How to Pick the Right Eye Cream for Your Age

A damn good eye cream is a beauty essential as far as I am concerned. Choosing the right one depends on your main concerns, and they can be very different if you are 60-something or 20-something. There are some wonderful eye creams these days, and there’s at least one that’s perfect for you — whatever your age.

The Right Eye Cream for 20-Somethings

Perhaps it is wistful thinking on my part, but I like to think that the only concerns that 20-somethings have when it comes to choosing an eye cream are those brought on by too much partying. Anyway, there are ingredients to tackle dark circles and lead the world to believe that you are getting plenty of early nights.

VOYA Bright Eyes ($68) has been formulated with natural ingredients to give a wake up call to tired eyes. The key ingredient is Voya’s signature seaweed, which has vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes that are antioxidants with skin-healing and rejuvenating properties.

Mad Hippie Eye Cream ($24.99 in the shop) has a natural peptide formula that targets wrinkles, puffiness and dark circles. It features Eyeliss, a combination of three natural peptides, to combat dark circles, eliminate under-eye bags and improve puffiness.

The Right Eye Cream for 30-Somethings

It is in your 30s that the first signs of skin dehydration start and perhaps even a little laugh line or two.

La Vie Celeste Restorative Rose Hydrosol Eye Cream ($60 in the shop) is a gentle, silky cream. The key ingredient in this hydrating eye cream is R-lipoic acid, a chirally correct form of alpha lipoic acid. This “universal antioxidant” helps fight both future skin damage and repair damage done in the past by diminishing fine lines, giving skin a healthy glow.

Innarah VenoDefense Eye Treatment Sèrum Hydrating Eye Treatment Sèrum ($150) is a hydrating eye serum that strengthens the connective tissue around the eye area while firming skin and smoothing fine lines. It has apolactoferrin, which stimulates natural hyaluronic acid production, snow algae to prevent UV damage and Syn-ake to prevent expression lines.

Skinfinite LOL Eye Serum ($49 in the shop) is a soothing gel that decreases eye puffiness while reducing dark circles and wrinkles around the eyes by firming the skin. There’s a good blend of peptides and botanicals in this formula.

Sevani Eye Repair Age Defying Eye Crème ($65 in the shop) effectively tones, tightens and brightens the eye area using an infusion of caffeine, CoQ10, peptides and botanicals.

The Right Eye Cream for 40-Somethings

This is typically the decade when those laughter lines start to give some character to the face and crow’s feet become something of a permanent feature. This is where a good anti-aging eye cream comes in.

Sciote Peptide+Defense Firming Eye Creme ($65 in the shop) is an excellent value eye cream that has an aloe base along with glycolic and lactic acids. These exfoliants help clarify and smooth the skin, encouraging wrinkle repair. There’s also coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant that helps neutralize harmful free radicals, one of the causes of aging.

Skinfinite LOL Eye Serum ($45) is a soothing gel that decreases eye puffiness while reducing dark circles and wrinkles around the eyes by firming the skin. There’s a good blend of peptides and botanicals.

Amarte Eyeconic Eye Cream ($55 in the shop) has a 3.8% concentration of retinol coupled with a nano-encapsulated epidermal growth factor. This is a good and very well formulated eye cream for tackling fine lines and is surprisingly non-irritating despite the dose of retinol.

The Right Eye Cream for 50-Somethings

The biggest change (which came for me around late 40s and 50-ish) may be the arrival of crepiness under the eyes and on the lids. This is also the decade where the menopause can bring on some confusing hormonal changes that effect the skin and especially the eye area. Worry not, there are some eye creams that will help make your 50s your favorite decade.

Osmotics Blue Copper 5 Prime for Eye ($98 in the shop) has been specifically formulated for the menopausal among us. It has a hefty dose of copper peptides, acetyl tetrapeptide-2 (a peptide that is supposed to firm the skin) and Matrixyl 3000. It smooths crepey skin and gives the lids a lift.

Lumavera Anti-Aging Eye Cream ($80 in the shop) has Matrixyl 3000 and Lumavera’s signature veggie blend of way too many plant extracts to mention. It’s a go-to for a brighter, more refreshed eye area and smoothing of crepe.

The Right Eye Cream for 60-Somethings

Lid lifting is often the most common goal for 60-somethings and above. Until recently, this has been a toughie without resorting to an actual surgical lift. OK, I’m not promising a miracle, but there are some very new actives that have been formulated to lift the lids.

Your Best Face Correct ($150 in the shop) has recently been given a new formula, and I think this version may be a breakthrough (look out for my full review in a few weeks). Correct has always been good at smoothing crepy skin, but now it is tackling lid droop with an ingredient called Uplevity. This is tetrapeptide-2 and it works on a gene that catalyzes the first step in the formation of crosslinks in collagens and elastin.

E’shee Alpha Omega ($284 in the shop) is a stellar eye cream that utilizes trifluoroacetyl tripeptide-2. Known as TT2, this peptide can reduce “sagging and slacking” (according to the manufacturer), as well as improve firmness and elasticity.