Top 8 Best Eye Creams of 2020

Deciem, the founders of the budget sensation The Ordinary, also make the Hylamide brand. Hylamide offer products that are a little more expensive but still budget-friendly – particularly given the quality of the products. Their eye serum, Hyalamide SubQ Eyes Advanced Serum, has quickly turned out to be a real gem on the market.

If we start by looking at the packaging, a small glass bottle with a pipette, it’s attractive and stylish. But regardless of how Instagram-worthy pipettes may be, they aren’t always the most user-friendly option. A pump bottle would have been better. But this is mostly a secondary issue, as the contents of the bottle more than makes up for the packaging.

Hyalamide SubQ Eyes Advanced Serum is a liquid product that you apply by dabbing it on with your fingers (you drip the product onto your fingers, not directly onto the skin around the eyes). The serum is packed full of active ingredients and immediately feels moisturising on the skin. After using it for a little while, dark circles under the eyes appear to be a little less dark, and fine lines become less visible. If you look at the ingredients and their effect, and compare these with prices for similar products from other brands, Hylamide SubQ Eyes Advanced Serum wins by miles in terms of value for money. It’s also worth noting that the serum is extremely economical. Even if the bottle is only small, it will provide lots of applications.

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.

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.

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.

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.