These Eye Creams Are a Wake Up Call for Tired Eyes (2024)

Here’s a brow-raising beauty fact: the under-eye area is prone to experiencing darkness, puffiness, and other signs of aging sooner than other parts of the body. "This is because the skin under your eyes is especially thin and delicate. When you get too little sleep, your circulation decreases and stagnant blood sits under the eyes, appearing as dark circles and puffiness. That's not all: "This skin is more susceptible to sun damage and repetitive motions, like smiling and squinting, which is why it's often one of the first spots to develop wrinkles and crow's feet," says Diane Madfes, MD, a board-certified dermatologist.

Now, here's what we're going to do: Reach for a quality eye serum or eye cream that's packed with active ingredients like hyaluronic acid for hydration, vitamin C for brightening, and retinol for collagen stimulation. "It’s always a good idea to use an eye cream—and anyone can use one," says Debra Jaliman, MD, a board-certified NYC dermatologist. "It will help keep the skin around the eyes moisturized, which will help prevent fine lines and wrinkles."

Are eye creams or serums better?

That depends on your main skincare goal. "Serums usually have a higher concentration of ingredients than creams," says Jaliman. Therefore, these products tend to be better for specific concerns, like combating wrinkles or brightening under-eye circles. But creams have better water absorption, which makes them superior for moisturizing. Some experts recommend using serums in the morning and creams at night when they have more time to penetrate the skin without interference.

How to apply eye cream

Put it on before your facial moisturizer, says Jaliman, and approach this super-thin and sensitive area delicately. Use the pads of your fingers to gently pat the cream along your eye socket—think upper cheekbones and browbone. Sweep up and out toward your temples to encourage circulation. For best results, apply both morning and night.

To help you find a quality formula, we asked dermatologists to share their go-to eye creams:

The experts:

• Diane Madfes, MD, a board-certified dermatologist
• Debra Jaliman, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in NYC
• Manish Shah, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Denver
• Sonia Batra, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in California
• Jennifer Ahdout, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Beverly Hills, CA
• Hadley King, MD, board-certified dermatologist in NYC
• Howard Sobel, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in NYC

"This formula's cooling sensation is so refreshing and soothing," says Genesis Rivas, Oprah Daily beauty editor. However, that's not all there is to love about it. This efficacious creamy pick quickly absorbs into skin while hydrating and offering a luminous finish. Over time, the peptide complex helps reduce the look of lines and wrinkles by stimulating collagen and elastin production. Meadowfoam seed oil, sodium hyaluronate (a form of hyaluronic acid), and squalane offer lightweight hydration that lasts.

This eye cream harnesses the power of white tea extracts, which has antioxidant properties similar to vitamin C. It also contains wild rose and caffeine to help protect the skin and prevent common signs of aging, such as lines, wrinkles, and dark circles. Its lightweight texture blends into the skin easily and makes your complexion feel softer and smoother—both immediately after you apply it as well as over time. Plus, it isn't greasy, stick, or heavy.

Keep your undereyes bright, smooth, and hydrated with this creamy formula. It's made with brightening vitamin C to target dark circles, a buckwheat-honey blend to nourish, caffeine to depuff, and cranberry-derived peptides to reduce the look of bags. It's a great option for dry or mature skin types. "I think it strikes the perfect balance of being moisturizing but not too rich," says Rivas. "It blends into the skin seamlessly and also gives a subtle radiance."

A splurge-worthy eye cream that helps to target a slew of eye concerns, this formula contains purslane extract, macadamia nut oil, roseroot, sugar beet, yeast, vitamin E, and omega lipids to hydrate the skin and reduce the look of fine lines, wrinkles, discoloration, and puffiness. It's a great choice for dry, mature, or sensitive skin types because it's a gentle formulation yet highly effective. It also comes in a smaller tube size so you can try it before committing to the full size and price.

Kate Sandoval Box, Oprah Daily's beauty director, is a big fan of this luxury eye cream because it does it all. Macrene Alexiades MD, the board-certified dermatologist behind this eponymous brand, created it to mimic—or maybe even replace—the results of cosmetic procedures. While it's certainly a splurge, it's packed with efficacious skincare, including peptides, hyaluronic acid, natural caffeine, and arginine, to help smooth, brighten, and tighten the under-eye area.

As we get older, the collagen and elastin in our skin begin to break down. Because these proteins are responsible for skin looking plump, firm, and elastic, this natural decline can often lead to fine lines and uneven texture, especially around the eye area. Enter this tightening formula, which contains growth factors and peptides to help support natural collagen production to boost firmness. It also contains vitamin C to brighten any dark spots or discoloration.

"You can feel the tightening magic happen as soon as you apply this formula to the contours of your eye," says Rivas of this pick. It's a lightweight, clear gel that's refreshing and helps tighten the look of bags and textured skin, like fine lines, wrinkles, and crow's feet. It also contains antioxidants to brighten and protect against free radical damage, which can cause early signs of aging like dark spots and fine lines.

