One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when I’m in stores is asking “what is the best _______?”.

Regardless of what you’re looking for say foundation, toner, mascara, shampoo… there is no such thing as “the best”.

With makeup, a multitude of questions arise when someone asks me what the best thing is. My brain goes into “guess-who mode” as I like to call it and as I ask clients questions such as “What kind of skin do you have? How much coverage do you like? Do you want to use fingers or a brush? What kind of finish do you like?” my brain narrows down to the perfect product for them. This kind of thing can only happen when you have a brain saturated in every cosmetic brand and product the way that mine is.

Skincare is a lot more simple and you can use a similar “Guess-Who” method when trying to pinpoint what the perfect product will be for you. The problem with just asking someone is that you never know their experience. A lot of times someone will recommend the brand they work for because it’s the only one they are trained in, other times you’ll go to a store where there are a lot of brands and find someone that will recommend the last product they were trained in because it’s too much to remember for them. The point of this blog entry is to teach you to narrow down what it is you’re looking for so that you can be your own stylist, then of course read reviews or ask for help deciding between a few products.

Eye Cream is a product that people constantly buy different ones of each time because it didn’t do what they wanted. If you can learn to identify what it is you want, you can quit wasting so much money and be happy with your purchase.

Let’s talk about the different types of problems around the eyes:

1. Puffiness:

Ah, Puffiness. Those awesome little camelsack’s under our eyes. The good thing about puffiness is that it’s the easiest to fix, not to mention the cheapest! Puffiness is just fluid that accumulates under our eyes and can go away without the use of a magic wand.

Ingredients:

1. Caffeine

2. Peptides

3. Cucumber and Aloe

4. Hydrocortisone

5. Anything Cold or Cooling!

A. MAC Fast Response Eye Cream $31

This is an old’y but a good’y. Packed with caffeine and a nice velvety texture. MAC Fast Response Eye Cream is the perfect kit essential for a quick “cup of coffee for the eyes” although it lacks in the hydration and anti-aging department.

B. Clarins Eye Contour Gel $37

An affordable option for an eye cream when puffiness is ruining your morning. Claris uses wild rose to visibly depuff after just a few minutes. Provides a nice cooling effect and makeup base. Nice essential to use as needed but would recommend another eye cream with it that will provide more hydration and anti-aging.

C. Caudalie Vinexpert Eye & Lip Serum $75

This natural yet supercharged formula is one of the fastest de-puffers I’ve ever used on clients. It’s a quintessential part of my kit for red carpet makeup and can be used day & night alone or under another eye cream to not only send your bags on vacation, but eliminate deep wrinkles and dark circles as well with a blend of Vine Resveratrol, Peptides and Matrixyl.

2. Dark Circles.

There are two types of dark circles- the blue/green discs you get under your eyes from lifestyle (lack of sleep, too much computer use, etc) or the hereditary dark circles (seen a lot in darker pigmented skin such as Indian and African American).

If you have lifestyle dark circles there’s a ton of great eye creams for that. Anything that promotes blood stimulation will reduce the dark circles. The good news is that you can do some at-home remedies as well that don’t cost a thing!

If you have hereditary dark circles you’ll spend thousands of dollars and never find an eye cream that works for you. You’ll need some special treatment such as eye creams that work against excess melanin.

Key Brightening Ingredients to Shop for:

1. Niacinamide

2. Licorice

3. Vitamin C

4. Viniferine

A. Kate Somerville Cytocell Eye Cream $75:

Kate Somerville has always been one of my favorite skincare brands. Packed with peptide P-199 this concentrated treatment helps with dark circles, fine lines, wrinkles and puffiness, achieving a younger, more radiant appearance result (Sephora.com).

B. Caudalie Premier Cru Eye Cream $99:

The Premier Cru eye cream from Caudalie is a great choice whether you are puffy, wrinkly or dark under the eye. This formula has different ingredients to target every sign but where it shines the most is in the brightening department. Not only does it fade lifestyle AND hereditary dark circles (using patented ingredient Viniferine clinically proven to be 62x more effective than vitamin c), it has a mineral pigment in it that gives you an instant brightening effect under the eyes. This is what I’ve been personally using and am completely obsessed with.

