Top 12 Best Eye Creams of 2021

Tired eyes from a bad night’s sleep will become a thing of the past with Dermalogica's Total Eye Care SPF15. The cream has a pale beige tinting effect, meaning it comes with coverage so that dark circles are concealed from the first application. This tint is perfect for those who don’t have time to wait several weeks for results. We also found that after a longer period of use it also helped the skin to look much fresher on the whole. The colour of the cream is a delicate shade which manages to blend in with the skin and doesn’t look like make-up. This makes the cream suitable for men and women who don’t want to wear make-up. The light consistency of the cream is easily absorbed by the skin, so it feels moisturising without feeling greasy.

The firming effect of this eye cream is relatively low. However, the cream does soothe the skin well and we found it had a good result on bags under the eyes after a few weeks of use. While the cream isn’t quite as good value as some other eye creams, using the right quantity of cream is simple - and hygienic due to the little spout on its tube. A big plus of this cream is that it also comes with SPF15 protection.

Overall, the Dermalogica Total Eye Care SPF15 is expensive but its ability to counteract dark circles together with its effectiveness on bags make it a fantastic buy.

Elemis Peptide 4 Eyecream Recovery Cream is an eye cream for all skin types. With a formula that cools as it melts into your skin, this is a really pleasant product to use.

The cooling effect feels great if you have swollen eyes, but the thing that makes this eye cream stand out is that it actually seems to work at reducing dark circles. After just a couple of weeks the circles look a bit less dark, and a few weeks later our testers think the skin beneath the eyes has a more even tone than before.

Elemis Peptide 4 Eyecream Recovery Cream feels very moisturising and caring on the skin. It’s relatively non-sticky when applied. If you use it in the morning, you’ll need to wait for a couple of minutes before you start your make-up, but on the other hand that’s how long many skincare products take to be absorbed.

The tube is practical and produces just the right amount of cream. If you were going to be fussy, it would have been useful if the lid was flat instead of rounded, and then you could have stood it up on a shelf. And given that it's a relatively expensive product, the packaging could have felt a touch more exclusive. But that said, the packaging does its job well, and doesn’t cause any unnecessary stickiness.

Other than the price tag, the only thing that reduces the score a bit is the scent. Because this eye cream smells a bit odd. You do get used to it quickly, but the first time it's applied all of our testers react to the smell.

But this really is an eye cream you’ll want to recommend to everyone you know. The high price means it’s also one you're going to want to buy when it's on special offer.

While Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado may look really thick in its container, it will be quickly absorbed by the skin and affords a cooling and calming effect. The really nice thing about this light green cream is that it changes in consistency as soon as you rub it in, going from feeling slightly too thick to becoming almost watery. This might sound a little strange, but it’s actually a very nice product to use. The cream doesn’t leave any stickiness and doesn’t feel greasy. Each container of cream goes a long way. Just a small amount of the cream is enough for the entire area around the eyes.

After regularly using this cream, the area around your eyes will start to look fresher than it did before, with the skin becoming a little smoother and less wrinkled. It’s also worth knowing that the cream performed well during tests with people who have sensitive skin around their eyes, such as during the peak pollen season.

The only disadvantage of Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado is its packaging, which despite having a protective inner lid gets sticky too easily. In an ideal world this cream would have come in better packaging, but until then we’ll just have to put up with a little stickiness as our overall experience using this cream was otherwise superb.

Swedish brand Palina’s For Your Eyes Only eye cream comes in a practical pump bottle, which surprisingly few eye creams do. And the packaging isn’t just functionally attractive. It’s also very stylish, in a purple colour that makes it stand out on the bathroom shelf.

Because the container has a pump, it feels hygienic to use and there's very little risk that the cream will go off before you use it up. But in any case, this is an eye cream you’ll be happy to use. For Your Eyes Only it is easy to apply and absorb quickly without leaving an oily film around your eyes, so you can even use it just before applying your make-up.

The cream is on the firmer side, but despite that is soft and very easy to massage in. A small amount goes a long way, and because it’s so economical it last a long time.

It has no scent and doesn’t irritate your eyes at all. After use, your skin feels nicely moisturised, smooth and comfortable. This eye cream is extremely effective on swollen eyelids, but could have done more to combat puffy eyes. But it’s primary advantage is that it provides a lot of moisture but still works well under make-up, which is important as nobody likes their make-up to slip because of an oily eye cream.

