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2024’s Essential Eye Treatments for Refreshed, Youthful-Looking Eyes
What to look for in an eye serum that visibly reduces the signs of aging around the eyes
The skin around the eyes is the thinnest on the body—making it the most susceptible to fine lines, puffiness, dark circles, wrinkles, and sagging skin.
That’s why it’s important to use an eye treatment as a preventative tool to help delay the appearance of these signs of aging near the eyes. However, it's never too late to start — a high-quality eye treatment can halt any further aging signs from showing up.
In this guide, we'll show you what to look for in an eye serum to help prevent and diminish the appearance of aging skin around the eyes at any age.
Quality Eye Serums & Creams Can:
The two leading types of eye treatments available are eye serums and eye creams. Although they appear similar at first glance, it's important to consider a few key distinctions that can help you decide which option is best for you.
Eye Serum or Eye Cream?
Eye creams are mainly designed to hydrate the skin. Therefore, if combating dryness around the eyes is your priority, an eye cream could be an ideal choice.
On the other hand, eye serums are formulated to reach deeper layers of the skin. Due to their potent ingredients, serums can be more effective in visibly minimizing puffiness, smoothing out fine lines, and tightening the skin around the eyes.
No matter which type of eye treatment you choose, its efficacy is directly linked to the quality and potency of its ingredients. Here’s what to look for and avoid when shopping for an eye product.
Key Ingredients in an Effective Eye Serum:
Hyaluronic Acid for hydration
Often listed as Sodium Hyaluronate, Hyaluronic Acid is a powerful moisturizing ingredient that smooths and prevents the look of crow's feet, fine lines, and wrinkles around your eyes.
Niacinamide to soothe skin
A potent form of Vitamin B3 that helps soothe and balance your skin's oil production.
Caffeine for puffiness
Caffeine helps wake up tired eyes by reducing the appearance of dark circles and de-puffing the under-eye area.
Squalane to moisturize
A skin moisturizer that visibly balances oil production, while locking in enough hydration to keep the skin looking clear, calm, and healthy.
Antioxidants for dark circles
Potent antioxidants, such as Activated Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid, help diminish and prevent the appearance of dark circles, sun spots, fine lines, wrinkles, crow's feet, and UV damage.
Watch Out For:
Synthetic Dyes and Fragrances
These synthetic ingredients may cause skin irritation, clog pores, cause blemishes, and even deplete your skin of its essential nutrients and oils.
Mineral Oil
A petroleum derivative that may cause breakouts by preventing the skin from absorbing vital nutrients. While this oil does have moisturizing properties, it may cause more harm than good over time for acne-prone skin.
Now that you know what to look for and avoid in your eye serum or cream, it’s time to shop. Check out our Brilliant recommendations below, including our very own serum: Tru Alchemy’s Eye Elixir.
2024’s Must-Have Eye Serums and Creams
What We Like:
Room To Improve:
Final Thoughts
Product Specs
What We Like:
Room To Improve:
Final Thoughts
Product Specs
What We Like:
Room To Improve:
Final Thoughts
Product Specs
What We Like:
Room To Improve:
Final Thoughts
Product Specs
What We Like:
Room To Improve:
Final Thoughts
Product Specs
How We Choose Products
Like you, we’re picky about products — and serious about quality.
Whether we’re featuring an award-winning product from one of our five beauty and wellness brands — or somebody else’s — a Brilliant recommendation doesn’t see the light of day until it has been medically reviewed by our Fact Checkers for accuracy and has fulfilled our Brilliant Criteria.
At Brilliant, although we often feature products that we sell, we’re not afraid to highlight and celebrate other brands who are doing things right.
Brilliant Criteria
We take great care in handpicking high-quality products to feature on Brilliant. Here’s how we choose them:
- High-Quality Ingredients: We dig deep into the latest research and look for products that contain comprehensive ingredients for optimal impact.
- Pure, Holistic Formulas: We prioritize products that contain clean, wholesome ingredients. A product should only contain what it needs and nothing else—period.
- Brand Credibility: Each product on our list is produced by a company with trusted credibility. We've also verified that each brand adheres to labeling requirements set forth under current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP).
- Value: We evaluate products based on industry averages and price per serving or application. We also consider quantity and return policy.
Why Trust Us?
As veteran leaders in the wellness space with an award-winning brand portfolio of 100+ health and beauty products, we are committed to honesty and transparency, providing thoughtful insights into the benefits and limitations of the information and products we evaluate — including our own. Every Brilliant Buying Guide is thoroughly vetted for medical accuracy by our Fact Checkers prior to publication.
With our discerning selection process, you can feel confident that the products we recommend meet the highest benchmarks of quality, transparency, and efficacy. If we wouldn’t use a product ourselves, it’s not Brilliant.
Citations
- A. Herman, A.P. Herman; Skin Pharmacol Physiol 1 December 2012; 26 (1). Available at doi: 10.1159/000343174
- Bauza, E., Oberto, G., Berghi, A., Dal, C. and Domloge, N. (2004). International Journal of Tissue Reactions. Available at: http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/15648443
- Singh, O., Khanam, Z., Misra, N., & Srivastava, M. (2011). Pharmacognosy Reviews, 5(9), 82. doi: 10.4103/0973-7847.79103
- Necas, J., Bartosikova, L., Brauner, P., & Kolar, J. (2008). Veterinární Medicína, 53(No. 8), 397-411. doi: 10.17221/1930-vetmed
- Chan, A. (1993). Canadian Journal Of Physiology And Pharmacology, 71(9), 725-731. doi: 10.1139/y93-109
- Kafi, R., Kwak, H., Schumacher, W., Cho, S., Hanft, V., & Hamilton, T. et al. (2007). Archives Of Dermatology, 143(5). doi: 10.1001/archderm.143.5.606
- Lu, Y., Lou, Y., Xie, J., Peng, Q., Shih, W., Lin, Y., & Conney, A. (2009). Journal Of Investigative Dermatology, 129(2), 468-475. doi: 10.1038/jid.2008.241
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