum and hydration.

When it comes to your face, apply Vitamin C Facial Serum to fully cleansed skin after swimming. Vitamin C helps neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine. Follow with moisturizer and you should be good.

3 Of Our Favorite Wrinkle-Busting Skincare Products

1. Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement

Want to keep your skin looking its best for as long as possible? Then you simply have to look after your collagen. And what better way than with this daily supplement that’s literally brimming with clinically-proven, collagen-promoting ingredients like vitamin C, acai and biotin.

2. SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C

Did we mention that the sun is the biggest culprit when it comes to premature skin aging? We did? Yeah, well, we will continue to do so. We will also continue to laud the benefits of daily, broad-spectrum sunscreen for warding off the sun’s damaging UV rays. And this is an absolute must. No arguments.

3. Retinol Facial Serum

One of the most effective anti-aging ingredients in skincare, retinol helps stimulate cell turnover and up your skin’s content of quality collagen. This awesome facial serum also contains hydrating hyaluronic acid (take that wrinkles) and vitamin E (same). We love that for you.

It might seem like a simple question but do you really know how to apply your eye cream? Because if you get it wrong, you could be doing more harm than good.

When it comes to an effective skincare routine, eye cream sits firmly in the same camp as facial toner – you either do… or you don’t. Those that do apply their eye cream morning and night would never have a bad word said against them (hear hear!). And those that don’t have probably read or heard somewhere that eye creams are a bit, well, pointless; that, truthfully, they’re no different to regular moisturizers.

Oh how wrong they are.

Eye creams are actually quite different to regular face creams. This is because they’re specifically formulated to treat the thin, dry, delicate skin around your eyes which, consequently, can be the first area of your skin to age. Sure, eye creams are moisturizing, but they need to be way gentler than regular face creams while also working hard to target eye-related issues like dark circles, dryness, fine lines, dehydration and puffiness. On that note they're often chock full of moisturizing botanical oils like evening primrose and sweet almond oils, but are balanced with fewer active ingredients or, at least, lower concentrations of active ingredients as well as minimal irritants like preservatives and synthetic fragrance.

We're big fans of eye creams here at TruSkin and count them as integral players in the quest for awesome skin. However, it’s important to know what you’re doing when you apply this delicate little flower, because slathering yours on with zero effs given can result in some seriously bad times for your skin.

How To Apply Your Eye Cream: The 5 Golden Rules

Read on for five lessons to remember if you want to get the best results from your eye cream.

1. Always Apply Eye Cream To Cleansed, Toned Skin

Fresh, clean skin is important when applying any kind of skincare product. If you don’t clean your skin first dirt, oil, makeup and bacteria can build up on the surface, blocking pores and encouraging breakouts. Not only that, but if your skin has a layer of unwashed debris on the top, how’s any kind of product supposed to penetrate your skin and take care of business? Well, it won’t.

Wash your hands first, then cleanse your entire face and eye area, using a gentle formulation like Soothing Cleansing Milk. Follow with toner and your favorite face serum, then it’s time for your eye cream – after serum and before moisturizing. Applying your eye cream first helps keep any ingredients in your face cream away from the delicate skin around your eyes. And that's important if there’s something hiding in there that this area of your skin might not be cool with.

2. Don’t Use Too Much

You know those words that are often written (but ignored!) on the back of your skincare product? Yeah those. Well, they’re there for a reason; to help you get the best from your product. So read them and follow the advice, OK?

When it comes to eye cream one of the most common mistakes is using too much product. Why is this such a big deal? Well, overloading this delicate area can be too much of a burden on your skin, leaving the area feeling super greasy. It can also exacerbate puffiness, which is not the look we imagine you were going for.

Eye creams always come in small packages so take that as a not-so-subtle hint that less is, without fail, always more. Approximately a pea-sized amount of eye cream should be the sweet spot for the upper and lower eyelids of both eyes, but read the instructions and do as you’re told. Lecture over.

3. Gently Does It

Some skincare products are made to be massaged into the skin. Not eye cream. The area around your eyes is extremely fragile (did we mention that already? Sorry, not sorry!) so you have to treat it with much respect. We recommend using your ring fingers – or even your pinkies – because this instantly reduces pressure and friction on your skin without you even thinking about it.