If you’re looking for a moisturising eye cream that’s perfect to apply, you should definitely try out Palina For Your Eyes Only.

Exuviance has delivered an incredibly moisturising eye cream with the Hydrating Lift Eye Complex. In the winter, when skin often feels a little drier, this cream will be an absolute lifesaver. The cream nourishes the skin around the eyes very well, naturally counteracting both swollen eyes and dark circles. However, compared to other creams, these results are not spectacular.

The foremost characteristic of this cream is its moisturising ability. Despite its intense moisturising effect, the cream is quickly absorbed by the skin and doesn’t feel sticky. We had no problems applying make-up immediately after using this cream. Because this eye cream is so nourishing, our skin felt fresher and firmer even after we had only used it for a short period.

The tube has a pointed top which makes it easy - and hygienic - to apply the right amount of cream. While the thick consistency of the cream prevents you from dispensing too much, you will need to use quite a lot of it to cover the area around both eyes. Despite this, the Exuviance Hydrating Lift Eye Complex moisturised the skin well, particularly in the winter. Ultimately, it ranks high in our eye cream test results.

Despite the fact that this eye cream is actually a gel, it still feels smooth and moisturising on your skin. The extra thick consistency of this Estée Lauder eye cream is slightly reminiscent of honey. This isn’t a bad thing – instead it adds to the cream’s intensely nourishing and refreshing feeling. This cream is only intended to be used at night, so that when you wake up in the morning your skin will feel thoroughly moisturised without any sign of bags. We found dark circles to disappear after a while, and the whole area around the eyes started looking fresher.

The cream comes in a small and beautifully designed jar which gives it a luxurious feel. It comes equipped with a spatula-like tool to get the contents out and spread it over your skin. This is a great way to avoid getting cream under your fingernails and it feels more hygienic than applying the cream with your fingers. However, it does mean that you need to take both the jar and the spatula with you when you're out travelling. As the cream is only intended for evening use, you will need to buy another eye cream for daytime use if needed, resulting in further costs and extra room needed in your bathroom cabinet. Despite the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Synchronized Complex 2 being an expensive eye cream, if you want to give your skin a real treat this is a good product to choose. This eye cream succeeds in both in moisturising and nourishing your skin throughout the night, making your skin feel smooth and fresh when you wake up in the morning.

Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift is a bit on the expensive side, but for tired eyes with more mature skin, it’s very effective.

This eye cream falls somewhere between an eye mask and a cream and is excellent for both purposes. If you apply it in a thicker layer, it works as a quick fix mask. If you’re using it like this, you leave it on for a few minutes then massage the excess into the skin. In other words, this isn’t a product you rinse off. If you instead want to use it as a classic cream, you simply apply less and massage it in immediately.

The product promises reduced dark circles, smooth the skin and a tightening effect. These are big promises and given the price it’s hard not to have high expectations. When you buy an eye cream, it’s important to remember that you can’t get rid of wrinkles. But you can reduce the impression of fine lines by adding plenty of moisture, which can sometimes plump up the skin a little.

And you actually do feel a little brighter around the eyes when you use Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift on a regular basis. The lines definitely feel a bit less deep, which is largely a result of the moisture this cream provides. Whether it does anything for dark circles and bags isn’t as clear. The fact that the skin around the eyes feels brighter is probably more a result of the fact that it tightens the skin a little.

The price is certainly high, but you should remember that this tube, with its cooling metal applicator, contains 25 ml, which is significantly more than many other eye creams.

If you keep your expectations reasonable, this is a good eye cream. But if you believe you’ve bought the source of eternal youth, you’ll probably be disappointed.

This gel eye cream from Clarins has a good firming effect and leaves your skin feeling thoroughly refreshed. The gel feels cool, soothing and is relatively effective against swollen eyes. It won’t completely conceal a sleepless night because of your newborn or a late night out on the town, but it copes with normal signs of tiredness without any problems. The exclusive-looking tube that the cream comes in is easy to store in the bathroom cabinet as you can stand it upright. However, the lighter consistency of the contents means that it’s easy to dispense too much cream by accident. This is a risk that increases when the cream is stored standing up, as the contents come to rest at the bottom of the tube. The Eye Contour Gel is quite an affordable eye cream, but because it’s difficult to get the right amount out you may get through it fairly quickly.

