What Does Eye Cream Do for the Skin?

Smiling woman applying eye cream

By Camille Poggi

When it comes to skincare, our toiletry bags are akin to Mary Poppins’ magic bag—a never-ending pile of products we search and sift through each morning and night. If we were forced to reduce the number of skin care products we turn to on any given day, we would always leave space for eye cream. The skin around the eyes is thin and sensitive, and thus, prone to showing signs of tiredness, aging, and dryness more than other areas of the face. This is why eye skin care is so important and why it’s critical to give eye cream a priority in your skincare routine.

If you’ve never known what the big fuss is about, or have ever wondered to yourself, “what does eye cream do?”, you’re in the right place. The benefits of a moisturizing eye cream are many, and ones you don’t want to miss out on. By the end of this, you’ll know exactly what eye cream does and why you should use it. We wouldn’t blame you if you end up keeping it in your pocket or purse for easy application.

The Benefits of Eye Cream

Eye cream is a staple skin care product for a reason—it can help the area look more bright, plump, hydrated, reduce the appearance of dark circles, bags, sagging skin, fine lines, and more. Let’s explore a few of the best benefits of eye cream in detail.

Brightens

Whether we stayed up too late flipping the final pages of the latest self-help book, or someone put a pea under the mattress, dark circles under the eyes are a common occurrence for almost everyone. Additionally, as we age, the already delicate skin under our eyes becomes thinner and dark circles become more apparent. Thus, there’s an ever-present need for something to reduce them in a pinch. A moisturizing eye cream can do that. Look for illuminating and brightening ingredients that contain antioxidants such as glycogen, fig extract, and arnica. Also, if you have sensitive skin, be sure to look for a gentle formula as many brightening ingredients can irritate the under-eye area.

Hydrates

Hydration is crucial for healthy-looking skin all over, the under eyes included. Hydrating the skin around the eyes can help hydrate dry skin and reduce the appearance of eye wrinkles. Sometimes all your skin needs is a boost of hydration to look and feel better. The best way to supply ample hydration to the eye area is with an eye cream. Look for ingredients such as sodium hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid and ceramides, which will support your skin’s hydration levels. By applying a hydrating eye cream morning and night, and anytime you need a boost of hydration in between, you can lock in moisture and rejuvenate the appearance of your under eyes.

Reduces Visible Signs of Aging

As our skin matures, it can become thinner, dryer, and less full. Fine lines and wrinkles start to appear on the skin near the corners of our eyes, and dark circles become more prevalent. An eye treatment can target these signs of aging by hydrating the area and boosting the appearance of firmness with ingredients like peptides and retinoids. People usually first turn to eye cream when they start to see these signs, but all ages can benefit from the anti-aging properties of eye cream.

Targets Eye-Area Skin

All of these benefits are wonderful, but you may be thinking that your Vitamin C cream brightens your skin, your clean moisturizer hydrates it, and your serum fights signs of aging, so why do you need an eye cream too?

The delicate skin around the eye—the eyelid and the under-eye area—is much more sensitive than the rest of the skin on your face, so it’s important to select a product that is specifically formulated for the eye area, and not just use any regular moisturizer or face serum. That’s where eye creams and serums come in. These products are made with the thin, delicate eye area in mind and are meant to target its specific concerns. While they may contain the same ingredients as other skin care products, they often contain them in more suitable concentrations.

Because the skin there is sensitive, it’s also important to select an eye cream that limits irritation. Otherwise, you could contribute to the problem, rather than address it.

What Eye Cream Should You Use?

There are various eye creams to choose from with different textures and ingredients to suit the consistency you like and the results you want. Here are a few common concerns eye creams can tackle and which eye cream you should choose based on your specific concern.

If You Battle Undereye Bags

Puffy under eyes can kill anyone’s confidence in an instant. Not only do they inhibit a bright-eyed, ready-for-the-day appearance, but they can also be uncomfortable. Sometimes the puffiness can even cast a shadow beneath our eyes, making it look like we have dark circles too. This is where our product, Vita Mineral Active 7 Eye Gel comes to the rescue. This eye cream was made to de-puff, and de-puff it does.

It’s a cooling, hydrating gel that revives and brightens the delicate eye area with soothing, illuminating, and nourishing ingredients such as wild rumex, arnica, and ginseng. Gently massage it over the eye area morning and night to experience results.

If You See Dark Circles

When you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, you are naturally drawn to see your eyes first. If dark circles regularly look back at you, it could be a lack of sleep, or it could be thin skin that makes the blood vessels under your eyes more apparent. Whatever the reason is, eye cream can help, and specifically, a brightening eye cream. Reach for Radiance Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream to reduce the appearance of dark circles.

This formula combines 95% natural-origin ingredients that work to brighten, hydrate, and plump the look of the entire eye area and to visibly reduce dark circles after just 7 days. One of those ingredients is elderberry flower extract, which contains antioxidants that help to neutralize free radicals that can trigger dark circles and puffiness around the eye. Thus, stopping dark circles in their tracks. Additionally, unlike many other brightening products, Radiance Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream is gentle enough to be used on the entire eye area and can brighten the eyelid and brow bone too.

If You’re Worried About Aging

Aging is a natural and beautiful process we all go through, but when we’re used to soft, supple, even skin, it can be a rude awakening when we begin to see fine lines, spots, and shallow skin where it once was plump and smooth. These signs often show up first around the eyes. If you’re beginning to see the signs of aging in the mirror, reach for an eye cream that is formulated specifically to minimize those signs. Keep Young & Beautiful Firm & Lift Eye Cream will do the trick. This is a firming, lifting, and nourishing eye cream that reduces the appearance of wrinkles, crow's feet, and fine lines around the delicate eye area so you can see smoother, firmer-looking skin looking back at you.

If You Want it All

Many of us deal with more than one issue when it comes to our skin (which is why we carry a Mary Poppins bag full of magic products) and the skin around our eyes is no different. If you’re dealing with puffiness, dark circles, and fine lines, you don’t have to switch off between different eye creams every day to try and combat each concern. The Keep Young & Beautiful Instant Brightening Beauty Shot is a triple threat. This serum contains tuberose white flower cell extract to help brighten dark circles, sodium hyaluronate (AKA hyaluronic acid) to hydrate and smooth wrinkles and fine lines, and a microalgae source of phycocolloids to help deliver a lifting effect.

When you apply a small amount over the eye contour and eyelid, you will instantly experience hydrated, lifted, and brightened skin under the eyes. And with regular use, this serum will reduce the appearance of fine lines and crow's feet.

Start Using Eye Cream Today

Now that you know what eye cream does, are you ready to carry it everywhere and begin to reap results? With the right formula, you can reap all the benefits of eye cream and kiss tired, dull, dark eyes goodbye.

Sources:

  1. Mayo Clinic
  2. Mayo Clinic
  3. Byrdie

About the Author

Camille Poggi is a doctor in Pharmacy (PharmD.) and is passionate about skincare and how the skin works in general. She specializes in the cosmetic industry and worked for renowned companies in France like L’Oréal and Chanel before moving to London. After being a training manager for 4 years, Camille is at ease with explaining how products work in the skin and how to adapt her speech according to the audience.

She joined REN in January 2020 as International Training Manager and moved to the Research & Development team earlier this year to be the new Scientific Education Manager. A tailored-made role where she assesses and leads all technical communication and ensures scientific compliance is always met. She’s also involved in new product development from the earliest stages. Finding a way to create sustainable skincare products and making sure the message is properly delivered and understood is definitely a big challenge but also her favorite part working for REN.