I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You don’t NEED an eye cream in your routine. If you love yours I’m all for you using it but if you’re a minimalist, breathe a sigh of relief because most of you can cross that step right off your list.
One good way to see if you really need your eye cream is to see what active ingredient you like or is best for you concerns. If it’s a retinoid you’re seeking and you’re already using one on the rest of your face, why not dilute with a bit of moisturizer and kill two birds with one stone? Same with peptides, Vitamin C, ceramides or hydrators. If caffeine is your hero eye cream ingredient? Keep buying it because you won’t find a lot of non-eye creams that contain it.
I’m not saying the skin around the eyes isn’t special. That skin is the thinnest, most sensitive and, often, the most reactive skin on your face. So eye cream manufacturers try to respect that- they decrease the concentration of irritating active ingredients and try not to pump them full of clogging ingredients that can cause little cysts called milia. There’s definitely a reason that people keep making these tiny little jars. BUT if you want to toss one bottle that’s in your skincare shelfie, it might be your eye cream. Instead, you might be able to get an eye cream-like product just by adding a bit of your favorite bland moisturizer to your anti-aging cream. Just something to think about. Your pocketbook will probably thank you.