2016 What worked for me

I thought that I would narrow it down to one product. And this is it. Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate or FECC from NIOD. It worked for me in 2016.

I came somewhat kicking and screaming to NIOD, I liked the idea but not really the application, the textures were alien, they disappeared into my skin without a trace of neither scent nor feeling and I struggled on with grim determination gaining no pleasure but a gradual improvement in skin texture and appearance. But this is not about the whole range, this is about FECC.

So this is an eye product. Light in texture, but not as light as water, it has a viscosity to it. No smell. It comes in a brown glass bottle with a dropper and one tiny drop is enough for both eyes. It can be applied all over the eye lid, top lid and bottom lid. It smooths easily over both lids, without any dragging.

Now my eye problems are well documented on this blog, I don't do eye shadow because I have baggy saggy eyelids, they are 50 years old and the rest, I have awnings for eyelids, I can fold them over many times, you know the pencil test for boobs, well I can apply that to my eye lids blah blah. I am unlikely to find and eye product which would firm up my eyelids, only surgery could remove the excess skin, but what this product did was get rid of the puffiness of both upper and lower lids, it sort of clarified the whole area and made it look younger.

The bottle has lasted me over six months and I have purchased another bottle. It does not moisturise particularly and I do use another eye cream over the top, what can I say? so many eye products, so little time. 

More information from Victoria Health and Deciem.

Omorovicza Blue Diamond Eye Cream

Okay I make no bones about this being an expensive product. It is £165 for 15mls. I haven't purchased it, I don't have that amount of spare cash, but I have secured 4mls worth of samples decanted into a little pot, see below.

And my little pot has lasted me the best part of six weeks, am and pm use.

The eye cream is designed to tackle dark circles, puffiness, wrinkles and upper eyelid sagging.

Now I don't have dark circles particularly, I can get a bit puffy first thing, and any eye wrinkles I have are not particularly bothersome. What I have is eyelid sagging. I have said before that I have awnings for eyelids - you know the pencil test for boobs? Well I could fit a pencil case under my eyelids, I can fold them over several times, and it is as it is, I can't afford surgery, so I make the best of it, ie no eyeshadow ever.

But but but, my month's use of this eye product has made a smidge, an imperceptible (except to me) shift in the space time continuum - I can see a tightening in my upper eyelid.

Now of course I should have taken before and after photos, but I didn't. I have secured another couple of sample sachets via a couple of orders from Omorovicza and I will start again but you know what? I am saving up because this product has worked for me and that is phenomenal.

The ingredients are: Aqua (Hungarian Thermal Water), Glycerin, Aqua (Water), Ethylhexyldodecanol, Squalane, Methylsilanol Mannuronate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Stearyl Heptanoate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Phosphate, Arginine, Saccharomyces (Hungarian Thermal Water) Ferment Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Albizia Julibrissin Bark Extract, Pullulan, Carbomer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Prunus Domestica Seed Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Methyl Glucoside Phosphate Proline Lysine Copper Complex, Tocopherol, Disodium EDTA, Tropaeolum Majus Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract, Parfum (Fragrance), Xanthan Gum, Copper Gluconate, Phospholipids, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Darutoside, Acetyl Pentapeptide, Diamond, Silica, Linalool, Limonene, Geraniol.

Something New - Liz Earle Superskin Eye Cream

I don't need a new eye cream, I am perfectly happy with my Charlotte Tilbury Magic Eye Rescue thank-you very much (reviewed here), but when a free sample appears in the post it seems rude not to give it a go.

So Liz Earle Superskin Eye Cream is the newest edition to her Superskin range, which is aimed I suppose at me, with older crappier skin, not that all older skin is crap but mine has woes which seem inexorable so I have to do the best with what I have got - in the eye area that is dark circles and baggy eyelids, the latter I am resigned to, the former I want to disguise.

The premise is that this product will be an eye cream for all ages from mid twenties to sixties and beyond with high levels of plant based botanical ingredients - listed below

Ingredients: Aqua (water), Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), Sodium polyacrylate, Borago officinalis seed oil, Rosa rubiginosa seed oil, Myristyl myristate, Vaccinium macrocarpon (cranberry) seed oil, Soybean glycerides, Propanediol, Tocopherol (vitamin E), Camellia sinensis (green tea) leaf extract, Punica granatum fruit extract, Medicago sativa (alfalfa) seed extract, Spilanthes acmella flower extract, Alaria esculenta extract, Rheum rhaponticum root extract, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium stearoyl glutamate, Lactobacillus ferment lysate, Butyrospermum parkii butter unsaponifiables, Sodium hyaluronate, Xanthan gum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae extract, Hydrolyzed lupine protein, Arginine, Trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate, Lactobacillus ferment, Hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid, Chlorphenesin, Caffeine, Ethylhexylglycerin, Aspartic acid, Ascorbyl palmitate, Sodium chloride, Citric acid.

