Lucy longingly asks…I just bought Eyecon from Benefit, but I’m not sure if it’s really doing anything. What are eye creams and is their claim of reducing under eye circles and puffiness at all valid? What ingredients should I look for in an eye cream for these things?
The Right Brain strikes an optic nerve:
Do eye creams really do what they say they’ll do? Well, the answer is a little bit yes, a little bit no. All skin creams (should) moisturize. But eye creams have some added responsibilities.
1. Moisturization
They’ve got to moisturize without adding a lot of heaviness or greasiness. After all, it’s likely that you’ll be apply some kind of make up around your eyes and you don’t want an eye cream to interfere with your foundation, for example.
2. Mildness
They need to be extra mild, since the area around the eye is particularly sensitive to irritation. Fragrance free is best.
3. Tightening
Perhaps most relevant to your question, they should tighten the skin around the eyes since they claim to reduce wrinkles. While they can’t work miracles, they can do this to some extent by adding polymers that form a film on the skin as they dry. This film can make the skin look and feel a little bit tighter.
The Eyecon product you cited seems designed to do just that. It contains ingredients like Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Butylene Glycol, Glyceryl Polymethacrylate, and Sodium Polyacrylate. These are all film forming agents that can help eyes feel less puffy and look less wrinkled.
Of course the effect varies from person to person; even in best case scenarios it may not be dramatically noticible; and even if it does work it’s only a temporary fix at best. But if you notice enough difference you might want to continue using the product.
Want another opinion? Paula Begoun, the Cosmetic Cop, has a much harsher opinion of eye creams. She says that they are no different from facial moisturizers and that they are “a whim of the cosmetics industry designed to evoke the sale of two products when only one is needed.” Meow!
The Beauty Brains bottom line:
Eye creams are essentially moisturizers that are modified for use on the thin skin around the eyes. While they don’t work miracles like they claim, they do contain ingredients that may offer some temporary benefit. We say: try it and see what you think. But as always, let the buyer beware.
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Thanks for this post. I’ve been wondering about eye creams. Do you know anything about vitamin k improving the look of dark circles? Btw, that meow part made me LOL. Love the featured photo, as always.
@Innerchild: Thanks for the kind words. And I hope everyone realized that the “meow” comment was just our way of teasing Paula. The Beauty Brains are big fans of the Cosmetic Cop!
It’s the fragrence-free part, I’m curious about. I DO use facial moisturizer around my eyes because I can’t fins a fragrence-free eye cream. Ok, it’s not even a facial moisturizer because there, too, fragrence-free is hard to come by.
Yes, the meow was hilarious=)
I like when Lucille from Arrested Development tells Lindsay that she should start using night cream.
Thanks for writing about this. I know a lot of women that have this very same question.
Thanks for this post, but it raised another question: organic eye care products are any good for wrinkles, since they don’t have that polymers to form a film?
Why is there a picture of dark circles for this article since dark circles are not mentioned ONCE in this entire article? What about creams for dark circles like Olay’s 7 effects eye cream? I’ve heard really good things about that one…
I’m so confused! before i read this post, i had already seen Paula’s video on how eye creams are no different than regular moisturizers for the face, and that there is no research that proves that the eye area needs a special moisturizer… but i always here from everyone else- that an eye cream is essential because it moisturizes your eye area and prevents wrinkles.. I am currently using an eye cream from Avon- but i’m almost out. should i spend some money and buying another eye cream or not?????
Is there such a thing as preventative care when it comes to eye creams (and even facial creams)?
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