I’ve tested toooons of natural eye creams in clean beauty and I’m comparing and sharing my favorites in today’s guide! To eye cream or not to eye cream, let’s find out…
Are eye creams worth it?
Most clean eye creams are useless unless they have a real purpose. But if you’re curious to know which eye products I actually trust, I’ve rounded up my favorite natural and organic eye creams, serums and oils that are made with clean ingredients. These eye creams aren’t just glorified moisturizers and can help with wrinkles, crows feet, dark circles, and more.
The skin around the eyes is the first to give away our age as it’s so much thinner than the rest of our faces — plus it loses moisture 50% faster than the rest of our skin. From our teenage years we develop dark circles and puffiness from late nights studying, and as we age, we develop wrinkles, dryness and saggy bags. My personal favorite, the hollowing of the under eyes that’s genetic and can only be fixed with cosmetic procedures.
My personal opinion is that majority of eye creams are just glorified moisturizers packaged in smaller jars. I do think that using your nicest face cream or oil is going to do the same, if not better, than your standard eye cream. But still, there are some great eye products on the market formulated with special actives that the delicate eye area might need.
I prefer to use eye serums as serums are formulated to penetrate and deliver actives, or to go the other extreme of using highly occlusive eye oils or balms. Also, eye masks are life and I couldn’t live without them!
I tried INNBEAUTY Project Bright & Tight Eye Cream (best eye primer!)
I always get asked for clean eye primer recommendations, because there just aren’t clean beauty brands making eye primers and I FINAAAALLY have a recommendation I can stand behind! Innbeauty Project’s most recent launch is not just a fantastic eye cream, it’s also an effective eye primer. It really does work! This is absolutely PACKED with actives. It has: 3 types of Vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, ascorbyl glucoside, & 3-o-ethyl ascorbic acid), 3% Tranexamic Acid to brighten dark circles, Bakuchiol, Peptides, NovoRetin, Caffeine, Cedar Bark. I apply it on the top lid too because it feels and works like an eyelid primer for my makeup. Feels light yet moisturizing and helps smooth out and brighten the eye area with dare I say a tiny bit of coverage.
Best for: Dark circles, hyperpigmentation and wrinkles
Price: $34
I tried Cocokind Eye Cream or Peptide Eye Gel (Budget friendly!)
I recommend Cocokind’s eye cream and peptide eye gel for those on a tight budget or young skin that isn’t dealing with any real signs of aging yet. The cream has a true cream consistency and feels sooo hydrating and soothing thanks to its metal rollerball applicator. It also helps reduce the appearance of bags and dark circles. thanks to Persian Silk Tree for puffiness and fine lines, oat extract to lock in hydration, and hibiscus flower acids (natural source of AHAs) to gentle exfoliate. There’s no scent to this.
I also find their Peptide Eye Gel fantastic and to have the same high quality ingredients and performance as more expensive natural eye creams. It has a slightly pinkish beige hue that helps brighten the underlies and works great as a primer. It feels soooo silky and slightly creamy.
Best for: elasticity, fine lines and wrinkles
Price: $19 for eye cream / $22 for peptide eye gel
Use OBL for 10% off
I tried Three Ships First Light Vitamin C + Caffeine Eye Cream
This is a very light cream that has a simple natural and vegan formula (and they’re EWG verified!). The formula is sooo light that it tends to spill out easily and really only needs the slightest squeeze. The Acerola Cherry has 50-100x more Vitamin C than oranges or lemons to help brighten dark circles and caffeine extract has high concentrations of polyphenols and tocopherols along with palmitic acid and linoleic acid to strengthen the skin barrier. Looove the cooling ceramic tip to apply it without having to use my fingers – very sanitary and soothing! But between, this and Cocokind’s Peptide Eye Gel, I prefer Cocokind.
Best for: Hydrating, brightening and smoothing
Price: $21
Use OBL for 20% off
I tried Beekman 1802 Mushroom Milk Better Aging Eye Cream
I’m in looove with the texture of this milky eye cream – it’s just so so creamy but also very light and kind of whipped? Something about the milk has me convinced it helps with brightening. I’m a DIY lover so anything milk or yogurt I KNOW is great for brightening and tightening. This is surprisingly pretty expensive so that is its major downside. It does contain a great number of actives like 5% Hexapeptide, Goat Milk, Lions Mane (for crow’s feet), Snow Mushroom (to cool and depuff undereye bags), Reishi Mushroom (to lift and firm), Kojic Acid Fungi Ferment (to brighten dark circles), and Sclerotium Fungi to hydrate.
Best for: dark circles, fine lines & wrinkles
Price: $50
I tried OSEA Ocean Eyes Age-Defying Serum
OSEA’s eye serum feels super refreshing and cooling thanks to metal roller ball applicator. The serum is actually a liquid and feels super duper light. I consider this a hydrating boost for the eyes that’s great if you don’t like eye creams. I wouldn’t consider this a heavy duty eye product that can tackle serious signs of aging like deep wrinkles. I love that it’s still got plenty of actives like Undaria and red algae, Caffeine, hyaluronic acid, biomimetic tetrapeptide, and a bark and plant extract.