And it is reassuring for me to see borage seed oil and rosehip seed oil high up in the ingredients list.

Now there is not much that one can tell from a 2mls sachet - I eked out four applications pm, am, pm, am. And what I found was that the texture is a cream rather than a lotion, it does not have a fragrance that I can tell, it felt instantly cooling but sank in rather too quickly for my liking - I may investigate further but currently I am happy with my Charlotte Tilbury Magic Eye Cream

£35 for 15mls

Charlotte Tilbury Eye Magic Rescue

This is the new eye cream from Charlotte Tilbury, I had seen that it was out before Christmas and having had somewhat unexpected success with her Magic Cream, I decided to try a sample, which turned into two samples and then I had to purchase the full size, it was that good.

I am a bit of a sucker for an eye cream, I think partly it is because I have quite low expectations in that I was virtually born with awnings for eyelids and nothing other than surgery will improve that, so I enjoy eye creams safe in the knowledge that they are not going to change my eye area hugely. 

But I do have some pre-requisites. I want a product that doesn't have a scent, I want a texture which allows for some massage, and I want it to not sink without a trace, but then neither do I want something which sits around for ages, and causes my eyeliner to migrate down my cheeks.

And this ticks all the boxes for me. It has a mild scent of nothing very much, inoffensive. But it is the texture which did it for me. It has a beautiful slightly sticky gel cream, not sticky in a cheap old lipgloss way, but more that it has a substance, a presence, there is something to work with, a bit like a liqui-cream texture, there is something serumy, and a little bit oily but again in a good way that affords some decent massage around the eye to get the product in and enable a bit of puffiness reduction.

What I have found is that after use, my under eye area especially feels smoother, as if there has been some resurfacing, and although I feel a bit as if it is wishful thinking because I have only been using the product for three weeks, I am sure that the milia in my eye area have reduced, and that is no bad thing.

£40 for 15mls jar.

Aurelia Revitalise and Brighten Eye Dew Refill

I have written about this before, but how lovely to receive a hand written note along with a re-purchase within its hand wrapped package.

Now previously the Eye Dew was only available as part of the Eye Revitalising Duo which Aurelia produces, and which contains the Revitalise & Brighten Eye Dew (10mls) and the Illuminate & Smooth Puff Reduction Eye Cream (15mls). 

When I first purchased this duo I whizzed through the Eye Dew, not within days or weeks mind you. I finished it just shy of three months, the Illuminate & Smooth lasting a good four months. And whilst I would repurchase because I found the products to be both a joy to use, but also an effective joy to use, soothing and revitalising in equal measure, the Eye Dew in particular was a bit of revelation. It really is a dew like consistency, and for my aged and bagging eyelids I feared that it would be a bit like an excuse for an eye cream, all style over substance. But it really did both hydrate and nourish, calm and moisturise.

However £90 is a considered purchase to me.

This refill is not really a refill in that it is a full size product complete with its metal roller ball, but it is missing its partner. And at £40 I can cope with that. 

I do hope that Aurelia consider making the Illuminate & Smooth Puff Reduction Eye Cream a single purchase also.

Sunday Riley Start Over Active Eye Cream

I have almost used this up, and I reckon I will have had around six months use of it, day and night.

So this is a thick gel cream texture, thick in that it retains it shape when pumped out, and it feels thick when spread around the eyes, not so thick that it does not spread easily, but it needs some massaging in which in my opinion is no bad thing. It has no discernible scent that I can discern at any rate.

I am not a hundred percent sure about this eye cream even now that I am almost finished it. 

The positives are that I like the texture, the thickness and massageability is perfect. I like that it is unscented. I like that it feels instantly cooling and tightening on my eye lids, it does not interfere with any other product which I put on before or after, there is no pilling off. Also although it is £65, that is for 30mls where most eye products are 15mls in size.

But for me it irritates and stings, not on every application but every now and again even after six months of use.

I also have a problem with the packaging. This is housed in a glass bottle with a pump. The pump has ceased to function but I still have a good couple of weeks worth left of pumps and no way to get the product out which does not include a hammer.

Interestingly in the Cult Beauty goodie bag which I purchased at Christmas, there was a 15mls tube of the Active Eye Cream.

With a metal applicator, cue extra cooling.

Ingredients: Prickly Pear Extract, Blue Agave Extract, Lady's Slipper Orchid Extract, Cactus Extract, Olea Europea Fruit Extract, Rosa Rubiginosa Seed Oil, Methylsilanol Carboxymethyl Theophylline, Butylene Glycol, PEG-75 Meadowsol, Ammonium Polyacrylate, Isohexadecane, PEG-40 Castor Oil, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium, Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Glucosamine HLC, Urea, Artemisia Vulgaris Extract, Lecithin, Cholesterol Olry, Cholesteryl Chloride, Punica Granatum, Astaxanthin, Lycopene, Alpha D-Tocopherol, Thioctic Acid, Lutein, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben, DMDM Hydantoin  

Currently £65 for 30mls.