Also, always pat rather than rub the product around the eye area. Heavy-handedly rubbing or massaging eye cream into your skin can quickly make your skin sore or inflamed.

4. Give Your Lashes Some Distance

While it goes without saying that you should never apply eye cream to your actual eyes, you should also take care not to go too close to your lashline. Most eye cream formulations contain oils which can creep into your eyes when your body temperature increases, causing irritation, redness and weepy eyes if applied too closely. Stick to the orbital bone area only.

5. Allow Eye Cream A Good Minute To Absorb

While we would never expect you to spend hours on your skincare routine every morning and night – because, you know, life – whizzing through your regime can do your skin a real disservice in both the short- and long-term. It’s much more prudent to give products time to settle and absorb into the skin before moving on to the next one.

And eye cream is no exception. After you’ve patted your product all around the eye area, give it a minute or two before moving on to your moisturizer, sunscreen and makeup. This will give it time to seep in and will also help avoid your makeup from pilling.

Finally, as with all skincare products, consistency is everything so apply your eye cream regularly – morning and night – for the best results. And be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, yes?

PSA: when you’re feeling jaded, the skin around your eyes is the first to give the game away.

With the holidays just around the corner, tiredness, in some shape or form, is a sure thing. From the anxieties involved with cooking the perfect Thanksgiving dinner to a little too much festive partying and the panic of gift giving, it’s no wonder the holiday season has officially been crowned the most stressful time of the year.

Now a little bit of low-key stress is OK in small doses. But when it takes over your well-being and stops you from getting that much-needed rest and restorative me-time, your skin is going to suffer. And no place more so than the skin around your eyes.

What’s So Special About The Skin Around Your Eyes?

The skin around your eyes is slightly different to the rest of your face. For starters, it’s around ten times thinner which makes it super susceptible to the visible signs of tiredness and premature aging. Thanks to its natural thinness, underlying tissue and blood vessels are also more prominent, causing shadows and dark circles. And this is even more obvious when you miss out on your valuable shut-eye. How so? Because a lack of sleep not only encourages blood and fluid retention, but it also makes your skin appear paler due to a limited time to regenerate itself overnight.

The skin around your eyes also has a very short supply of fat and muscle. This means that collagen and elastin are even more important than ever for keeping the skin in this area strong and supported. And as you know, aging, environmental nasties, and a lack of sleep can be total killjoys when it comes to quality collagen and elastin. 

But that’s not all. Ever noticed how the skin on the outer corners of your eyes often feels drier and more irritated than the rest of your skin? The reason for this is a serious lack of sebaceous (oil-producing) glands to keep it healthy, moisturized and soft. Dang!

When you add all this together and throw in constant muscle movement (DYK you blink around 15,000 times every day?), it’s no wonder the skin around your eyes feels fatigued so darn easily. We’re exhausted just thinking about it.

How To Refresh Tired Looking Eyes

1. Get An Early Night

Sleep is the obvious way to win the battle against tired, beat up skin around your eyes, but it’s also the most important one. When you’re asleep cell turnover accelerates, collagen production revs up, antioxidants kick in to help repair damage and blood flow increases to nourish your skin with valuable nutrients. Important business, right there.

Sure, it can be difficult to get your regular zzzs but a lack of sleep causes water retention, makes the blood vessels dilate and decreases moisture levels in your skin. You might as well just invite dark circles, puffy eyes and dry skin over and have done with it.

Not on board with that? Then try to go to bed at a decent hour each night in order to get your seven hours in. Also, make sure your pillow is high enough to prop up your head a little. Lying flat messes with your circulation and can lead to water retention and bags under your eyes.

2. Use A Potent Eye Treatment

Quality eye treatments are vital if you want to keep the skin around your eyes moisturized, nourished, bright and healthy. Regular moisturizers are all well and good but they can be too rich for this delicate area, plus they’re lacking in the targeted ingredients your eyes need.

Things like hydrating hyaluronic acid, age-defying bakuchiol, firming caffeine and collagen-boosting peptides are all hella good for the skin around your eyes, so keep your, er, eyes peeled for those. We have three awesome eye treatments to choose from, including the brand new Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream which is packed with incredible ingredients to help your eyes look radiant and youthful.

