The best eye creams for dark circles provide a solution to shadowy, tired-looking undereyes. Our beauty editor has tried and tested the best products to help parents battling with exhaustion feel a little more fresh.
Parents will know better than anyone that tiredness can take a toll on your complexion. Sleep deprivation might as well be part of the job description, and along with dullness and fine lines, this often results in dark circles. One of the most effective ways to get rid of dark circles under your eyes, besides drinking more water, cutting alcohol consumption and eating a vitamin-rich diet, is to apply topical creams containing active ingredients that will help you look less tired. “For anyone concerned about signs of ageing, I recommend trying topical treatments before other methods, as it’s often preventative,” explains Dr Zoya Diwan, Expert in Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology. There are specific ingredients that work specifically on improving the skin tone under the eye, according to Dr Angela Tewari, Consultant Dermatologist at The Lister Hospital, who says, “Using an eye cream with ingredients with vitamin C, and retinol can help brighten the under-eye area and reduce the appearance of dark circles.”
The thing about the eye area is it’s much more fragile than the skin across the rest of the face. This means it’s not only likely to suffer from dehydration and show signs of ageing much more easily, but also makes it more sensitive. Your best moisturiser and facial oils are likely to be much too heavy for this area, and can actually make puffiness and dark circles worse. Instead, you need a dedicated eye cream that's gentle and light enough for this puff-prone area. From high street favourites to luxurious formulas with anti-ageing benefits, our selection of the best eye creams for dark circles will help pare down bags, restore hydration and brighten up tired under-eyes - even when your kids have been keeping you up all night.
What to consider when looking for the best eye cream for dark circles
- Star rating: Our in-house star-rating system is based on peer reviews. We’ve tried and tested the eye creams and awarded stars based on factors such as product quality, ease of use, customer feedback, awards and value for money. Products that have received a five-star status are rare and considered exceptional, going above and beyond our reviewer’s expectations.
- Active ingredients: The best eye creams for dark circles contain potent active ingredients, such as antioxidants, caffeine, peptides, retinol and brightening ingredients like vitamin C. Some eye creams on this list contain optical brighteners that provide an immediate improvement.
- Cruelty-free: More and more beauty brands have realised that testing on animals is not a humane or sustainable practice. We’re keen to select products from brands that follow this ethos.
- Packaging: Eye creams come in many forms - whether that’s a snazzy pump dispenser or squeezy tube. Both forms help to keep the active ingredients fresh to maintain their potency, as well as being a more hygienic option than a jar that you have to scoop from. And of course, sustainability is a serious concern - anything that is non-recyclable is a no-no for us.
Best eye creams for dark circles
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Best eye cream overall
Using patented Protinol technology (a faster and gentler alternative to Retinol), this eye cream boosts the two types of collagen present in baby skin to improve wrinkles and restore firmness, crucial to minimising the appearance of dark circles and puffiness. If you don’t like waiting around for visible improvement, you’re in luck. Because of the light diffusion technology, this eye cream delivers an immediate blurring effect so the eye looks brighter and more awake within seconds. Something the testers seemed to agree with, as Fiona G commented, “My dark circles seemed to disappear immediately. Skin round my eyes also seemed brighter and smoother too."
Avon is working with Dr Zoya Diwan to put the new Renewal Eye Cream to work on her own in-clinic patients. “I firmly believe in evidence-based treatments and creams, so I was really excited to learn about Protinol technology, which has 20 years of research behind it,” explains Diwan. “I was amazed to see the new Avon Power Eye Cream restoring years of collagen loss when I trialled it in my clinic – with one patient seeing an enormous 52% reduction in their fine lines and wrinkles. I really enjoyed using it too as it left my skin feeling soft, smooth, and hydrated – and at such an affordable price point!”
Best eye cream for tired eyes
Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant, which helps your skin to regenerate and repair damaged cells. Even better, because of its acidic nature, vitamin C stimulates the production of collagen and elastin to reinstate some of the skin’s pillowy cushioning. It also happens to be a highly efficient brightening ingredient. So it probably comes as no surprise that vitamin C is the star ingredient in Garnier’s Brightening Eye Cream, alongside other darkness defeaters like niacinamide, caffeine and banana powder, which improves skin tone.
“Vitamin C serum is a part of my daily regime,” admits GoodtoKnow Beauty Editor Stephanie Maylor. “I’m a big believer in its skin-brightening benefits so I was instantly sold on an eye cream formulated with 4 per cent vitamin C - a pretty good dosage considering this is designed for the delicate skin around the eyes.