Verso Super Eye Serum

Sometimes I research and spend time with samples and testing before committing to full purchase and other times I throw caution to the wind and go ahead and buy almost without a care.

Thus it was with Verso Super Eye Serum. Being completely honest, I had received a sample with a recent Cult Beauty order and became rather interested in this Swedish brand and its emphasis on retinol as a key ingredient. I decanted the sample into a little pot and then with another order I requested another sample, which I added to the little pot.

So this is a light eye serum. And the texture really is extremely light, not watery disappearing into the skin light, but a very light gel. 

It does apply easily around the eyes without dragging, and whilst there is a little initial stinging, it quickly dissipates, and it is not unpleasant stinging if that makes sense. It does have a distinctive fresh almost floral scent which I did not like to start with but I am now used to it, and it is not a deal breaker. It is not moisturising enough on its own for my eyes, but once applied it does sink in and I go on to apply an eye cream over the top without pilling or product roll off.

I used it for four straight days, am and pm before deciding to purchase the full size. And the reasons I decided to purchase were fourfold - 

• I decided to purchase because even in the four days there was a difference in the texture of my upper and lower eyelids, imperceptible to the eye but perceptible on the finger, as I subsequently applied the product and other products on top of it, the skin has felt progressively smoother and tighter, bold claims but that is what I have noticed. 
• I do not have an eye serum, my skincare regime for my face includes a serum prior to a moisturiser, so why not use a serum around the eyes?
• I am interested in the ingredients of this product, and specifically retinyl retionate, which as I understand is a form of Vitamin A (which is what retinol is), but which is said to be eight times more effective that retinol and in skincare has been proven to reduce pigmentation spots, decrease fine lines and wrinkles and to improve skin elascticity - my eye concerns in a nutshell.
• There was an offer on BlowLtd where the first order received £10 off, and any purchase from the Verso range of £65 or over received a free Verso sample kit which contained 30mls of Verso Cleanser, Verso Day Cream and Verso Night Cream.

Full list of ingredients below - retinyl retinoate is quite far down but then maybe it has to be because of risk of irritation

This is currently £65 for 30mls. I will review this product fully when I have finished it.

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

Finished, used up, this product is no more. I bought this at the start of the autumn, I wanted an eye product which had a bit more tack and stickiness for the end of the year and into the colder months at the beginning of this year, in other words a product which would afford a bit of slip and massage but which would not sink into my withered eyelids without leaving any residue.

My eyelid issues are of the type which only surgery will rectify, in that my eyelids are slackened and loose so all that I can hope for from an eye cream is moisturisation, and I am okay with that.

So the texture of this product is two-fold, it is a thickish cream which on massage becomes thinner and more fluid, almost oil like. I am not entirely sure that I like that aspect of this product, I am happy with a thicker texture, but the change to a thinner texture means that my fingers are skidding around my eyes somewhat and this is a bit disconcerting. 

However, my eyelids have benefited from the extra massaging and a thicker texture and now that I have used this up, I am missing that extra nourishment.

At £20 for a 15mls jar, I will purchase this again.

Aurelia Eye Revitalising Duo

My eye woes are of the baggy craggy variety - I have awnings for eyelids, you have heard of the pencil test for under the boobs? Well I could support at least a couple of cocktail sticks under my upper eyelids. 

When I purchase an eye product I am not expecting it to act on my eye slackening, really I want a product which is moisturising and refreshing and a pleasure to use, and this duo from Aurelia has been a sheer delight to use.

I bought this last year. I have bought several products from Aurelia's Probiotic skincare range, and have been impressed with the texture of the products which are light, but deeply hydrating, and the scents which are again light, but inviting and pleasurable. 

This duo has a cream in a jar and a serum in a roller ball.

The Illuminate & Smooth Puff Reduction Eye Cream has a spatula and is quite dense in that it needs a spatula to get at it, but is easily dispersed and does not drag, it feels instantly hydrating, and moisturising, suprisingly so given that the texture on application really is very light.

The Revitalise & Brighten Eye Dew has a serum texture and is cased in a glass bottle with a metal roller. Instantly cooling and hydrating, I found that the serum itself was not quite moisturising enough for my eye area, but its zinginess makes up for that, and if I layered the Eye Cream over the top it was more than enough moisture and comfort.

The roller ball is reuseable in that one can purchase a refill to attach the metal ball which is perfect as I found I whizzed through the Eye Dew in a couple of months because it was so pleasurable to use. The Eye Cream was like a bottomless pit and lasted me a good four months of twice daily use.

The duo is £90 for 10mls of Eye Dew and 15mls of Eye Cream, the refill for the Eye Dew is £40. So not cheap, but so very very pleasing to use.

More information from the Aurelia website which really is worth a good look.