Best for: dark circles, fine lines, puffiness and crow’s feet
Price: $58
OBL saves 10%
I tried 100% Pure Super Fruit Oil Nourishing Eye Cream
100% Pure is also a longtime fave and their super fruit eye cream is super light and silky smooth with tons of antioxidants from fruits like Acai, Goji, Plum, Elderberry, Acerola. The ingredient quality is next level and has a base of organic pomegranate water and infused with avocado butter and coffee oil. Loooove the sweet earthy scent from vetiver, Cedarwood, Sage, bergamot.
Best for: elasticity, fine lines and wrinkles
Price: $32
OBL saves 20%
I tried Odacite Intense Repair Eye Cream
This new eye cream from Odacite is perfect for those who don’t like the feel of an eye cream. It sinks in immediately! It feels effortless, hydrating, silky and moisturizing! The formula is loaded with Super Antioxidant CoQ10, Peptides and Carnosine in a hydrating aloe leaf juice base and instantly improves the texture around my eyes.
Best for: Crow’s feet, fine lines, deep wrinkles, signs of fatigue, loss of collagen & firmness, glycation, loss of elasticity, dryness, sensitivity
Price: $68
I tried Dr Different Retinol Eye & Neck Cream (Balm)
I recommend this retinol eye cream for those who want something rich and deeply moisturizing. I find Vitalift to feel like an emollient balm (not a cream like name suggests) and I love that they chose retinal (20x stronger than retinol). It contains gentle 0.02% retinal to help with fine lines and wrinkles and niacinamide helps brighten dull skin. I use this at night only! There’s no scent.
Best for: wrinkles and fine lines
Price: $25
I tried Luzern Labs Nuit Eye Balm (Luxe!)
Luzern Labs is the ultimate anti-aging clean skincare line for those who want luxury and superior efficacy (I swear by their V15 Vitamin C Serum!). It’s got Peptides, high and low molecular weight Hyaluronic Acid, Niacinamide, Oxygen, the antioxidant Glabridin from Licorice Root, Swiss Alpine Organics, and Organic Honey. I find the consistency to be sooo creamy and the texture feels almost whipped. It goes on smoothly and absorbs easily, hydrating dry patches and filling out fine lines. Also there’s no scent.
Best for: Mature skin
Price: $185 for 0.5 oz
Use OBL for 15% off
I tried Herbal Face Food The Eye Cream
Okay now Herbal Face Food is not for the faint of heart. It doesn’t even contain water or any base ingredient – it’s literally just 100% plants and over a hundred of them. It’s so strong they say it can have an effect within 3 days. This all natural eye cream contains by far the most antioxidants than any other product in clean beauty. It works to fight basically any and every sign of aging (dark circles, puffiness, wrinkles, lines, sagging, crow’s feet) and to completely rejuvenate the skin around the eyes.
Their eye cream is identical in texture and consistency to their Face Cream and it has a whipped, mousse-like texture on the oily side. I would not recommend if you have oily eyelids.
Best for: Mature skin
Price: $390 for 0.5 oz
Use OBL for 20% off
I tried Whamisa Organic Flowers Eye Essence
I looove organic Korean skincare and Whamisa’s eye essence is an innovative smooth creamy essence-lotion. It’s 95% organic and made in base of organic aloe juice and contains Ecocert organic adenosine and gluconolactone to improve skin texture and dullness. This eye cream uses fermentation filtrates of organic flowers, hence the name, like chrysanthemum, lotus, dandelion. with Lacto-fermentation (Whamisa’s signature ‘Natural Fermentation Technology’) along with Murumuru Seed Butter, Candelilla Wax, Green Tea Seed Oil, Green Tea Leaf Extract. I’m obsessed with their fermented floral scent!
Best for: dryness, dullness, skin. texture
Price: $40
SAVE: ORGANICBEAUTYLOVER saves 10%
I tried Odacite Eye Contour Serum Concentrate (Oil)
This has been one of my longtime favorites to use as an eye oil AFTER eye cream for more than seven years. It’s super simple but highly concentrated and comes with a rollerball. The formula contains cold-pressed virgin-extracted (to ensure the highest nutrient content) Baobab Oil from Senegal along with Sarsaparilla Essential Oil sourced in India. It instantly smooths out fine lines and texture and works throughout the night to keep my eye area moisturized and the products underneath sink in.