Getting rid of dark circles isn’t this cream’s strongest point, but its firming effects still gives the skin an overall fresher feeling. The light formula moisturises well and is quickly absorbed by the skin without it feeling oily nor sticky. You can apply make-up immediately after application, which is perfect on a stressful hurried morning. The Clarins Eye Contour Gel gives the skin an impressively pleasant and fresh feeling but given its price we would have liked it to last a little longer.

Decléor’s Lift and Brighten Eye Cream has a lovely creamy consistency which is easy to apply evenly. After using it, your skin immediately feels fresher and well moisturised. If you apply the cream before bed, your skin will still feel smooth and soft the next morning. We found that the cream was absorbed by the skin quickly, meaning that you can apply your make-up almost instantly after using it. After a few weeks of use, we found dark circles around the eyes to be lighter. However, it's the moisturising and firming characteristics of this cream which stand out the most.

The tube that this cream comes in is eye-catching to say the least. The top is almost as long as the rest of the tube combined, and it has a kind of spatula-like pump where the cream comes out. It is also possible to use the top of the pump to apply the cream. This is a nice idea, but in reality it proves to be a bit of an unnecessary gimmick. It would have been easier just to use a normal tube without this kind of unique construction, which makes it rather fiddly to both store the tube and get cream out of the tube. Other than this packaging setback, the Decléor Lift and Brighten Eye Cream is a decent product. However, it doesn’t give astonishing results and given its price we’d have expected it to deliver more.

Regardless of whether you’re tired from an early morning or a late evening, this light eye cream from Clinique will give your skin a fresh feeling – and is great for dark circles. It’s quickly absorbed by the skin and despite its thin consistency is extremely moisturising. While its firming effect is average and there are better eye creams in this area, this cream is incredibly effective for dark circles. You may not see the difference the first time you use the All About Eyes Rich Cream, but after a few weeks your dark circles will begin to disappear and the skin around your eyes will look healthy and fresh. Clinique promise that this product is particularly aimed at bags under the eyes, and it contains caffeine in its formula. While this cream does help with this to an extent, we’d be stretching the truth if we said it was exceptional at mitigating bags under your eyes.

The cream comes in an attractive and stylish jar, embossed with Clinique's exclusive branding. However, you will need to wash your hands every time you use it in order to prevent any bacterial build-up inside the jar. You only need to use a very small amount of the cream each time, so if you do use the right amount it’s a good value product. We found this to be slightly difficult because of its jar format though.

While the All About Eyes Rich Cream is fairly economical and does succeed in making your skin feel fresh, its poorly designed jar makes it difficult to use the right amount. We had to mark it down for this.

Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Eye Cream is an eye cream that you either love or hate. If you read online reviews, opinions are widely divided, with a tendency towards extremely positive claims. But our testers agreed on one thing: this eye cream stings. And not just a bit, either.

Perhaps this is because the cream contains vitamins C, but none of our testers had previously reacted negatively to this ingredient. So they were a bit surprised when an eye cream that’s had so much written about it turned out to be almost unusable because it gives the very opposite of the calming effect an eye cream should ideally provide.

And it doesn’t just sting either. One of our testers also developed red spots after using Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Eye Cream.

Of course whether or not a product makes your eyes sting can be a very individual matter. And if your eyes aren’t irritated by Banana Bright Eye Cream, it’s a cream with a lovely consistency that’s easy to apply. It feels soft and rich in your skin, and also gives a touch of glow.

But because all of our testers complained of the stinging sensation, this is an eye cream we’d rather avoid. Particularly given that the sensation it gives is so unpleasant you’ll almost certainly never finish the jar.

Avene Physiolift Eyes is an eye cream that comes with high expectations. Partly because Avene is a French pharmacy brand, and these generally deliver good results. And partly because our testers had read several good reviews of the eye cream before they used it. Unfortunately the reality was disappointing.

When you dispense a small amount of this unscented, pale yellow cream, it looks promising. The list of ingredients also makes you think that this is going to be a very good product – retinaldehyde, dextran sulfate and hyaluronic acid. But it doesn’t matter how good the ingredients are if the formula is a problem.

When you first apply it the cream feels nicely cooling, but when you continue the application it forms small rolls. A cream that rolls off the skin doesn’t make you feel like it’s being absorbed at all. And yes, this eye cream is for night-time use, which is just as well, because there’s absolutely no way it would work together with make-up. But in all honesty, who wants a cream that rolls off all around your eyes, even at night? Not our testers, anyway.

Avene Physiolift Eyes gets two disappointed thumbs down – life’s simply too short to deal with poor products like this.