I've been thinking about eye cream since I saw that Paula's Choice recently started to sell one. I'm seriously side-eyeing that. I've been reading Paula Begoun's recommendations for well over a decade, and one of the things she's always emphasized is that eye creams are a waste of money and a marketing gimmick. That is, they're just moisturizers in a smaller package at a higher price, and your eye skin is made out of the same shit as the rest of your face, even if it's a little thinner, so it doesn't need different ingredients. And now her company is selling eye cream. I understand that she will sometimes change her views with new evidence, as all reasonable people should, but I seriously fucking doubt that there has been any revolutionary evidence showing that eye creams are, it turns out, not just moisturizers in smaller tubes. I think that as her company gets bigger, she's started to let them formulate products based on consumer demand, rather than focusing on educating and not selling products that conflict with the principles she's promoted all along.
For a long time, I was strictly anti-eye cream, for the above reasons. And I still believe those things to be true - all you have to do is compare the ingredients and formulas of various eye creams and moisturizers. I have, however, tended to become more moderate over time, as many of us do. I can imagine some reasons why people might spend extra money for an eye cream. The main reason, other than just being fucking inundated by marketing telling you it's necessary, is that you might have sensitive eyes and want a product that presumably has been formulated to be gentle on the eyes. I think you're still better off just using a gentle moisturizer with good ingredients in it, because it will work just as well and cost you way less. If you think your eye area needs something richer than the rest of your face, there are lots of rich moisturizers out there. I've tried eye creams and didn't notice any different results than what I've got from moisturizers. But it's your call.
I know my opinions are not universal, and I am open to hearing why I'm wrong. So what are your views on this riveting topic? Are you pro- or anti-eye cream? Scam? Or vital element of a skincare routine? Any other beauty conspiracy theories you want to talk about? (We already know what I think about diversion of salon products.)
I'm a victim of marketing. I never use the things, but for some reason every once in a while I am persuaded to purchase one. I use it for a couple days, and every once in a while until I eventually decide it's too much clutter and throw it out. I've never spent much money one them though. I probably ought to use more moisturizer around my eyes, but my eyes are really sensitive and most moisturizers sting if I get some product in my eyes for whatever reason. Even creams especially formulated for the eyes, which is why I don't use them very often.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite moisturizers sting my eyes, so I end up using something different around them. I actually have a $28 Olay eye gel/cream thing that came in the Birchbox "mass appeal" box ($15 for the whole thing, but sold out already, sadly). I don't think it's doing anything special, but I've been using it for a month, just because it's there.
DeleteI don't have enough money to believe in eye cream. The lower-end eye creams just seem to be thicker moisturizers, while the higher-end ones with supposedly magical ingredients are out of my price range (and I doubt they work as well as advertised, anyway). I just content myself with applying a little extra CeraVe PM to my eye area before bed.
ReplyDeleteFor a while I was using a sample tube of CeraVe cream around my eyes, and I really liked it. I've never tried the PM version.
Delete(Oops, hit publish too soon.) But CeraVe has really good ingredients, so it's probably doing as much as any fancy eye cream you could buy.
DeleteOn one of her live chats she flat out said you still don't NEED one. She said it's the #1 requested product and she was missing out on sales bc of it. I appreciated her being honest enough to just say it's all about the money. She said she doesn't use it no still uses one of her facial moisturizers around her eyes.
ReplyDeleteI like the CeraVe eye cream (I really love all of their products) but think the regular body cream would work just as well. My under eyes get crazy dry so I like something extra emollient around them but not on the rest of my face.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I guess it's nice that she was honest, but that doesn't change the fact that they are charging $32 for 0.5 oz. of eye cream, when their other $32 creams/lotions contain 1.7 oz. I still think that's shady. CeraVe seems to make great products overall - I just wish their moisturizing cream didn't come in a tub!
DeleteThe CeraVe cream I get from Costco has a pump! I hate tubs bc I feel like I get stuff under my nails.
DeleteThe reason I like PC moisturizers is because they usually say "safe for eye area" (or something like that) right on the tube. So why would I buy an extra product?
ReplyDeleteExactly! Because you want to spend the same amount on less than 1/3 the product, maybe? And the ones they say are good for eye area sometimes sting my finicky eyes, so I don't even thing I am guaranteed that won't happen with the eye cream.
DeleteI saw that they added an eye cream the other day and was like WHUTTT. Anyway, I don't believe that eye cream does any special that regular creams can't, but people who are prone to getting milia around their eyes might benefit from using a different cream in that area than the rest of their face. That's how it is for me, anyway - in the winter I use rich-n-creamy creams on most of my face but something more gel-like around my eyes. Seems to help. But you could use any light lotion or gel cream for that purpose, doesn't necessarily have to say "for eyes" on the package.
ReplyDeleteI get milia if I use oils, like rosehip oil, around my eyes, but usually not lotions or creams. But gels sometimes sting/burn near my eyes, so I guess it's good I don't have to rely on those!
DeleteWhen I use anything (which isn't often because I don't take very good care of my skin), I do use something different around my eyes, but that's mainly because my dark circles seem to respond to lots of hyaluronic acid and I'm too cheap to use it all over. So I guess I'm in favor of eye creams if they actually have special ingredients for that area (or at least special things that work for you) but just for the sake of OH SO DELICATE AND MYSTERIOUS IS THE UNDEREYE SKIN then boo to that. Like Rebecca says above, it's about matching ingredients/formulations to what your skin needs - if I'm doing moisturizer and not doing the special hyaluronic serum thing, the whole face gets the same stuff.
ReplyDeleteI love hyaluronic acid so much. I use it all over, though, because it makes my face so soft. I guess that's one of my indulgences!
DeleteHmm! My cousin (who I think is gorgeous and way prettier than me, even if people say we are alike) and I were just debating this. She's very pro eye cream, as are both our mothers. I'm the one with Asian mono-lid eyes but I just use whatever face moisturizer is gentle enough, or more likely, whatever sample freebie I have at the moment. My mom says fancy eye creams have helped her fight sagging eyelids, but she had eyelid lift surgery, so if the eye creams didn't help her enough to avoid surgery, I have my suspicions...
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the tricky things! It's so hard to tell if people would have aged worse or better without these products - unless they used cream on one eye for years and not the other, and you could tell a difference. (Like truckers who get much more sun on the left sides of their faces!) I doubt anyone is willing to carry out that kind of longterm experiment of their own face for us.
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