Expert tips for getting the best of your eye cream

If you suffer with under eye bags and dark circles you'll love a great eye cream. These are our three top tips for applying eye cream.

Eye cream is something everybody should be using as early as in your 20s and forever more. Eye cream is a necessary extra for the delicate orbital area around your eyes. So, if your therapist suggests it, it's not actually an optional extra they are trying to sell you, it really is a necessity. Some of them are pretty useless, though, so here are some pointers for using eye cream correctly and what to look for in the best ones.

Less is more

Applying too much eye cream can have the opposite effect to what you want it to do. The skin around your eye area is the thinnest skin on your face. That's why it requires a specific cream as opposed to just using your usual moisturiser on the area. Because the skin is so thin, it only needs a tiny amount of product. A piece of eye cream about the size of a grain of rice is enough for each eye. There is no benefit to applying loads of product. In fact, it can actually worsen your puffy skin or 'bags' under your eyes.

Ingredients are key

If dark circles are your issue - caffeine is your friend. Caffeine is a stimulant and so it will stimulate the blood vessels under the thin skin around your eyes. It increases the blood flow which will brighten the area under your eyes. There are a few brightening ingredients to look out for in eye creams. The following ingredients are all tyrosinase inhibitors. Without going into too much of the science-y bit, they all prevent and help to lighten pigmentation. Hydroquinone, licorice extract and vitamin C are some of my favourites for brightening the area long term. I always look for caffeine in an eye cream too for the immediate brightening effect.

Massage

Simple physical stimulation of the area can help with drainage and reducing puffiness and swelling. You need to be really gentle with the fine skin in the area so we're talking about a gentle massage. You will often see metal applicators on eye creams and concealers. It's because the metal will be cold and solid against the skin and good for lightly massaging the area.