Selecting a Drug Store Brand Eye Cream

Eye Treatments! Many of us cannot afford the $50+ eye cream and would prefer to be able to pick up a product from the drug store.  Here is my advice  for selecting an effective drug store brand eye cream.

1.  Read carefully through the product ingredient list. A good eye formula should have no strong fragrance or color, absorb quickly into your skin and contain beneficial ingredients like:

• Peptides. Only certain peptides are considered effective like Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 (Matrixyl), and copper peptides should not be combined with retinoids, AHA’s or Vitamin C (in a nutshell, they cancel eachother out).
  Antioxidants. Vitamin C, E, green tea
  Caffeine. As strange as it may seem, caffeine diminishes inflammation and fluid retention around the eye.
  Sodium Hyaluronate. highly effective moisturizer
  retinyl palmitate (vitamin A). Speeds up cell turnover rate and has anti-aging benefits.

For example, L’Oreal’s Advanced RevitaLift Eye Cream contains shea butter, caffeine, and Retinyl Palmitate. I would say this might be a promising formula, but you might not like the fact that it has a strong fragrance or added color.  Another product like “Yes to Carrots” Eye can C Cleary Now Eye Contour Cream has cucumber water, carrot oil, Retinyl Palmitate, and vitamin c, also contains fragrance, but seems to list more natural recognizable ingredients. Whenever you venture buying any product read the ingredients carefully and keep your receipt.Â

2.  Eye creams should never sting or cause your eyes to tear-up. Eye creams should soothe not irritate your eyes.

3.  Your eyes should feel moisturized, but not greasy.

4. Results take time. Most eye treatments will take consistent use for 6 to 8 weeks before you can start noticing improvements.

I recently noticed an ad for Garnier Nutritioniste’s Skin Renew “Anti-Puff Eye Roller” that contains caffeine, Vitamin b-5 and “exclusive skin nutrients.” This looks like it might hold some promise for the puffiness issues and I would be curious exactly how it works to diminish the dark undereye circles.  In the *small print you will read that results were seen “after 8 weeks of use.” The women at Megsmakeup.com recently gave this product mixed reviews at, “GARNIER NUTRITIONISTE SKIN RENEW ANTI-PUFF EYE ROLLER! DRUGSTORE DEAL THURSDAYS!“

Here was my comment at megsmakeup.com: “After reading an ad about this product I became very curious about what people were saying about it. Because the cause of dark under eye circles is multi-faceted, this product may or may not help you. If your dark circles are caused by shadowing due to puffiness, because of the caffeine I bet this product would work well. If you have pigmented dark circles, probably not.”

Get used to this idea that there really is no instant fix for dark under eye circles or wrinkles.  The choices are overwhelming, but with a little searching and trial and error, you should be able to find an eye cream that works well for you.