No matter your age or skin type, one fact stands true: Eye cream should have a firm spot in your beauty routine. If smooth, bright, and plump skin around your eyes is what you’re after, you need creams and gels full of anti-aging powerhouses that actually work, like retinol or vitamin C. One of the 16 formulas below can make the world of difference when it comes to staving off fine lines, dark circles, puffiness, and Botox appointments. Ahead, the best eye creams our editors love.
This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US
Even eye cream snobs will be impressed with this ultra-rich, balm-like formula. Use a thin layer in the morning to take an advantage of the caffeine extract, then layer it on eye contours and around your lips at night so moisturising jasmine and hyaluronic acid can get to work.
Elevate your eye-treatment experience with La Prairie's two-piece, colour-enhancing eye cream. You'll quickly understand why it landed a spot on BAZAAR's 2020 Anti-Aging Awards list.
If thick and rich eye creams are just not your thing, get an eye serum instead. Tatcha's Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Eye Serum feels weightless on your skin but still plumps fine lines and wakes up tired eyes in just one application.
This is a classic example of not judging a book—or eye cream—by its cover. Sure, this formulas is backed by Kylie Jenner, but it's also one of the most effective eye creams we've used at instantly disguising dark circles and reducing puffiness. The banana-tinted cream deeply hydrates without making skin slick, so you can use less concealer on top and feel good knowing that it won't slip around.
It has the consistency of avocado pudding, and that's exactly why we love it. Slathered under the eye, it deeply hydrates and plumps without slipping or sliding into your eyes, making it ideal if you're at all sensitive.
This jelly eye cream hydrates for a full 24 hours, while softening the look of dark circles in less than a month. It won't help you get more sleep, but it at least makes you look like you did.
This eye cream is truly like a multivitamin for your under-eyes. The natural formula uses vitamin c, peptides, antioxidants, and soothing cucumber to repair UV and age-related damage under the eye without irritation.
Some people prefer an oil over a cream. If you're one of those people, give this clean-beauty eye oil from Miranda Kerr a go. It's packed with certified organic noni, tomato fruit, marine bamboo extracts, kahai and coffee oils to deeply hydrate, energize, and brighten. Plus, the roller feels amazing.
While you can use this morning or night, we really love it before applying concealer in the morning thanks to its cooling and soothing effect. The black tea ferment combined with other plant-derived anti-agers make puffy and tired under-eyes look perkier right away.
No eye cream can totally obliterate dark circles or deep wrinkles. But this balm-like formula comes close. Sweep it on before bed and you'll notice a serious difference in texture and color when you go to apply concealer the next morning. (On that note, we found it a little too thick to wear under makeup.)
Fans of this anti-aging eye cream love the minimal scent, coddling but not thick texture, and the noticeable improvements in elasticity and brightness in as little as a week.