What’s the Best Eye Cream for Anti Aging? I Reviewed the Science Behind Every Single Ingredient in 5 of the Most Popular Eye Creams
There are so many companies trying to market their skin care products to you, that it becomes very difficult to filter through the noise. What’s worse is that most of the ingredients used in these products aren’t even proven to do what they claim.
For example, one common “trick” that’s used in the industry needs to be addressed, and I’m not talking about Photoshop, or airbrushing. Moisturizing your skin will naturally reduce the look of fine lines or wrinkles. Think of leaves, when they’re moisturized, and fresh, they look vibrant, and healthy. But, when the leaves dry out, they look withered, old and have a ton of tiny fine lines:
Our skin is similar, and because of this, many eye creams and anti-aging serums will simply use a highly moisturizing base to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, without any sort of deeper effect. I went through every single ingredient listed in some of the most popular eye creams, across a wide price range to figure out which ingredients will actually affect your wrinkles, dark circles, and under eye bags. I will preface this by saying I am not a skin care chemist, but I do have a Master’s degree in Neuroscience which has given me the background to understand much of the jargon in the dermatology and cosmetic science research articles.
So, I present the results of my time examining hundreds of ingredients, in order of ascending price:
Neutrogena — Rapid Wrinkle Repair Eye Cream
Price: $20 for 15mL
Neutrogena’s eye cream offering contains a total of 29 ingredients, and only 2 of those have been shown to have a statistically significant effect on signs of aging. These 2 ingredients are retinol and Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). However, an observant eye will notice these ingredients are right near the end of the ingredient list, meaning there are minuscule amounts in the formula. To avoid being misleading, I’d like to mention that these ingredients should not be included at too high of a concentration, as they could cause irritation to the skin. In fact, researchers that showed the significant effects of these ingredients used retinol at 0.4% and vitamin C at 3%.
The first ingredient in their ingredient list is water, and the second is a moisturizer. To complicate the issue further, vitamin C may not have any effect in this base, as the ascorbic acid form is unstable in water. The rest of the ingredient list is filled with various moisturizers and other ingredients that will likely make skin look nicer by increasing moisture, but will not have any deeper effect on any signs of aging.
However, I can not ignore that they did at least use vitamin C and retinol in their formulation, so, even if just by the retinol alone, the product will likely reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Thus, it is a decent eye cream for the price.
Olay Eyes — Ultimate Eye Cream
Price: $25 for 13mL
Another drug store brand, and another product with water as the first ingredient. Olay’s product also utilizes 2 active ingredients niacinamide — which is naturally found in our skin, and has been shown to reduce wrinkles and hyperpigmentation — and a synthetic peptide referred to as Matrixyl (Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4). This peptide has, in 5+ peer-reviewed studies, significantly decreased wrinkles, improved skin roughness, and improved wrinkle depth. Olay includes lists this peptide much earlier in the list than Neutrogena, and since so little has been shown to have significant effects, I am confident there is enough in this product to work well. However, similar to Neutrogena, Olay’s product is filled with moisturizers and other compounds that will reduce the look of wrinkles without having any deeper effect.
In sum, I would suggest Olay’s product would likely be a step up from Neutrogena’s, if only because I am relatively confident the active ingredient is included at a concentration that will work. But I still don’t like paying for water as a first ingredient.
Estée Lauder — Advanced Night Repair Eye — Supercharged Complex.
Price: $62 for 15mL
Now we step away from the drug store (unless its a fancy one), and into the higher-end department stores. Into the world of luxury beauty, where we pay more to get better results…right? Estee Lauder’s eye cream touts a massive ingredient list over 50 items long. Of those 50 ingredients, only 1 has been proven by peer-reviewed research to reduce the signs of aging: Vitamin E (Tocopherol).