Just remember, never overload the skin with too much eye cream (a pea-size amount is usually enough) and be gentle as you apply it. We like to use our ring fingers to lightly press the product around the eye area. This naturally reduces the amount of drag and pressure you place on the skin.

3. Balance Booze With Water

Alcohol is not going to do your eyes any favors at all, causing tiny blood vessels to dilate and thus contributing to swelling, puffiness and dehydration. So, if you like a tipple or two make sure you balance every alcoholic drink with a glass of water. Your eyes will not regret it. And neither will your hangover.

4. Chillax Your Skin

Applying a cold compress to your eyes is an age-old trick. But it’s a goodie. You see, cold temperatures constrict your blood vessels and help to tighten up puffy skin. And it really is as simple as that.

Keep a couple of teaspoons in the refrigerator and place these over your eyes for ten minutes in the morning for an instant pick-me-up. Or alternatively try cold, used teabags, slices of cucumber or pieces of potato. Cucumbers, in particular, are very hydrating and have incredible anti-inflammatory properties, while potatoes contain skin-brightening enzymes. 

It's also not a bad idea to keep your eye cream in the fridge if that floats your boat. Then you’ll get a little hit of refreshing coolness every time you apply it. Your eyes will be all over that.

5. Fake It With Makeup

Sleep and great skincare practices are more important than anything, but oftentimes an emergency fix is the only way to go. Especially when you’re in a pinch. Well, thankfully, there are some awesome makeup tricks for dealing with tiredness around your eyes.

Under eye concealer is, more often than we like to admit, our go-to makeup product during the holiday season. Because it really works. Just remember to choose yellow rather than pink-toned formulations as these help to neutralize dark circles.

Another fabulous beauty cheat is to use blue-black or navy mascara – the cool undertones help make the whites of your eyes look brighter and clearer. And when all else fails? Focus the attention away from your eyes and sport a bold, red lipstick instead. Cunning huh?

It’s true, those little added extras can make the world of difference to the look, feel and health of your skin.

What’s your secret to skin success? Are you a basic cleanse, moisturize, sunscreen and done kind of person? Or do you prefer to lavish your skin with as much time, care and attention as possible?

We know that most people sit in the former camp, preferring to keep their skincare routine simple and effective without the hassle of hour-long stints in the bathroom.

And that’s OK. Simple skincare is often the best type of skincare – especially if you have sensitive skin that totally freaks out if it’s overloaded with too many lotions and potions. However, while sticking with the essentials is all well and good, you could be missing out on some incredible formulations that offer amazing results for the state of your skin. Both in the short- and long-term.

Three such products that often get looked over – and even bad-mouthed by certain skincare sceptics – are toner, serum and the most controversial of all, eye cream. And sure, your skin can survive without them. But is ‘basic survival’ what you really want for your skin?

We don’t know about you, but we prefer to do the best we can for our skin. Of course, overloading it with too many active ingredients or piling on serum after serum is never going to give you skin to die for, but adding in a few choice extras that are curated to help your skin be its best self? Very smart indeed.

Here’s why toner, serum and eye cream might be the exact products your skin has been looking for…

1. Toner

Toner used to be up there with cleanser and moisturizer as one of your three basic skincare steps. Until it wasn’t. Thanks to skin-stripping, alcohol-laced formulations (hello 1980s!) that sucked all the life out of your complexion and left oily skin even oilier and dry skin gasping for breath, toning lotions quickly fell out of favor.

Now, we don’t know about you, but we think that’s a real disservice, because the right toner can actually be an essential step in certain skincare routines.

What Toners Do

The basic role of a toner is to help remove any lingering traces of makeup and other debris left behind after cleansing. And to prepare your skin for the next stage in your skincare routine. But that’s not all, often packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other skin-loving ingredients, toners are also able to help balance, brighten, firm and clarify your skin. Some toning treatments may even contain alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) like glycolic acid and lactic acid which help to gently exfoliate your skin and improve texture and tone without too much irritation. Big win.

Does Your Skin Need Toner?