C. Creme De La Mer Eye Concentrate $185:

Regardless of whether or not the price is justified, the instant and long term brightening benefits of the Creme de la Mer Eye Concentrate can’t be disputed. It’s been a long time favorite of mine for dark circles and fine lines and the applicator wand feels super luxury in the morning.

3. Crow’s Feet.

Do you have wrinkles all the time around the eyes or just when you smile. People complain that they have lines when they smile… no kidding? Your skin has to go somewhere when your muscles move. Have you seen someone smile and their face doesn’t move at all? I saw a Bette Midler poster last year and she was smiling huge yet her eyes had no wrinkles around them at all and it was the scariest looking thing I’d seen in a while. I wish I had a picture of it. Hopefully it was just bad photoshop.. I digress. The point is- if you have wrinkles when you’re not smiling or expressing, an eye cream can fix that. If you want to be frozen, a temporary face tightening product or a needle filled with Botox can fix that.

This is the most complicated category to shop for, because everything is literally anti-wrinkle. If there are anti-oxidants in the product it is anti-wrinkle. What I’m going to post are not “anti-aging” eye creams, but *corrective-aging* eye creams that actually do something to take away the lines.

Key Ingredients to look for when shopping:

1. Retinol (only use these products at night)

2. Vitamin C

3. Peptides

4. Vine Resveratrol Oleyl (not to be confused with regular resveratrol)

A. Caudalie Polyphenol C15 Eye & Lip Cream $49:

Sometimes it’s not just a certain ingredient but a blend of ingredients that make a product awesome. The C15 eye cream is a great choice not only because of it’s clean bill of health ingredient list, but the fact it is 15% Vitamin C Ester from non-gmo corn vs. citrus. This little cream quickly diminishes fine lines before they become deep wrinkles and according to my friend Dena, makes her boyfriend feel uncomfortable because he’s getting too pretty. On top of the correction aspect, C15 has patented grape seed polyphenols, the strongest anti-oxidant in nature to keep 100% of wrinkles and signs of aging away. Remarkable at a remarkable price.

B. Shiseido Bio-Performance Eye Cream $60

 

My beloved steam-roller. Bio-performance eye cream is so good that it makes me wonder why some other brands even try. Nightly use of this cream eliminates years of aging with a blend of yeast, rosemary and Vitamin A. The instructions say this can be used daily and nightly, but because of the Vitamin A (retinoid) I’m going to recommend this one at night with a less intense eye cream during the day.

C. Cle de Peau Eye Contour Balm $140

The price point is shocking but when you want crows feet to go away quickly look no further than the Eye Contour Balm from Cle De Peau. The pure retinol exfoliates wrinkles away while a blend of anti-oxidants help keep them at bay.

Best Eye Creams I’ve personally used for all concerns:

1. Premier Cru Eye $99

Brightening, Firming, Preventative. Unique blend of Viniferine, Vine Resveratrol and Grape seed polyphenols which dominate in the brightening, firming and prevention categories. Recyclable, eco-conscious packaging.

2. Shiseido Future Solutions LX Eye & Lip $130

Uses Shiseido technology to identify problems and fix them. Sounds crazy but it works. This is one that is a word-of-mouth product that I have seen many clients buy continually because of how well it works. Use on eyes and lips.

3. Armani Crema Nera Eye Cream $170

This eye cream is literally so good you can feel it working, watch it working and keep it in your purse to touch up over your makeup (there’s even a little mirror on it). One of my all-time favorites.

4. Cle De Peau Eye Cream $250

Instant results + long term results = empty wallet. You feel really rich and classy putting this on (pinky in the air happens naturally during application), which might make the results seem better than they are but hey, I’m not complaining. This is the rare blend of absurdly overpriced product and beautiful, long lasting results.

What are your favorite eye creams and what kind of results have you gotten with them?