Before I massively bash Estee Lauder’s formula (which, once again, has a silicone and water as the first 2 ingredients), I will acknowledge they are going a different way with this product. And, that way, is in the direction of potential. The main ingredient that Estee Lauder claims will “help promote skin’s natural repair process,” which they dub “ChronoluxCB,” is a yeast extract (Bifida Ferment Lysate). But the only peer reviewed research I could find on this compound’s use on human skin was a 2010 study in which it helped to reduce skin sensitivity. Estee Lauder’s formula also includes a bunch of different plant extracts such as apple, chamomile, watermelon, mushroom, lentil, daffodil, soybean, birch, plankton, algaes, etc. Although these may sound lovely, and indeed likely contain some vitamin C, E, or A, their efficacy in reducing the signs of aging is once again, unproven, and again is just… potential.
In sum, if you want to take a gamble, and just trust Estee Lauder’s marketing, rather than science, then buy their eye cream. But, when you can get Olay’s product for less than half the price, I wouldn’t do it.
Biopelle — Tensage Radiance Eye Cream
Price: $87 for 15mL
Biopelle, a lesser known brand, is primarily distributed in dermatology clinics and laser clinics/medi-spas. However, in researching popular eye creams, their product continued to come up. The ingredient list is another big one, with a total of 43 ingredients. However, it was a pleasure to go through the list, as I continued to run into compounds with actual peer-reviewed research behind them, including the SECOND INGREDIENT!
Although the first ingredient is water, Biopelle’s 2nd ingredient is an extract from the secretions of snails, which has actually been proven to significantly improve eye wrinkles.
Having an active ingredient so early on is very promising, and indeed, Biopelle’s formula continued to impress me, as it touts 2 more active ingredients proven in anti-aging, along with many others that will improve the appearance and deeper moisturization of the skin, such as squalene and hyaluronic acid. The formula also includes a few other ingredients that will likely exert anti-aging effects (although have not been proven by a peer-reviewed human study) such as purslane extract, superoxide dismutase, hexyl nicotinate, and acetyl tetrapeptide-5.
The two other proven active ingredients are:
· Vitamin E (Tocopherol) — which delays the breakdown of collagen, and protects against photoaging.
· Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5 — A synthetic peptide that significantly reduced the appearance of wrinkles in a study of 60 people.
In sum, Biopelle’s anti-wrinkle cream is the best thus far. However, just because the product includes more proven ingredients, does not necessarily mean it will have any greater effects than any single ingredient. But, at least in comparison to Estee Lauder’s eye cream, it is refreshing to see multiple ingredients with real science backing their efficacy for anti-aging. Is it worth 3 times the price of Olay’s product? I suppose that’s up to you, but I do suspect Biopelle’s cream will have a greater effect on reducing signs of aging.
La Mer — The Eye Concentrate
Price: $225 for 15mL
Finally, La Mer. The brand mentioned by Kate Hudson, Chrissy Teigen, and many other celebrities as their go-to. I’ll first mention, La Mer is owned by Estee Lauder, so don’t be fooled by the appearance of competition here (they also own quite a few other brands in this space — and have an undisclosed stake in Deciem — owner of The Ordinary — one of my personal favourite companies to get my skin care products). Anyways, on to the eye cream…
La Mer’s eye concentrate has a massive 73 item ingredient list (which I exhaustively went through one item at a time…). In comparison to the previous products I would describe their eye cream as a mix between the Estee Lauder product and the Biopelle product. La Mer’s eye concentrate has a ton of ingredients with potential anti-aging effects, and also includes some that have proven anti-aging effects.
First, La Mer’s main ingredient, that they use in all, or at least most, of their products, is their “Miracle Broth.” To allow them to describe it:
“In the pristine waters off of Vancouver Island, we hand-harvest the kelp in an effort to help support its sustainability for generations to come. One of the fastest growing plants in the world, with exceptional self-regenerating powers, Giant Sea Kelp is at the heart of the Miracle Broth.”
Funnily enough, I did my bachelor’s degree at the University of Victoria, which happens to be on Vancouver Island. I guess the water was fairly nice, but it’s just the Pacific Ocean, it’s not some miraculous, secret body of water.
