The eyes are usually one of the first areas of the face to show signs of skin ageing, and if you're looking for the best eye cream to help with fine lines and under-eye wrinkles then you've come to the right place. Nowadays there's a huge range of creams on the market to treat everything from puffiness to dark circles, but when it comes to tackling fine lines, it can be hard to know where to start—you want something effective but that won't irritate this delicate part of the face. Which is why you need to enlist the help of one of the best eye creams for wrinkles.
Luckily we've spoken to the experts to find out exactly how an eye cream can help, and we've also put some of the most popular formulas to the test to see if they really work.
Best eye creams for fine lines: Quick links
- Best for strengthening the skin: Allies of Skin Peptides & Omega Eye Cream, £65.60 (was £82) | Debenhams
- Best for sensitive skin: CeraVe Eye Repair Cream, £11.60 (was £14.50) | Lookfantastic
- Best luxury eye cream: U Beauty The Return Eye Concentrate, £143 | Cult Beauty
- Best gel eye cream: La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Eye Serum, £33 | Cult Beauty
- Best for an instant effect: Revolution Skin X Sali Hughes Ringlight Creamy Illuminating Eye Balm, £10 | Lookfantastic
- Best smoothing eye cream: Rodial Retinol Eye Serum, £75 | Lookfantastic
- Best for dry skin: Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Eye Cream, £30 (was £40) | Cult Beauty
- Best packaging: Soho Skin Eye Cream, £55 | Space NK
- Best plant-powered eye cream: Dr Jackson's Intense Restoring Eye Cream, £65 | Dr Jackson's
- Best collagen-boosting eye cream: Absolute Collagen Deep Lift Eye Cream, £40 | Absolute Collagen
- Best night eye cream: Beauty Pie Youthbomb™360° Multi Action Eye Repair Night Serum (1% Retinol Complex), £33 | Beauty Pie
Can an eye cream help reduce fine lines?
First things first, can eye creams actually help? According to Dr Fazeela Abbasi, dermatologist at Euromed Clinic Dubai, they absolutely can. "The skin around the eye area is about four times thinner than the skin on the rest of the body, so it can show the signs of aging more quickly and needs to be given special attention," she says.
That being said, it's worth noting that no eye cream will ever completely get rid of fine lines, but they can definitely treat the area to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
What is the best eye cream for wrinkles?
So now that we know what eye creams can do, which ones should you go for? "Retinol is the rockstar ingredient when it comes to fighting the signs of ageing," says Dr Abbasi. "It stimulates cell turnover and this unveils new, brighter and more even-toned skin. It also helps to slow the natural collagen breakdown and stimulates neocollagenesis (collagen production) and elastin supplies. All of these actions can make the eye contour area look more youthful."
Be careful when using this ingredient around the eyes, however, as because the skin here is so delicate, it could cause irritation. Don't apply it directly onto the eyelids, but instead focus on the under-eye area and the sides of your eyes.
If you don't want to use retinol, Abbasi recommends looking for an eye cream that contains either hyaluronic acid or caffeine. Hyaluronic acid can boost hydration levels, making the eye area appear more plump, and caffeine can help enhance circulation.
The best eye creams to buy now
We've been putting lots of different eye creams to the test, and the below formulas are some of our favourites to help tackle those fine lines around the eye area. We've tested all of the below products, taking into consideration their price, efficacy, packaging and results. If you want to read more about how we test, do read our guide.
1. Allies of Skin Peptides & Omega Eye Cream
This Allies of Skin eye cream took three whole years to develop, and works to reduce the appearance of fine lines. Not only did we find that it had a smoothing effect on the skin, but it was also very hydrating and helped dark circles to appear brighter. A great all-rounder.
Freelance beauty editor Laura Mulley agrees, saying, "I was first recommended this by another beauty writer and I've never looked back. For my dry, sensitive eyes, it's pretty much the perfect eye cream: it's hydrating but not heavy—a feeling that lasts all day—and although results aren't instantaneous, I really feel that it's strengthening the skin in this area."
2. CeraVe Eye Repair Cream
Dryness, dehydration and irritation can all cause fine lines around the eyes to become more pronounced, and this soothing CeraVe formula helps to address all three of these concerns. You won't find any super-strong active ingredients like retinol or vitamin C in this cream; instead it combines CeraVe's famous ceramides complex and hyaluronic acid into a creamy, fragrance-free base.
"The skin around my eyes is prone to becoming sensitive if I've used a product that's too strong—and if that happens, this is the eye cream I reach for," says Laura. "If you're looking for a good, no frills eye cream at a great price, this is it."
3. U Beauty The Return Eye Concentrate
Perhaps the 'ultimate' eye cream, this high-end formula contains hyaluronic acid, peptides, collagen and antioxidants to tackle a number of key signs of ageing around the eyes: fine lines, puffiness, dark circles and uneven skin tone.