"I dot this around my eyes then massage the blobs in with my fingertip. A little goes a long way, as I learned after one particularly generous application resulted in some pilling. The sunshine-tinted cream might be having a psychosomatic effect on me but I do think this has made an improvement to my skin tone and my eyes don’t look as cripplingly tired. This is an eye cream that punches well above its weight.”
Best eye cream with retinol
“Retinol is considered the gold standard for anti-ageing products, and for good reason,” explains Dr Howard Murad, board certified dermatologist and founder of Murad skincare. “It dramatically improves all key signs of ageing, minimising the look of wrinkles and crow’s feet while lifting and firming skin. But the benefits go beyond anti-ageing: it visibly brightens dark circles, reduces dullness and even helps to fight acne.” With all its potency comes a few side effects, such as dryness, redness and sensitivity, which can be particularly noticeable around the delicate eye area.
The beauty of Murad’s Retinol Tri Active Technology (which includes a fast-acting retinoid, time-released retinol, and retinol booster) is it is able to increase its efficacy whilst minimising the chance of irritation. It’s ophthalmologist-tested and you can even apply it to the eyelid.
“This is the eye cream I always come back to,” admits Beauty Editor, Stephanie Maylor. “If I have a break from it, I do feel a little bit of tingling the first few days of using it but my skin soon gets used to it and my eye area starts to look fresher and less puffy. Yes it’s pricey, but trust me, a little of the gel-like serum goes a long way so one bottle will last for weeks, if not months.”
Best budget eye cream
If you’ve had a bad night’s sleep, chances are your eyes don’t just look tired, but feel dry and tight too. This light, silky cream is so refreshing that the eyes feel revived and soothed within a few seconds. It’s brimming with hydrating ingredients like glycerin and shea butter to refresh and rehydrate the delicate skin around the eye.
“I’ve got a real thing about eye creams that pill under makeup,” explains Stephanie, “but I’m happy to report that this one melted in effortlessly and made a fantastic base for my foundation. It lacks the potent actives of some of the other eye creams on this list so don’t expect it to swipe away dark circles overnight, but I’d definitely recommend it as a solid eye cream for the morning when you want to refresh dry, tired eyes.”
Best energising eye cream
When tired eyes need an instant pick-me up, like a shot of espresso straight in the veins, this cream is the one. Although ironically, it doesn’t actually contain caffeine. Instead, it's powered by an energising complex of 2% niacinamide and hydrating shea butter. Pomegranate is the superfood superstar, rich in vitamin C and antioxidants to help reduce the appearance of dark rings.
One fan called it a “miracle in a tube”, rating it 10/10 on the brand’s website. He started to see a visible difference after about four days. “Now after about 2 weeks of use, my skin tone is almost matched and it looks like it reduced some puffiness too,” he said. Praise indeed!
Best eye serum
“Peptides are great at targeting a variety of skin concerns, and are most commonly used to target signs of ageing like fine lines and wrinkles,” explains Prudvi Kaka, Chief Scientific Officer, DECIEM. Think of these molecules as messengers that ‘talk’ to skin cells and instruct them to go into repair mode. In this eye serum, these peptides help to target multiple issues such as crow’s feet, puffiness and dark circles in four weeks.
Meanwhile, caffeine helps to dispel puffiness and niacinamide to balance out tone under the eyes. The formula is so hydrating, it’s going to offer an immediate smoothing effect to the skin but brightening results may take a little longer so persevere.
Best drugstore eye cream
Protect & Perfect is one of those product names that everybody knows. And for good reason. Using Collagen Peptide-based technology - namely an ingredient called Matrixyl 3000+ - this eye cream helps support the skin’s collagen production to target wrinkles, reduce dark circles and generally make the eye area look more youthful. Other ingredients include Ginseng extract, which helps to energise cells so skin appears more radiant, while a cavalcade of moisturisers restore hydration and smooth skin.
“It’s a lovely formula,” says Stephanie. “It has a peachy tint to it that seems to make those dark circles a little less obvious within seconds. I have a lot of beauty products, so I really appreciate that this can be used in the morning and the evening, rather than needing a separate product for each time of day. After a few weeks of using this religiously, I’d definitely agree my eyes look fresher and more rested - almost as if I’ve had a fortnight abroad.”
Best luxury eye cream
Powered by the anti-ageing benefits of honey, this serum addresses a multitude of bugbears around the eye. It boosts radiance, lifts and re-sculpts the eye contour, as well as strengthening eyelashes so that they appear fuller at the root. It also has a tightening action on wrinkles using tensing polyfermented honey. The effect is more subtle, but there is a flattering radiance to this serum that seems to blur under-eye imperfections and revive tired eyes on contact.
