The skin around your eyes is about 40 per cent thinner than the skin on the rest of your face, which is why it shows the signs of ageing faster. So, if dark circles, fine lines and bags have intensified over the past year, you're not alone. Apart from genetics, you could blame lockdowns with anxious days, sleepless nights, binging on Netflix and mid-week take-outs with wine - it's hardly surprising we're not looking our most bright-eyed. Here is the ultimate DIY plan to refresh the skin around the eye area; call it a practice in self-care to help you cope with the year ahead, says editor Trudi Brewer.
Here are some of the latest high-tech eye creams at Life Pharmacy.
Dark circles
Genetics do play a role in determining the depth of your dark circles (your bone structure may naturally enhance the shadows under the eye area), so does ageing. Over time the skin thins under the eye and becomes translucent, meaning those blood vessels tend to peek through, looking a dark blueish colour. While constant rubbing (from contact-lens irritation or allergies), and UV damage, also contribute to the look of dark circles. So when you're searching for eye cream, invest in a formula boosted by vitamins C and A both brighten the skin and give it an antioxidant boost. In contrast, retinol (vitamin A) helps stimulate collagen, speeding up the skin's cell turnover, encouraging fresher-looking skin.
Elizabeth Arden Retinol Ceramide Line Erasing Eye Cream, $125.
Over time retinol smooths lines and helps to fade pigmentation - essentially, it tricks your skin into acting young again. Once blended with ceramides, peptides and niacinamide (vitamin B3), you have a potent treatment in the war on wrinkles as well as helping to blur the look of dark circles. Finally, the innovative airless pump with one press dispenses enough gel-like cream for both eyes quickly and helps protect the product's potency to the very last drop.
Bondi Sands Eye Spy Eye Cream, $23.
Yes, it ticks the vitamin C box thanks to the hibiscus fruit extract, but the other brightening antioxidants like Kakadu plum and green coffee bean help erase the look of dark circles too. While carrot and sunflower seed oils hydrate tired-looking eyes, the addition of titanium dioxide gives this cream a pearly beige tint so it doubles as a barely-there concealer as well.
Fine lines & Wrinkles
Fine, or deep, lines around the eye appear from repeated muscle movement that, over time, are permanently etched into the skin. While young skin snaps back into place, as we get older, the skin loses elasticity, so that ability to spring back fades, which causes permanent lines. Crow’s-feet, that extend out from the corners of the eyes develop as early as your 20s, so to avoid them, always wear a pair of large-framed sunglasses and an SPF — the less you squint, the less likely lines will form. Shop for an eye cream loaded with skin-firming ingredients like retinol, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, vitamin C, and protein peptides.
Clinique Smart Clinical Repair Wrinkle Correcting Eye Cream, $105.
This cream was created with the help of an expert panel of scientists and dermatologists to develop a formula that is light in texture but heavy-weight for targeting ageing concerns such as wrinkles. First, a technology called CL1870 Laser Focus Complex is a blend of protein peptides that help boost your skin's natural collagen production. At the same time, hyaluronic acid, that moisture magnet, fills and plumps up the look of fine lines and dryness.
Clarins Double Serum Eye, $136.
The hype around this launch was huge thanks to its skin sister, Clarins Double Face Serum. Formulated with 96 per cent of the ingredients coming from natural origin, this includes a raft of organic plant extracts. The list is long: There's wild chervil and turmeric, avocado, organic ginger lily extracts, oat sugars and caffeine. It's also nourishing thanks to the leaf of life extract that helps power the skin's natural hydration levels. Housed in a similar dual-chamber bottle delivers an equal part instant firming gel and the long-term comfort of a cream. It's pretty addictive.
Puffiness & under-eye bags
That thin skin under the eye area is also more prone to sensitivity and irritation. Add a bad night's sleep from feeling stressed, and your body releases cortisol from your adrenal glands, which changes the salt balance and can make you retain water - hello, puffy eyes. Try sleeping on your back so your eyes won't look as swollen when you wake up in the morning, and avoid a high salt diet, which will draw water into your skin's tissue. Look out for eye gels containing vitamin C to brighten, green tea and aloe to soothe, and caffeine, which encourages vasoconstriction (constricting the blood vessels under our eyes), reducing puffiness. As well as collagen-boosting peptides to help fake the look of restful sleep. Finally, less is more with eye cream, don't apply too much, or put eye cream too close to the lash line, or it will melt into your eyes while you sleep, which exaggerates puffiness further. Pat on an eye cream about the brow bone and along with the eye socket instead.
Dermalogica Awaken Peptide Eye Gel, $105.
This soothing eye gel is stacked with caffeine and a blend of tetrapeptides (proteins), hydrolyzed jojoba esters, lactic acid, rosemary leaf and Pyrus malus fruit extract. Together these ingredients de-puff and soften the skin under the eyes. Also, this gel plays nice beneath concealer so that you can heal and conceal the look of under-eye bags in seconds.
Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Concentrate Matrix, $140.
This concentrated gel-like cream is part of Estée Lauder's bestselling Advanced Night Repair range. The same anti-ageing technology in the face serum works to target puffiness and help correct dark circles and dryness around the eyes. The formulation contains soothing cucumber and chamomile flower extracts and a firming blend of lactobacillus ferment, algae and birch tree extract. At the same time, yeast, hyaluronic acid, and tripeptides smooth fine lines. The texture is silky and feels instantly refreshing on the skin, while the bonus of a cooling applicator makes it a pleasure to use.
Ideal for Christmas gifting.