Whether topical caffeine can actually visibly affect your skin is a matter of debate among the scientific community — but I've gotten very into caffeine-infused eye care products in the past couple of months, and I don't plan on giving them up anytime soon. (Pro tip: store your caffeine eye cream/eye serum in the fridge — I promise, you will feel a difference!) What I have found over the course of my testing: The best caffeine eye creams all have well-rounded formulas supplemented by smoothing, hydrating, and brightening ingredients (think bakuchiol or retinol, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidants); Go with the cream that best targets your specific eye care concerns. Beyond that, choosing the right one for you will mostly come down to formula preference (like whether you prefer lightweight gels or rich creams).
Ahead, you'll find five of the best eye creams that contain caffeine, in addition to other brightening, smoothing, and hydrating ingredients, plus one pack of caffeine-infused eye gels. Scroll on to find your perfect eye cream match.
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A Decadent Eye Cream With All The Key Ingredients
Infused with a luxurious blend of botanicals and marine-derived ingredients, like sea buckthorn berry, evening primrose, and algae extracts, as well as thermal water sourced from Hungary's Carpathian Valley, this eye cream from Peter Thomas Roth feels decadent, rich, and refreshing upon application. Even more impressively, it contains lipids, peptides, and yes, caffeine (aka all the ingredients you could want in an eye cream) for further smoothing and moisturizing benefits. In fact, considering the formula, it's surprising that this eye cream costs less than $50.
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A "Clean" Eye Cream With Bakuchiol & Peptides
Follain is an under-the-radar clean beauty brand that makes some really lovely products — like this "Firm + Brighten" eye cream. The formula contains a blend of plant-based antioxidants (like apple extract and kakadu plum, which are rich in skin-brightening vitamin C) and moisturizers like squalane and rosehip oil — two of my personal favorite ingredients to find in any sort of cream. You'll also find caffeine and those ever-important peptides for depuffing and plumping, but the real star here is bakuchiol, a plant-derived alternative to retinol that's known for its skin-smoothing benefits.
Editor's note: check out more skin care products with bakuchiol, here.
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A Lightweight Eye Serum With Hyaluronic Acid
For people who aren't fans of rich creams, there are eye serums instead. They do the same job, but their lightweight formulas absorb like water, so they feel barely perceptible on skin. This one, from French pharmacy brand Vichy, contains hydrating hyaluronic acid, caffeine, and the brand's own volcanic water to combat dry, tired-feeling skin for up to 24 hours.
And here's a tip: Serums might be the better choice for you if you tend to wake up with puffy eyes after applying eye cream the night prior. Since serums absorb so deeply into skin, they don't run the risk of melting into your eyes, like eye creams can.
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A Protective Eye Cream With Sunscreen & Retinol
This splurge-worthy eye cream from Murad is the best choice if you're looking for some extra under-eye protection, thanks to its SPF of 15 (still, that doesn't mean you can skimp out on your daily facial sunscreen). Key ingredients in the formula include skin-smoothing retinol and depuffing caffeine, plus traditional moisturizers like shea butter and avocado oil. It also contains some light diffusers to give your under-eye area a generally softer, more well-rested appearance.
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A Cooling Eye Gel For Less Than $10
Despite their small sizes, eye creams tend to be among the most expensive skin care products out there. In fact, it's nearly impossible to find a decent one for less than $20. Enter: This "fast fix" eye gel from clean beauty brand Alba Botanica, which comes in a teeny tiny tube (perfect for stowing in your bag) with a teeny tiny price tag. The lightweight, water-based formula contains a host of reliable moisturizing ingredients like glycerin, aloe, and sodium hyaluronate, as well as skin-rejuvenating caffeine and antioxidant-rich green tea. It's probably not going to give you any long-term results, but for on-the-go refreshing whenever you need it, it's a nice little product to keep on hand.
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Before applying your caffeine-infused eye cream, slap on these caffeine-infused eye gels. From clean beauty brand Acure, these vegan and cruelty-free patches are made of cooling hydrogel, which feels especially refreshing on tired skin when stored in the fridge. In addition to rejuvenating ginseng extract and caffeine, they also contain superfoods like green tea and kale. Try out the other "flavors," too, which include Detox-Depuff Charcoal Lemonade, Radically Rejuvenating (with cucumber and silk tree), and Seriously Soothing (with arnica and blue tansy).