Laura says,"This feels expensive from the moment it's applied; it has the most divine silky, nourishing texture, it layers well with all my other skincare, and I swear my eyes look a little fresher in the morning. Would I spend over £100 on an eye cream? I don't have that sort of money, but if that's within your budget, this is the crème de la (eye) crème."
4. La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Eye Serum
This La Roche-Posay eye serum works to reduce wrinkles by plumping them out with a hyaluronic acid/niacinamide/caffeine combination while the cooling rollerball tip helps to boost circulation and lymphatic drainage, which can improve the look of puffiness and dark circles. La Roche products are all tested on sensitive skin, too.
"I'm not normally a fan of these metal applicators but I do appreciate their depuffing effect—although I still need to pat this product in with fingers afterwards," says Laura. "This is a lovely, fresh-feeling option for anyone with oily eyelids or who finds thick eye creams too rich. My boyfriend loves this one too."
5. Revolution Skin X Sali Hughes Ringlight Creamy Illuminating Eye Balm
One of the most recent launches from beauty journalist Sali Hughes' skincare range with Revolution this, as its name suggests, is a hydrating eye cream with an added benefit—it also contains very fine light-reflective pigments to brighten the look of dark under-eyes. As you'd expert from the beauty expert, it's packed with effective skincare ingredients: hyaluronic acid, glycerin, shea butter and caffeine.
"This is one of my favourite high street eye creams," says Laura. "It's so smoothing and creamy yet absolutely not greasy, and the super-fine brightening particles help to diffuse fine lines and the signs of tired eyes without venturing into the make-up category."
6. Rodial Retinol Eye Serum
It's not cheap, but this is up there as one of the best retinol eye creams, immediately smoothing and illuminating the eye area while also working to plump, lift and firm the eye contour over time.
"I really noticed the cooling gel sensation, which I was pleasantly surprised to find from a retinol-based eye cream," says Laura. "This gives a good mixture of quick results (brighter skin and fine lines smoothed) and, hopefully, longer term effects from the retinol."
7. Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Eye Cream
Fresh is a brand that combines natural ingredients into effective formulas, and this eye cream is a great example of this. The star ingredient is 'super lotus' extract, which hydrates, boosts radiance and strengthens the skin barrier. Its rich texture makes this a great one for dry skin.
"An absolute dry skin saviour," Laura calls this. "Skin is immediately plumped, soft and juicy, a feeling that lasts for hours. My only minor gripe is that I wish it came in a more hygienic and air-tight pump bottle rather than a pot."
8. Soho Skin Eye Cream
First up, let's talk about the super-cool packaging, which brings Babington House levels of luxury to your bathroom. Happily, the product inside is excellent too: hydrating, smoothing and revitalising.
"I came here for the packaging and I stayed for the formula," says Laura. "It has almost like a 'dry balm' texture that I feel instantly softens fine lines. This is another one that my boyfriend quickly claimed for himself, I think mainly because of how chic the black tube looks."
9. Dr Jackson's Intense Restoring Eye Cream
If your eye area is prone to sensitivity then you may want to try a gentler, plant-based retinol alternative instead, which is what the Blackjack plant extract is in this eye cream from natural skincare brand Dr Jackson's. It's been added to a creamy formula that addresses fine lines, wrinkles and uneven skin texture.
"I'm wary of using retinol around my sometimes-sensitive eyes but this plant alternative caused me no irritation whatsoever," says Laura. "The texture of the cream is lovely; rich and kind of bouncy—which is exactly how it leaves skin feeling."
10. Absolute Collagen Deep Lift Eye Cream
Here at Marie Claire we're big fans of collagen supplements, and so we love the idea of boosting our skin's supplies from the outside in too with this eye cream from market leaders Absolute Collagen. It has been proven to increase collagen by 143%, with a particular improvement seen in testers' dark circles and puffiness.
"This feels almost like a primer on the skin: instantly absorbed, and smoothing and blurring," says Laura. "I'd personally like it to be a little bit creamier, but it does a good job an immediately reducing the look of tiny under-eye lines."
11. Beauty Pie Youthbomb™ 360° Multi Action Eye Repair Night Serum (1% Retinol Complex)
Beauty Pie's beloved Youthbomb collection is a range of products tailored to brightening, smoothing and firming skin, and the results really do speak for themselves. Freelance beauty editor and Marie Claire contributor Mica Ricketts swears by this eye serum now that she's in her mid-30s.
"I am always short on sleep and my dark circles make it obvious. Combined with the fact that I'm now 35 and my eye area generally looks more dull and textured than it used to, and I'm always seeking out products that can offer hydration, luminosity and improve tone. This Beauty Pie eye serum does it all. I love that it's a silky serum texture, rather than a classic cream, as my skin is prone to congestion and rich eye creams often cause me breakouts around my eye. This one has caused no such issue—sinking in instantly to drench skin with hydration while refreshing and combatting puffiness. I also love that it contains a low-irritation retinol to tackle things like fine lines and discolouration long-term. Come morning, my eyes always look more well rested than they actually are and my dark circles are always alleviated." - Mica Ricketts, Freelance Beauty Editor
