Refresh Tired Under-Eyes With These 20 Best Eye Creams for Puffiness
Puffy under-eyes happen—whether they’re from working late, allergy season, a stressful day, or just for no obvious reason. Sometimes they disappear as quickly as they came, and sometimes they overstay their (very short) welcome. If you’re dealing with puffy under-eyes, you probably know there’s no magic cure to send them packing. And while hydration helps, your go-to moisturizer or face lotion just may not be enough. Cue: eye creams. One trip down the skincare aisle and you’re sure to see endless formulas promising smooth, bright under-eyes. If you’re looking to add an eye cream to your skincare routine, finding the right one for your skin is key. To help, we chatted with Kendra Joseph, a physician assistant at Schweiger Dermatology Group, and Alex Levy, a New York–based makeup artist and beauty marketing consultant, about choosing and using eye creams—plus we rounded up the best eye creams for puffiness to target those bad boys. Here’s the scoop.
Meet the Expert
Kendra Joseph is a certified physician assistant at Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York City.
Alex Levy is a New York–based makeup artist and beauty marketing consultant. You can catch his work behind the scenes at NYFW, editorial shoots, and on the famous TikTok duo @young_emperors.
First, Why Doesn’t My Regular Moisturizer Cut It?
If you've layered on face serums and moisturizers without much success in the puffy-eyes department, that's because this area needs special attention. Joseph explains: "The skin around your eyes is very delicate and needs more of a tailored approach that only an eye cream can provide. Usually, these creams are formulated to contain fewer irritants and more hydrating ingredients compared to a moisturizer."
What De-Puffing Ingredients Should I Be Looking For?
Joseph adds that eye creams are formulated with specific ingredients that aren't usually found in a general moisturizer. To fight puffiness, active ingredients like caffeine, antioxidants, aloe vera, and arnica are all great to look out for.
To get even more out of your eye cream, Joseph recommends looking for formulas that pair those ingredients with other trusted eye cream additions for an eye treatment that also targets other eye concerns. "Try peptides to help to lift and smooth sagging skin or growth factors and retinol to help to generate collagen and smooth out the skin.
What If I Have Sensitive Skin?
When testing out a new eye cream (or any new skincare product for that matter), "avoid trying more than one new eye cream or product at a time," says Joseph. "Slowly introduce one eye product at a time for a few weeks before adding on a new product. This way you can avoid risking irritation."
Something that you might not consider is the texture and thickness of your eye cream. It’s important, especially if you have sensitive skin or are prone to congestion and easily get black heads or white heads from testing out rich formulas. “Whenever I’m looking for under-eye care, I look for products that are lighter in texture so that they don’t clog pores (which can lead to milia) or create a slippery surface that may move once you have makeup on,” says Levy. With this, he recommends focusing on products that have cooling or stimulating ingredients like caffeine, aloe, vitamin k, and arnica. This will help guide your selection. He called out the DIEUX Skin Eye Serum as one of his favorite products to prep his clients’ under-eyes before their makeup looks.
To help you sort through all the options out there for calming puffy eyes, here are our top 20 best eye creams to reduce under-eye puffiness.
Our Top Eye Cream Picks:
1. Best Retinol Eye Cream: ROC Retinol Correxion Line Smoothing Eye Cream
2. Best Soothing Eye Cream: CERAVE Eye Repair Cream
3. Best Refreshing Eye Cream: THE INKEY LIST Caffeine Eye Cream
4. Best Every Day Eye Cream: CLINIQUE All About Eyes
5. Best Hydrating & Brightening Eye Cream: REN Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream
6. Best Luminizing Eye Cream: E.L.F. Illuminating Eye Cream
7. Best Anti-Aging Eye Cream: SUNDAY RILEY Auto Correct Brightening and Depuffing Eye Contour Cream
8. Best Brightening Eye Cream: ORIGINS GINZING™ Refreshing Eye Cream To Brighten & Depuff
9. Best Moisture-Boosting Eye Cream: KIEHL’S Avocado Eye Cream
10. Best Rejuvenating Eye Cream: IT COSMETICS Confidence in an Eye Cream
11. Best Eye Cream for Dark Circles: THE ORDINARY Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG
12. Best Squalane-Infused Eye Cream: BIOSSANCE Squalane + Marine Algae Eye Cream
13. Best Eye Cream With Ceramides: YOUTH TO THE PEOPLE Superberry Dream Eye Cream
14. Best Do-It-All Eye Cream: MURAD Renewing Eye Cream
15. Best Eye Cream for Puffiness and Discoloration: DR. BRANDT SKINCARE No More Baggage Eye De-Puffing Gel
16. Best Dark-Circle Eye Cream: GOLDFADEN MD Bright Eyes Dark Circle Radiance Concentrate
17. Best For Super Tired Eyes: GLAMGLOW BRIGHTEYES™ Illuminating Anti-Fatigue Eye Cream
18. Best Eye Cream for Allergies: 111SKIN Space Defence Bright Eye Lift Gel NAC Y2
19. Best Eye Cream for Wrinkles: SKINCEUTICALS Eye Balm
20. Most Innovative De-Puffing Eye Cream: DR LILI FAN PROBIOTIC SKINCARE Probiotic Eye Repair Cream
1. Best Retinol Eye Cream:
ROC Retinol Correxion® Line Smoothing Eye Cream
Price: $24.99
Active Ingredients: Retinol
Benefits: Visibly brightens and de-puffs
When it comes to fine lines and wrinkles, retinol rules. If you’re new to using this holy grail ingredient, you’ll want to work it into your routine slowly. This anti-aging eye cream formula targets three of your biggest under-eye concerns: puffiness, dark circles, and wrinkles. It’s clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines by 50% in 12 weeks and to help brighten under-eyes in just four! Consider it your all-around eye cream for preventing and treating multiple under-eye concerns.
