Eye cream is a beauty staple that should be in everyone’s skincare regime. You see the eye area is a delicate part of the face that shows the first signs of ageing.
The skin in this area is the thinnest it can be with minimal oil glands, and few collagen and elastin fibres. Therefore if you’ve had a late night, minimal sleep or you haven’t drunk enough water, then your eye area is going to show these signs through dark under eye circles, puffiness, and fine lines.
So why do you need an eye cream?
As the skin around your eye area is so delicate, normal moisturisers, active and heavy ingredients are too much for it. This area also has fewer oil glands than the rest of your face, so it is more prone to dryness and the environmental stresses that we come into contact with daily.
Therefore an eye cream that will not only hydrate but also combat the dark circles and puffiness, while fighting off fine lines is ideal to help this little area to help sparkle once more.
Plus by using an eye cream, your under eye concealer and makeup will set better on your skin, making you look flawless.
What are the key ingredients that will help the under eye area?
When searching for an eye cream, you’re going to want a few specific key ingredients that will penetrate and nourish your eye area, while protecting it also.
The following ingredients are essential for a great eye cream:
- Hyaluronic Acid
- Arnica / Caffeine
- Retinol
- SPF
Now, this may seem like a lot of ingredients to look out for, but ideally, you’d have two separate eye creams, one for use in the morning and the other to use in the evening.
The reason for having two separate eye creams is because some ingredients such as Retinol; should only be used at night because they can cause the skin to become sensitive to the Sun. If you have an SPF in your eye cream, then you’re only going to need to use it in the morning.
Hyaluronic Acid in an eye cream
Hyaluronic acid is perfect for an eye cream, because it works at hydrating the skin which will help plump up the skin, reduces dry, flaky patches and aids in plumping fine lines.
As this area is prone to dryness, because of its lack of oil glands, Hyaluronic acid will genuinely become your under eye areas best friend.
Arnica and Caffeine in an eye cream
If you wake up with puffy eyes each morning or after a long tiring day in the office staring at a screen all day, then you need either caffeine or arnica in your eye cream.
Once more caffeine also helps to reduce the appearance of dark circles too.
Arnica is excellent in an eye cream as it is normally applied to the skin to help reduce the swelling and to heal bruises quickly and caffeine helps to boost circulation to reduce the puffiness. These two ingredients together work well and helping to combat puffiness and to lessen the appearance of dark circles, which are the tell tell signs of a lack of sleep and dehydration.
Retinol in eye creams
If you haven’t heard of the wonderful benefits of retinol/retinoids over the past few years, then you really have been missing out. This ingredient is THE key ingredient to help fight wrinkles, lines and ageing skin, along with SPF.
Retinol is a form of Vitamin A which works to enhance and promote skin renewal and collagen production.
As we get older, our collagen production slows down, meaning the skin doesn’t renew as quickly, which results in fine lines and wrinkles appearing.
With Vitamin A, these wrinkles and fine lines will be reduced and take a longer time to form compared to use without retinol.
Now as your under eye area is the first area to start showing signs of ageing a Retinol in your night time eye cream is crucial to help keep these at bay, and to support in the reproduction of collagen.
Eye creams that include Retinol should only be used at night as they do make the area they are applied to more sensitive to sunlight and can increase the risk of sun damage significantly.
SPF in eye creams
It sounds predictable, but using a specific SPF for your eye area is so essential in protecting this extremely delicate area from sun damage and the after-effects the Sun causes. Being thin in nature this area will be even more exposed to the ageing effects of the Sun, which will also cause the eye area to become dehydrated too.
Many eye creams include an SPF in their eye creams but remember that you only need to use these creams in the morning, as your eyes will require a more restorative eye cream in the evening, plus you don’t need an SPF ingredient for the night time.
When should you start using an eye cream?
Sadly, it’s probably a lot earlier than you think. Later teens – eighteen/nineteen is when you should start using a hydrating eye cream and an eye cream with SPF. Retinols aren’t needed yet. At this age and into your earlier twenties, you’re only wanting to moisturise and hydrate the eye area, as your skin shouldn’t have any fine lines appearing yet.
When you hit twenty-five that is the time you need to start using anti ageing products as it has one, been proven better to prevent your skin from ageing and two, your collagen reproduction starts to slow down.
But again you don’t need a robust anti ageing eye cream; it’s not until you hit your thirties to forties when an anti ageing cream with stronger ingredient should be used.
If there’s one tip to take away from this when looking for an eye cream, really research what it is you need as everyone will have different requirements for the eye creams, they need.
Here at K2A, we love natural ingredients and fully understand their full potential, and that’s why our range of skincare products are packed full of these wonderful and natural skin-loving ingredients, to help you achieve your best skin yet.
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