15 best eye creams and serums to combat dark circles, fine lines, and puffiness

Presented in a compact bottle with a mess-free pump applicator, this eye cream felt immediately refreshing on our skin. Key ingredients include hydration-promoting hyaluronic acid and brightening and balancing elderberry flower and glycogen. The midweight formula has a slightly glossy sheen, which adds a luxe, silky finish and instantly brightened up the skin around our tired peepers.

This eye cream absorbs well and leaves a lingering layer of radiance on the surface of the skin, which we found temporarily improved the appearance of dark circles. Because of how smoothing this eye cream is, we noted it’s an ideal primer for helping concealers stay put, too.

A gentle eye cream, this formula is enriched with skin-barrier-protecting ceramides and has a soothing salve-style formula. It’s fragrance-free and non-comedogenic, so the cream is suitable for sensitive skin and won’t block pores for those prone to blemishes, either.

The ingredients meant this product left our skin feeling gently moisturised, with hyaluronic acid in there to draw hydration to the surface, too. It’s a no-frills budget buy that offers moisturising benefits, and we grabbed it on days our under-eye area felt dull or dry.

This purse-friendly tube of eye cream costs £15 and contains ceramides, peptides and squalene for hydration and supporting the skin’s natural barrier. The eye cream feels comforting on skin and has a silky-soft texture.

We noted a little bit of this product went a long way and covered a large amount of the delicate skin around our eyes. While the formula has a midweight richness to it, the eye cream isn’t heavy and instead feels gently enriching. We noticed fine lines looked slightly smoother upon application of this cream.

If you’re seeking a serum rather than an eye cream, this is a lightweight, cooling option. It’s thanks to key components such as peptides, caffeine and niacinamide that we noted our skin looked brighter and the tone slightly more balanced.

The transparent serum is water-based and soaks into skin rapidly. It doesn’t leave any residue, and we liked how hydrating the multi-tasking formula is for puffiness, fine lines and dry skin.

It’s presented in a recyclable glass bottle, and the pipette dropper applicator enables easy use.

Read our full The Ordinary multi-peptide eye serum review

This retinal eye cream is available in three different strengths, so you can shop according to your skin’s sensitivity level. Its main ingredient, retinaldehyde (AKA retinal), targets fine lines and skin texture and is joined by hydrating hyaluronic acid and ceramides, which help protect the barrier.

Due to our sensitive skin, we used this eye cream two to three times a week but it can be applied more often after a fortnight of use. The formula offers a smoothing finish on skin, with a moisturising effect. As with all retinal and retinol products, it will take a while to see the long-term results.

Boasting an appealing texture – somewhere between a gel and balm – this eye cream feels comforting on skin. We noticed it enriched our delicate under-eye skin with moisture and left a lingering softness that added subtle radiance, too.

Rich but not too cloying or too heavy, the texture of this eye cream delivers welcome hydration, which we saw and felt for several hours. This effect helped our fine lines look a little less noticeable, and the hydrating benefits counteracted any dullness.

This luxurious eye cream has a glossy finish and immediately added luminous radiance to our skin. The midweight product contains natural retinol alternative bakuchiol, as well as vitamin C, peptides and oils containing omegas. While it’s undeniably a major splurge, we noticed our skin looked brightened and, as a result, dark circles appeared less noticeable after application. We also liked how soft our skin felt after dabbing the cream around our eyes, leaving a visible smoothness. Plus, it has a pump applicator, for hygienic ease.

What’s unique about this eye cream is its twist-up pot, which has an easy release and has been designed for those with long nails. The cream has an array of hydrating, balancing, and brightening ingredients, including hyaluronic acid, caffeine and niacinamide. We found it calming for puffiness in the morning, too. The texture is buttery-soft, which makes it glide across the delicate under-eye area, and we didn’t see any greasy residue, just a silky-smooth skincare layer. Plus, because of how rich the cream is, a little dab goes a long way.

This is a midweight white cream that turns into a transparent layer as it’s absorbed, and we found the consistency to be softening on skin. This product contains peptides and hyaluronic acid as well as phyto-retinol, which is a plant-based alternative to the real thing, and less likely to irritate skin. We found it to offer a smoothing layer on skin, creating the illusion of our fine lines being lessened. While it’s richly glossy, the cream also has a welcome cooling feel and helped improve the look of puffiness, too.

Formulated specifically with dark circles in mind, ingredients include niacinamide, shea butter and caffeine. Plus, this tube of eye cream comes complete with a cooling applicator. When we popped the metal tip straight onto our skin, we felt and saw an initial improvement to puffiness. Meanwhile, the midweight hydrating formula itself is light and gentle on skin, which would appeal if you’re not a fan of thick eye creams.

The peach-coloured cream has a correcting element for brightening blue and brown dark circles, and we noted this product did help improve their appearance.

This eye cream comes in a tube and has a pointed tip for precise application. The No7 product was created to help with dark circles and puffiness, with an ingredients list that includes shea butter, hyaluronic acid, ginseng extract and an antioxidant complex.

We found the cream subtly smoothed over fine lines, especially ahead of applying make-up. Quite a bit comes out at once, and the lightweight cream is more like a lotion, but it does absorb easily. Skin felt supple and softened after application, thanks to this cream’s lightly moisturising effects.

Formulated for sensitive skin, this eye cream contains soothing cotton extract and aloe vera. When we dabbed the glossy, balm-like cream around our eyes, we instantly felt a comforting effect. We also found the cream gradually absorbed after simply dotting it onto skin, so there was no need for rubbing in.

We saw a smooth-looking under-eye area but, most of all, our skin felt significantly soothed. We also like the chunky bottle, complete with a pump applicator and Burt’s Bees logo-emblazoned lid.

Presented in a white bottle with minimalist branding, this eye cream contains CBD, hyaluronic acid, squalane and vitamin E. This is a midweight formula that has a glossy finish when sliding across skin, and we saw a gentle shine as it soaked in. After the cream absorbed, we had softened skin with an added subtle radiance. Plus, our under-eye area felt supple, and the hydrating cream helped soothe early morning puffiness.

The cream easily smoothed over the skin beneath our fatigued peepers, offering a moisturising layer for tight dryness, too.

What we liked most about this cream is its rich, balmy texture, which feels suitably soothing on parched skin. Created for dry skin, the formula’s ingredients include aloe vera and vitamin E to provide comforting moisture. As such, we saw this extra hydration help combat the appearance of any puffiness.

The softening formula glides onto skin without the need for much rubbing in, which is ideal for the delicate under-eye area. Plus, a tiny bit goes a long way, so, this premium-priced pot should last ages. If you’re looking for an intense hydration boost, this is the eye cream for you.

This tinted cream contains key ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, sunflower-seed oil, glycerine and peptides. We pushed down the tall bottle’s pump-release applicator, while pressing the cooling wand tip to our eye area. Application felt luxurious, and our tired eyes appreciated the refreshing relief, which helped improve early morning puffiness, too. We saw a subtle smoothing of fine lines after applying the cream, and gentle illumination to dark circles.

Because it’s tinted, this product is particularly effective on bare-face days, or if you prefer not to wear a lot of make-up.