"You'll love this option as a way to prep the eyes for makeup," says Rivas. "The gel texture is lightweight, moisturizing, and fast-absorbing, leaving you a hydrated but clean canvas for concealer, eye shadow, and more." Whether or not you apply makeup, this cream gives skin a luminous glow immediately, plus a long-term radiance thanks to vitamin C, niacinamide, and caffeine. Also appealing: The formula is vegan, gluten-free, and comes in recyclable packaging.

As any derm will tell you, retinol is the gold standard for targeting signs of aging. That's because it's proven to do it all, from stimulating collagen production (to help firm skin and plump fine lines) to treating hyperpigmentation (to reduce an uneven tone and dark spots). This formula features this over-achieving ingredient and bakuchiol, a plant-based ingredient with similar benefits to retinol, to help smooth fine lines and tighten crepey skin around the eyes. The texture has a lightweight gel consistency, and it absorbs into the skin very quickly.

This is not only satisfyingly moisturizing (hello, hyaluronic acid), but also the perfect solution for reducing the look of dark blue, purple, and brown-tinged under-eye circles thanks to the brand's proprietary night peptide, which works to help optimize skin's natural night and day rhythm of repair and protection. It also contains vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant that protects against environmental aggressors such as pollution and blue light, which can cause future darkness, fine lines, and wrinkles. Shah recommends this one and says you'll notice a difference in as little as three weeks.

If you want proof that you don't need to splurge to find a great eye cream, try this one, says Jaliman. It contains antioxidants to protect, ceramides to repair, hyaluronic acid to hydrate, and jojoba esters to help retain moisture. Those with sensitive skin will also appreciate the very gentle formula that's fragrance-free, non-comedogenic, ophthalmologist-tested, and accepted by the National Eczema Association. You can find it at most local drugstores.

If you're already a fan of the brand's Confidence in a Cream moisturizer, you'll love this iteration. If you're not familiar, allow us to fill you in: This restorative eye cream works hard to reduce the appearance of tired eyes with the help of a powerful peptide complex that brightens, depuffs, firms, and smooths. Plus, it has a slight tint to help conceal dark circles immediately without irritating sensitive skin, says Batra.

This tinted pick, available in four shades, contains several plant and marine extracts, a host of vitamins, plus hyaluronic acid to minimize the appearance of fine lines as the sheer pigment helps hide uneven skin, says Ahdout. It also contains SPF to protect the delicate under-eye area from the sun's harsh rays. The cooling applicator is a nice addition, too, because not only does it feel great, but it also helps reduce the look of puffiness as you glide it along the skin.

Dermatologists say antioxidants are a must in your routine to counteract photoaging, "which is mostly from UV light, which frays the skin’s elastin fibers, shrivels the fibroblasts that make collagen, and stimulates the pigment-­producing cells," dermatologist Dan Belkin, M.D., previously told Oprah Daily. Rich in vitamin C, this gel-based formula interferes with the production of pigment and, therefore, brightens dark circles, improves pigmentation, and prevents free-radical damage from UV light exposure, says King.

In the morning, it's vital to use an eye cream that contains SPF, particularly because the skin around your eyes is so thin and delicate, which makes it prone to signs of aging. All skin types can benefit from adding this mineral-based formula into their routine. It's a safe pick for sensitive skin and it has the bonus of caffeine, which works to brighten and de-puff skin around the eyes. Note that it does have a pink tint so it can take a bit of effort to rub it in, but the protection is worth it.

Caffeine-based eye creams, like this one from The INKEY List, are great for tackling under-eye puffiness. The ingredient has both anti-inflammatory and vasoconstrictive properties to help smooth the look of bags. The formula also contains peptides to plump and firm. For only $11, you can't go wrong. The tiny applicator also makes it easy to dispense the right amount of product: a pea-sized amount for morning and night.

Rich in both antioxidants like beta-carotene and highly moisturizing ingredients like avocado oil and shea butter, this ultra-soothing cream hydrates and smooths skin immediately. It also works to improve texture, tone, and puffiness over time, says Sobel. The texture is very rich and nourishing so it does take a while to soak in, but it dries down nicely without feeling sticky or greasy at all. You can wear it under makeup as a primer, too.

This eye cream went viral on TikTok for its transformative, only-takes-a-few-minutes results. In the video, the woman testing the formula applies the product on one eye. As the product dries down, she does a time-lapse to showcase how quickly the skin begins to tighten and decrease the look of her under-eye bags. The formula contains innovative technology using silicates, peptides, and seaweed to tighten the look of loose skin, under-eye bags, and crow's feet. Of course, the results are temporary.

Our beauty team is dedicated to finding you the best of the best formulas. We spoke with dermatologists to learn about what to look for in an eye cream and got their go-to recommendations. We also researched and tested top-rated and brand-new formulas that hit the market to help you find the best products out there.