Oily, combination or acne-prone skin types will definitely benefit from the right kind of toner as certain ingredients like witch hazel and salicylic acid can work wonders for minimizing enlarged pores and reducing oil production. Similarly, other toners that are formulated specifically for dry or sensitive skin may contain soothing or calming ingredients like rose water or aloe vera – both of which are awesome for helping to reduce redness, irritation and flaking skin.

The key – no matter your skin type – is to avoid strong, synthetic fragrances and harsh, drying alcohols like isopropyl alcohol or alcohol denat. Instead, look for hydrating ingredients like glycerin and hyaluronic acid which are always a great shout for adding much-needed moisture to all skin types.

Try: We have two toners that are great for almost all skin types. Ocean Minerals Super Toner is the brightening, clarifying must-try, while Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner contains just one special ingredient (pure Moroccan rose water) and is the queen of calming and soothing.  

2. Facial Serum

You might have noticed we’re big fans of facial serums here at TruSkin. And we will never apologize for that. Why do we love them so much? Because serums are absolutely integral for targeting the things you don’t love about your skin. Be it discoloration, dullness, pesky pores or sagging skin, there’s a serum out there that might just change your life…

What Serums Do

Serums are light, fast-absorbing, gel- or liquid-based products, applied after cleansing and toning, and before moisturizing. Unlike regular moisturizers that create a thin, protective layer over the surface of your skin to help lock in hydration, serums are made of much smaller molecules which means they absorb deeper into your skin to more effectively target your specific concerns.

Due to their molecular structure, serums don’t often seal water into your skin (which is why you should always apply moisturizer on top), but instead they use potent, active ingredients to get other important jobs done. Retinol is a big favorite in the serum world, as are tea tree oil, exfoliating acids, hyaluronic acid, MSM and peptides.

Does Your Skin Need A Facial Serum?

Yes! Serums contain the highest concentrations of active ingredients so if you’re looking to address concerns like poor texture, breakouts, dullness, hyperpigmentation, wrinkles or dehydration, you must include a serum in your skincare life. No arguments.

The one thing to remember, however, is that serums can be potent business, so you should always patch test any new product before use. Our regular serums are all recommended for daily use while our super serum are recommended to use 2-3x per week. However, it’s also wise to think about introducing one just a few times a week to begin with. Then you can move onto daily use as your skin acclimates to all that good stuff.

Try: Whether you’re looking to say goodbye to dull skin with our award-winning Vitamin C Facial Serum or to big up hydration with our Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum, our line-up of seven effective facial serums has something for everyone. If you looking for a multi-tasking wonder-kid, however, one that checks all the boxes, try our new Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum +.

3. Eye Cream

The question of ‘do you really need an eye cream?’ is one we get asked a lot. And the answer is… well, it depends. Does the skin around your eyes give you grief? Do you have excessive dryness, puffiness and/or dark circles in this particular area? Then yes, you probably could benefit from a specific treatment for your eyes. But if it’s seems OK, truckin’ along, minding its own business, then maybe a good, lightweight moisturizer is enough.

What Eye Creams Do

Eye creams are similar to face moisturizers in texture and functionality, but they have some fundamental differences. You see, the skin around your eyes is slightly different to the rest of your face. It’s thinner, more delicate and contains fewer sebaceous glands making it more prone to dryness and the visible signs of aging.

Because of these key differences, eye creams are usually lighter and gentler than face creams in order to avoid overloading the skin. They also contain specific ingredients to target those undereye concerns that don’t affect the rest of your face. Bags and dark circles being the main culprits, of course.

Does Your Skin Need Eye Cream?

Concerned with lines, wrinkles, dark circles, puffiness or crepiness around your eyes? Then an eye cream is exactly what your skin needs. Ingredients to look out for include hyaluronic acid for hydration; peptides to target lines and wrinkles; caffeine for de-puffing; cucumber for cooling and brightening, and licorice extract which is great for helping to relieve redness and dark circles.

Just remember, when it comes to any topical eye treatment, less is always more. A tiny amount (the size of a small pearl) should be more than enough for both eyes. And always use a gentle touch to dab the product around the eye area before moisturizing.

Try: Peptide Eye Gel and Hyaluronic Acid Eye Cream are both fabulous choices for the skin around your eyes. We love Peptide Eye Gel for dealing with the signs of aging then go to HA Eye Cream when we’re in need of some extra hydration. But the choice, of course, is always yours!