Best for: Fine lines, deep wrinkles, puffiness and dark circles
Price: $55
I tried Banish Instant Lift Brightening Eye Creme
This organic eye cream feels like it’s just been freshly whipped up in a kitchen! It’s absolutely packed to the brim with ingredients known to brighten, reduce eye circles, and increase collagen in the skin. It’s thick but in a very hydrating way and not an overly rich way. This offers a quadruple attack on signs of aging. For collagen enhancing benefits it has MSM, Matrixyl 3000, CoQ10, ProVitamin B5. For brightening it has Vitamin C, Licorice, Lactic, Glycolic, and Phytic Acid; For lifting: Green Tea, Peptides, Witch Hazel; For hydrating: Plant Based Hylauronic Acid, Squalane, Glycerin.
Best for: Dark circles, puffiness and dryness
Price: $72
SAVE: OBL saves at Banish
I tried Indie Lee I-Waken Eye Serum
This is a weightless, thin serum for those who can’t handle rich creams on their undereyes. I find it fantastic at hydrating the eye area and it’s great for easy daytime use and under makeup. Love the bevy of interesting ingredients like Hyaluronic Acid, Horse Chestnut, Mountain Ash Bud and Witch Hazel combined with Chamomile, Arnica and Cornflower, Spirulina, Blackcurrant Leaf. For those of you who have sensitive eyes, this also has zero essential oils!
Best for: Dryness
Price: $38
I tried Naturopathica Passionfruit Retinol Ageless Eye Serum
Naturopathica’s eye serum is a more advanced serum I’d recommend for mature skin already showing signs of aging. It’s sooo silky and lightweight. It helps improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and reduce the look of dark circles and puffiness. The star active is retinol, which is delivered in a clean, synergistic base of antioxidant passion fruit, oat kernel extract, horse chestnut seed extract, beta-glucan and a targeted peptide specifically for the eye area.
Best for: Wrinkles, dark circles and puffiness
Price: $38
I tried Kaelen Harwell Dark Circle Reducing Cacao Espresso Eye Cream
This seriously underrated eye cream has been one of my favorites for a long time! It’s literally a shot of espresso for the eye area. It’s as organic and natural as it gets with a silky oil and cream hybrid consistency that needs a decent shake before use (there’s no synthetic binders!). It’s got Coffee extract, cacao powder and caffeine powder, hyaluronic acid, lavender, blue-green algae, calendula, rooibos & pomegranate extracts and evening primrose. I can’t get over how good this smells! Coffee lovers will thoroughly enjoy the scent.
Best for: Dark circles, puffiness and dryness
Price: $38
My Fave Natural & Organic Eye Masks
For a quick pick-me-up, check out some of the best natural and organic eye masks.
Best Collagen Eye Mask: Mixsoon Melting Collagen Eye Film
This collagen eye mask is 95% nano collagen – 74% collagen, 19% hydrolyzed collagen and the rest is glutathione and hyaluronic acid. It’s this incredibly thin nanofiber film that immediately melts into skin once you spritz it with some face mist. It feels exactly like gold leaf that’s used in arts and crafts projects. I have to be super careful not to touch any of the product because it immediately comes off onto my finger. I can testify that there is a tightening and firming sensation. Once it absorbs my skin looks like it has an invisible second skin on top, so my skin but better.
Price: $36 for 5-pack (comes out to $7 per mask set)
Use OBL for 15% off
Best Anti-Aging Eye Mask: Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Instant Eye Lift Algae Mask
- Two-step process allowing the STEM CELLULAR™ Activator Fluid and nutrient rich freeze-dried biomatrix algae masks to perform at the highest level of potency
- Eye pads are made of freeze dried algae
- Made with certified organic ingredients
- Reduces the appearance of puffiness around eyes with organic cucumber, white tea, and arnica extracts.
- Hydrates with hyaluronic acid
- The most instant hydration and brightening effect I’ve experienced with an eye mask
- $10 for 1 mask
Best Affordable Clean Eye Mask: Grace & Stella Energy Drink Eye Masks
- This eye mask actually works and only costs $30 for 24 pairs
- It has Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein to pump and firm, Hyaluronic Acid for fine lines and Chondrus Crispus Powder for dark circles
Best Hydrating Eye Mask: 100% Pure Bright Eyes Mask
- Hydrogel masks made with mostly organic aloe juice
- Contains Vitamin C, Green Tea, Yerba Mate and Hyaluronic Acid for a refreshing pick-me-up
- $30 for 6 masks
Best Broke Girl Eye Mask: Derma E Hydro Gel Patches
- Thin, jelly-like hydrogel patches for quick hydration
- Made in a base of water and contains Allantoin, Vitamin C, Niacinamide, Sodium Hyaluronate, Cabbage Lead Extract, Coconut Fruit Extract, Tomato Fruit Extract
- 60 patches for $25
Andrea is a clean beauty expert from Los Angeles, California with 10 years of experience in natural skincare and organic living. She writes for Organic Beauty Lover using her expertise to guide readers in choosing the best clean products. Andrea graduated from the University of Southern California in 2012 and has worked at multiple skincare companies, big and small. Connect with her @organicbeautylover.
Leave a Reply