4 Potent and Effective Ingredients to Look for in an Eye Cream

Did you know that the skin in your eye area, especially under your eyes, is thinner than the skin on the rest of your face, and therefore, it needs special care and attention?

In fact, the skin around our eyes is so delicate and fragile that it’s the part in your face that first shows signs of aging — hello, eye wrinkles, crow’s feet, puffy, saggy under-eyes and dark under-eye circles that make you look older and sleep-deprived!

Those days when you mercilessly rub your irritated eyes or leave your makeup on when you sleep or ditch the sunscreen must be dawning on you (on us, in fact, we’re all guilty).

As you age, your skin loses vital molecules and proteins that help it stay hydrated, plump, firm, and young-looking. But really, your skin’s aging process is the main culprit. It can be unforgiving in draining life and youth from your eye area. 

However, there’s hope - you can do something about it. If you know how to choose the right product, you can revitalize your thin, fragile under eye area.

Let’s talk about eye creams, how they work, and what potent ingredients they should have to give you visible results.

It’s been debated that your face cream and moisturizer are enough to nourish and protect the skin in your eye area.

But because your eye area has such delicate skin, many experts believe it needs a level of care that only specially made products can give.

The thinness and fragility of the skin around your eyes make it prone to wrinkling due to micromovements when you make facial expressions. 

When you smile, frown, cry, flinch, etc., you’d bunch your facial muscles together and create folds in your skin that eventually become wrinkles, which appear in your eye area first. So, regular face creams may not give it the soothing it needs.

Also, regular face creams meant for the thicker skin on other areas of your face may be too irritating or not gentle enough for your delicate eye area.

All of this points to the conclusion that your eye area needs a cream specially formulated to give the proper care and protection.

Eye creams are only as good as the potency and effectiveness of its ingredients. So, to ensure that what’s inside the bottle is a powerful hydrating and age-defying formula, you must find the following ingredients on the label.

1. Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is our skin’s natural humectant. It’s a super absorbent agent that binds with water molecules in the air, pulls them into your skin, and locks them in your dermal layer. 

By doing this, hyaluronic acid replenishes your dry, thirsty skin and keeps it hydrated! 

Having enough moisture helps your skin retain its plumpness, firmness, and elasticity so that it snaps back into place when it’s stretched. 

Moisture also gives your skin that fresh, dewy, and lustrous glow from within!

Hyaluronic acid gives the same benefits when infused in eye creams. It helps your under-eye skin maintain a firmer, smoother surface that’s free from dullness, wrinkles, and fine lines. It’s the perfect remedy to a dull, lifeless, and wrinkled eye area.

Simply put, this active ingredient helps slow down skin aging and maintain your fresh, youthful vibrancy and glow!

But even though our skin naturally has hyaluronic acid, our body produces less of it as we age. That’s why we need skincare products, such as eye creams, that help our skin have more of what it naturally loses over time. 

2. Ceramides

Ceramides are lipid molecules that are also naturally found in our skin. Let us show you where:

The skin has three (3) layers:

Hypodermis (bottom and fatty layer)

Dermis (middle layer)

Epidermis (top or outermost layer) 

The epidermis has layers of its own, five of them. The outermost layer among the five is called the stratum corneum, where ceramides live.

The ceramides glue the molecules of the stratum corneum together, so our skin has an intact protective barrier against harmful UV rays and external toxins.

At this point, you probably get how essential ceramides are. They are our skin’s first line of defense against environmental pollutants, bacteria, and free radicals that can seep into our skin and cause significant damage.

Ceramides also help trap the good stuff inside that makes our skin healthy and glow, such as moisture.

Unfortunately, we naturally lose these precious molecules as we age. And once we lose our ceramides, we also lose our defense against the environmental factors that can accelerate the aging process.

That’s why we need a professionally-made skincare product that can replenish our skin’s ceramide content. 

By applying an eye cream formulated with ceramides, our delicate eye area will:

• regain its defense against free radicals and irritants that accelerate skin aging; and
• regain its moisture and plump to prevent dryness and ease eye wrinkles

3. Retinol 

Here’s what retinol does and how it benefits the skin on your eye area:

Retinol accelerates surface skin cell turnover for a smooth, supple, and more even-toned skin.

Retinol prompts the cells on the surface of your skin to die rapidly so that new ones can take over! This process lets your skin exfoliate itself faster, so you always have smooth, supple, and young-looking skin!

Rapid cell turnover and exfoliation also help eliminate dark under-eye circles due to hyperpigmentation for a more even skin tone.

Retinol slows down collagen breakdown to retain your skin’s plumpness, firmness, and elasticity.

Collagen is a vital protein produced by fibroblasts in your connective tissues. It functions as a glue or scaffolding to your bones, muscles, and skin (among others). Without it, your muscles and skin lose mass and integrity, making your skin wrinkle and sag.

The bad news is you began losing collagen after you turned 30. Luckily, retinol works double-time to ease the situation by preventing collagen breakdown and boosting collagen production.

Retinol helps your skin bring back its firmness and elasticity and ease wrinkles, crepey skin, and saggy skin, so you’ll look years younger!

Also, having enough good-quality collagen will make the skin on your under-eye area look plumper and less thin and sunken. This helps reduce the appearance of dark circles under your eyes, and end your days of looking sleep-deprived all the time!

The benefits of retinol make it an excellent ingredient in eye creams. Essentially, it slows down and reverses the visible signs of aging that are so pronounced in your eye area.

4. Chrysin

Chrysin is a flavonoid, a substance naturally found in plants. It’s an anti-inflammatory agent and an antioxidant.

In a study published in the American Chemical Society (ASC), chrysin is proven to protect the keratinocytes in your epidermis. Keratinocytes originate from the bottom of the epidermis but make their way up the stratum corneum (outermost layer of the epidermis) to form a protective layer.

Simply put, chrysin protects your skin’s barrier against environmental toxins, UV rays, and all the damage they cause.

And because UV rays break down elastin— the protein responsible for your skin’s elasticity— chrysin, therefore, fights photoaging and contributes to maintaining your skin’s elasticity. This function prevents wrinkles from forming.