As the windows of the soul, our eyes often communicate more to the outside world than our mouths do. If you are genuinely happy, it’s your eyes that will give you away when they light up. They are also the place that most people will focus when talking to you, so it is worth giving your eye area as much consideration in your skincare routine as your cheeks, forehead, chin and neck (areas we hope people aren’t staring at).
The skin is at its thinnest around your eyelids and eyes. They are also the most active area of your face (think of all the blinking, squinting, starring, laughing and crying you do). This all adds up to make the eyes one of the first places to show signs of ageing, so they deserve a little extra TLC.
We’ve answered some of the questions we are asked about eye care products here, including the ingredients you should look for in an eye cream that will address your specific skin concern. If your particular question isn’t answered here, get in touch and we’ll try to supply you with an answer.
Do I Need a Separate Eye Cream?
As the skin around the eyes is tissue-thin and more delicate and sensitive than the rest of your face and body, its best to opt for separate eye products. While you can use your face moisturiser around your eyes, you’ll be looking for different results for your face than your eye area and that the texture probably will not be light enough for your eye area. Heavy creams can increase fluid retention and the appearance of puffiness, the very thing we are trying to avoid around the eyes. There are also specific eye concerns that may be not be treated by your regular moisturiser, such as dark circles and puffiness.
When Should I Start Using Eye Cream?
Using eye cream is more about addressing your particular skin issues than how old you are. There are many eye area concerns that can be experienced at any age, such as dark circles and puffiness, so we think you should introduce an eye cream into your skincare routine from your late teens or early twenties. It could still be beneficial to use an eye cream that has anti-ageing properties, as the process of ageing can be slowed, but not reversed. This means that prevention will be more effective than repair when it comes to addressing the signs of ageing in the skin around your eyes in later life.
What Should I Look for in an Eye Cream?
Eye creams come in a variety of textures and formulations, including gels, serums and creams. Consequently, determining which eye cream is the right one for you can be confusing.
Which product you should reach for depends on your skin-specific concerns, whether that is dark circles, puffiness, fine lines or crow’s eyes. You probably don’t need to look in the mirror to know which of these concerns apply to you, and we are all aware that many of these are exacerbated by lifestyle circumstances. Your eyes reveal a lot about your health, from puffiness and dark circles due to a lack of sleep or too much salt, caffeine or alcohol, to wrinkles from sun damage. Whether you’ve had one too many late nights as a result of a heavy work schedule, parenthood or a busy social life, or if you want to tackle or prevent the advanced signs of ageing, there is an eye cream that can help.
Take a look at your specific skin concern to learn what ingredients you should look for in an eye cream:
Dry Skin
Those with dry skin will want to hydrate and nourish the eye area particularly as dry skin can augment the appearance of wrinkles. Look for ingredients such as shea butter, glycerin, rosehip oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil and Vitamin E. Hyaluronic acid is not only incredibly hydrating but it is also a powerful anti-ageing ingredient. It draws moisture from the air and plumps up dry skin giving it a more youthful appearance and minimising wrinkles.
Dark Circles
Mica is a light-reflecting ingredient that helps to camouflage dark circles and Vitamin B3 (niacinamide) can also help to reduce discolouration as well as strengthen the skin's barrier locking in moisture. Likewise, Vitamin C can reduce darkness as well as brighten the undereye area. It is a powerful antioxidant and anti-ageing ingredient that stimulates the production of collagen which helps to support, firm, tone and strengthen skin.
Fine Lines & Wrinkles
Vitamin A (Retinol) works to improve elasticity and stimulate collagen formation to strengthen skin, reduce fine lines and ensure that skin is smooth, firm and taut.
Vitamin C is an ideal ingredient for your morning eye cream as it not only protects skin from sun and environmental damage that causes wrinkles and fine lines, but it also rejuvenates and revitalises skin. It makes the perfect pick-me-up to go along with your morning coffee.
Puffy Eyes
Caffeine is also included in many daytime eye creams as it helps to decrease puffiness. Adopting a lymph drainage massage on a regular basis will help drain trapped fluid around the eye area also and reduce puffiness and improve eye health.
What Temple Spa Eye Cream Is Best for Me?
If you are looking for a hardworking daily eye cream that nourishes the eye area, reduces puffiness and dark circles and soften the appearance of fine lines, then we recommend WINDOWS OF THE SOUL. It is a lightweight yet hydrating gel formula with anti-antioxidants and anti-ageing ingredients of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin E. It is formulated with echinacea, eyebright, edelweiss and milk thistle which refresh and revitalise eyes, reduce inflammation and protect skin against damage from free radicals.
For those looking for that ‘I’ve just had an eye-lift’ feeling then we think you’ll love EYE TRUFFLE. It is an intensive anti-ageing eye cream that is designed to help brighten, improve skin density, diminish pigmentation, firm and deeply penetrate the dermal layer where wrinkles originate. With Kombucha, HappyBelle-PE, Hyaluronic acid and Champagne Extract, it works to increase brightness and radiance and give your eye area that ‘happy news’ glow.
EYE TRUFFLE contains Hyaluronic Acid, Shea Butter, Black Summer Truffles and Vitamin E which nourish and hydrate skin and aid collagen production, preserving suppleness, elasticity and tone.
EYE TRUFFLE helps to camouflage dark circles with Mica and Green Microalgae Oligopeptide and treats under-eye puffiness with Eye Regenerator Complex. Diamond Powder helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and age spots by emitting and scattering blue and green light which emulates the light reflection patterns of younger skin.
If late nights, long days, early starts, screen gazing, laughter and stress; all signs of a well-lived life are showing in your eyes and you’re looking for a quick eye remedy chose an eye mask.
EYE WILL SURVIVE is a treatment eye serum-mask-concentrate for a 20-minute anti-ageing eye treatment. Made from bio-cellulose, which is a coconut-derived fabric patch and drenched in our specialist complex I-FIRM, they gently hug the fragile eye area delivering a liposome serum into the lower levels of the epidermis for speedy visible results.
EYE WILL SURVIVE contains black tea ferment, rice bran extract and a high-tech marine botanical produced from plankton that together have immediate smoothing effects on wrinkles and a collagen and elastin boosting action that works to get rid of crow’s feet, dark circles and puffiness.
EYE WILL SURVIVE has been clinically proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, reduce puffiness and dark circles, improve the brightness of the skin and visibly firm the eye area by replacing lost moisture. Also tested to best treat sensitive eyes too
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the eye area ages 5-10 years faster than the rest of the face, so thank your lucky stars if fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes are yet to be a concern! Regardless of your age, you may have other eye area concerns such as dark circles or puffiness. Moisturisers tend not to be formulated to address such concerns, so adding an eye cream into your routine is essential for treating these issues.