On their ingredient list, this “Miracle Broth” is simply listed as Algae extract, and is indeed the first ingredient of their eye concentrate. I could not find a peer-reviewed study on the topical use of algae extract for anti-aging. However, a 2017 review article from the University of Porto in Portugal describes a plethora of possible benefits that may come from macroalgae derived ingredients, including antiaging, antioxidant, moisturizing, anti-inflammatory, and collagen-boosting effects. Thus, although it may not be proven to have these effects in humans, this “Miracle Broth” may actually be the miracle ingredient La Mer claims it to be.
But there are still 72 other ingredients to dissect, so let’s get into it. The 2nd ingredient here is unfortunately, once again, water. Of the remaining ingredients (ignoring the various moisturizing agents, oils and salts, compounds included for consistency, color, and ingredient delivery), there are those that have potential for anti-aging effects, and those that are proven.
First, those that have not been proven efficacious in on human skin, but in theory have potential benefits:
· Yeast extracts — likely similar to those found in the estee lauder eye cream
· More Algae extracts
· Botanicals — extracts, powders or oils from: dwarf everlast, buckwheat seed, alfalfa seed, sunflower seed, sweet almond seed, eucalyptus leaf, sesame seed, St. Paul’s Wort, oat kernel
· Gluconates — compounds that combine with minerals for better skin absorption. La Mer’s formula includes Sodium, Calcium, Copper, Magnesium, Zinc and Iron Gluconates.
· Tetraacetylphytosphingosine and phytosphingosine — may act as an anti-inflammatory and help treat/prevent dark circles
· Hesperidin Methyl Chalcone — a citrus derivative — claimed to improve dark circles undereyes
· Aminopropyl Ascorbyl Phosphate — A cutting edge derivative of Vitamin C. This derivative should be more stable in water than the Vitamin C in Neutrogena’s compound. I suspect this also helps to reduce its interaction with copper compounds, which this formula also contains.
· Dipeptide-2 — also claimed to reduce under-eye bags
And, those that have actually been proven through peer-reviewed research on humans:
· Soybean extract — 2 studies showed increased collagen, and improvement in fine lines, texture and skin tone
· Niacin — which should have the same effect as niacinamide — study of 30 women showed a significant reduction in eye wrinkles
· Saccharomyces/Copper Ferment — Although this specific compound has not been proven, I suspect it is similar to Copper Tripeptide (Cu-GHK), but just fermented in yeast for better bioavailability. Many studies have shown the effects of Copper tripeptide in improving firmness, elasticity, reducing wrinkles, and improving collagen.
· Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
· Palmitoyl Tripeptide — 3–1 study of 60 people showed reduced wrinkles and skin roughness
· Acetyl hexapeptide — 8 — AKA Argireline — similar effect to Botox, as it inhibits release of neurotransmitters (which would activate muscle movements). 2 studies, with 10 and 60 people, have shown improvement in eye wrinkles and reduction in wrinkle fold depth, respectively
· Acetyl Glucosamine — may have multiple potential benefits for the skin, but has specifically been shown in one study to improve wrinkles around the eyes.
In sum, La Mer’s eye concentrate is indeed the most likely of these eye creams to have the most significant effect on signs of aging. However, I simply can not recommend it for the price. You could have Botox injections done for the price of two of these creams, and that would likely have a more significant and immediate effect. But, if the price is of no concern, La Mer’s eye concentrate would be a good choice.
I hope this article was informative. It took quite a while to put together as I culled through the ingredient list of each product one item at a time, and scoured a couple dozen peer-reviewed articles. For those wondering what eye cream I’d actually recommend? I personally wouldn’t use any of those listed and would opt for one of the products from The Ordinary. In particular I’d use “the buffet + copper peptides” — which is double the size of the cheapest eye cream on this list for the same price. Kind of makes you wonder how much these skin care companies are really ripping us off huh?
I don’t include links here to any of the products as I’m in no way affiliated with any of these brands, nor do I make any sales or commissions from this article. If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear them. And, if you found this informative, please share it with your friends/colleagues!
References:
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