"This is another cream that can be applied across the entire eye contour - from the under-eye to the lid and even eyelashes," explains Maylor. "I like the idea of slathering it everywhere, and knowing I don’t have to use a separate lash serum. The dual chamber keeps the active ingredients super fresh and the serums only mix once they are dispensed on to your finger. Overall, this is a gorgeous eye serum that looks and feels as luxurious as the price tag suggests."
Best day and night eye cream
Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum is a behemoth of the beauty industry, a bottle of nectar beloved by beauty editors for its youth-enhancing capabilities. This eye cream is formulated with Tripeptide-32, which recalibrates the skin’s circadian rhythm, supporting its protective state during the day and enhancing the repair process overnight.
We have prioritised tubes, bottles and pumps on our list of the best eye creams for dark circles but we have chosen to overlook the arguably less hygienic jar format here because of the powerhouse formulation.
“Hyaluronic acid delivers 72-hours worth of hydration that dry skin will slurp right up, and the featherlight gel texture is dreamy to apply - silky and refreshing, never pilling under makeup,” says Stephanie. “It is a godsend when I have a run of bad nights, making my eyes look brighter and skin quenched.”
How long does eye cream take to work for dark circles?
“I would say to stick with an eye cream for at least three months,” says Dr Tewari. “Remember that everyone’s skin is different, so it may take some trial and error to find the right eye cream for you. It’s important to follow the instructions on the product and be patient, as it can take time to see results.”
According to Prudvi Kaka, “The amount of time it would take to see results varies greatly depending on the ingredients included in the formulation, how consistent you are with the use of the product and the initial condition of the skin.”
Supplementing a great skincare regime with a healthy, vitamin-loaded diet will help brighten the under eyes and speed up visible results. “Internally, focus on hydration by sticking to a water-rich diet that contains foods high in vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin K,” advises Dr Murad. “Infused sources of vitamin C can be found in oranges and berries, rich vitamin E can be found in nuts and whole grains, and leafy vegetables are a great source for vitamin K.”
Lifestyle changes will help make an impact on dark circles too. “Make sure you are getting a full and restful night’s sleep,” says Murad. “During the sleep cycle your skin rebuilds and repairs itself, so it is imperative to allow your body and your mind enough time to rest and rejuvenate. Follow these simple tips daily and see how small changes can add up to big results!”
What is the best time to apply under eye cream?
Eye cream should be applied twice a day, morning and evening. Always apply eye cream on clean skin, after face serum and before moisturiser. Dot a grain of rice-sized amount around each eye, tapping with your ring finger using light pressure.
If applying in the morning, you may want to choose a lighter formulation that will play nicely with makeup. In the evening, you can afford to use a richer cream with ingredients restricted to nighttime use, such as retinol.
Looking for more expert beauty advice? We've rounded up the best winter skincare tips for busy mums, as well as a list of the best hand creams. You might also want to find out what slugging skin is.
We spoke to the following skin-care experts:
Dr Zoya Diwan is an expert in Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology. Together with her partner, Dr Sanjay Trikha, Dr Zoya runs an award-winning medical aesthetics clinic in Mayfair London, Trikwan Aesthetics. Here she treats patients with a variety of skin concerns including ageing. Through her treatments, Dr Zoya aims to educate and empower her patients to feel confident in their skin.
Angela is a GMC registered and UK trained Consultant Dermatologist, practicing dermatology for over a decade. Angela holds her NHS Consultant Dermatologist post at the prestigious King’s College Hospital in London and has extensive experience in all aspects of adult and paediatric general dermatology. Angela has a PhD so she understands the effects of sunshine on your skin and the appropriate treatment measures.
Howard Murad, M.D., FAAD, is recognised around the world as a leading visionary for his unmatched scientific innovations. A board-certified dermatologist and trained pharmacist, Dr. Murad has personally treated over 50,000 patients. For more than 30 years, Murad has been committed to developing clinically proven, cruelty-free products that meet the meticulous standards for safety, efficacy and care you’d expect from a doctor.
Prudvi Kaka began his career in pharmaceutical and cosmetics sciences over ten years ago. Prudvi joined DECIEM in 2014 as a Compounding Supervisor in a hybrid role created to bridge the gap between lab and compounding. Now, as Chief Scientific Officer, Prudvi spearheads over 100 employees spanning Formulation Development, Clinical Research, Microbiology, Analytical Chemistry, Regulatory Affairs, and Quality Management.