2. Best Soothing Eye Cream:
CERAVE Eye Repair Cream
Price: $12–$15
Active Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid and ceramides
Benefits: Improves dark circles and puffiness, strengthens skin barrier
This popular drugstore brand is a go-to for its gentle, highly effective formulas that are easy to work into your everyday skincare routine. This moisturizing eye cream helps hydrate, brighten, smooth, and calm under-eye puffiness using skin-loving ingredients like ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide. It also helps boost your skin’s moisture barrier to lock in hydration. More reasons to love? It is non-greasy, wears well under makeup, and is friendly on your wallet.
3. Best Refreshing Eye Cream:
THE INKEY LIST Caffeine Eye Cream
Price: $9.99
Active Ingredients: Caffeine and peptides
Benefits: Reduces puffiness and signs of fatigue
Under-eyes in need of a little zing? This buzzy skincare brand has you covered. The lightweight, fast-absorbing formula helps reduce under-eye puffiness, fine lines, and dark circles. It’s infused with antioxidant-rich caffeine, which also has diuretic properties to help relieve water retention (a common cause of puffy under-eyes). Apply it daily before makeup for soothed, calm under-eyes.
4. Best Every Day Eye Cream:
CLINIQUE All About Eyes™
Price: $35
Benefits: Hydrates, brightens, and reduces puffiness
An eye cream worthy of #sosatisfying content? This smooth gel-cream formula that you’ll actually want to apply. It’s lightweight, super refreshing, and delivers a burst of hydration without feeling sticky or greasy—making it a go-to for flawless under-eye makeup (it helps lock makeup into place!) and brighter under-eyes.
5. Best Brightening & Hydrating Eye Cream:
REN Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream
Price: $51
Active Ingredients: Elderberry flower extract, glycogen
Benefits: Non-irritating, visibly reduces dark circles
Seven days to brighter-looking under-eyes? Sign us up! This gentle formula helps fulfill your bright under-eye dreams fast, all while minimizing irritation (so it’s great for sensitive skin types). It’s made with antioxidant-rich elderberry flower extract, an upcycled by-product of the French perfume industry that helps to neutralize dark circles. Apply it daily to help even skin tone, hydrate, firm and visibly lift—everything you want an eye cream to do.
6. Best Luminizing Eye Cream:
E.L.F. Holy Hydration! Eye Cream
Price: $10
Active Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, peptides
Benefits: Deeply moisturizes, minimizes dark circles
Instantly brighten, hydrate, and smooth in one go when you reach for this hyaluronic acid and peptide-infused eye cream. The rich formula helps refresh under-eyes while minimizing dark circles and puffiness. Plus, it plays well under makeup and with all skin types.
7. Best Anti-Aging Eye Cream:
SUNDAY RILEY Auto Correct Brightening and Depuffing Eye Contour Cream
Price: $65
Active Ingredients: Caffeine, lutein, watermelon rind extract
Benefits: Brightens, lifts, minimizes dark circles, energizes under-eye area
This baby corrects dark circles and puffiness better than any filter ever could. This cream uses caffeine and Brazilian ginseng root to get rid of stressed-out under-eye bags, while concentrated horse chestnut and acmella oleracea extract (a natural alternative to Botox) iron out crow's feet and wrinkles. The formula is also packed with our favorite nourishing moisturizers: cocoa butter and shea butter. Apply two to three pumps mornings, evenings, and throughout the day—basically, anytime you need a quick eye-area autocorrect.
One Ipster writes, "This eye cream is like no other! It hydrated my under-eye area while also reducing any puffiness. The cooling effect felt great and the subtle shimmer really woke up my eyes. After a few weeks, my under eye area was less dark and definitely more brightened."
8. Best Brightening Eye Cream:
ORIGINS GINZING™ Refreshing Eye Cream To Brighten & Depuff
Price: $28
Active Ingredients: Coffee beans, Panax ginseng
Benefits: Brightens, diminishes dark circles and puffiness, restores radiance
Normal, dry, oily, combo—any skin type will feel soft, smooth, and super fresh after using this revitalizing eye cream. It uses vitamin C and niacinamide (a true power duo!) to help reduce dark circles both now and over time, brighten up your eye area, and boost moisture levels. Bonus: The formula features opalescent optics for a touch of radiance every time you apply.
IPSY member chiomi says, “Love it. Lightweight cream, it minimizes dark circles, and seems to have even reduced the depth of the bags under my eyes which would definitely be the cream and not getting any more sleep.”
9. Best Moisture-Boosting Eye Cream:
KIEHL’S Avocado Eye Cream
Price: $54
Active Ingredients: Avocado oil, beta-carotene, shea butter
Benefits: Hydrates, de-puffs, brightens
Fact: We love avocado everything—and if you’re a fan like us, you’ll immediately want to add this nourishing eye cream to your cart. It’s one of the most hydrating formulas we’ve tried thanks to avocado oil and shea butter (two holy grail skin-quenchers), helping to minimize the appearance of fine lines while smoothing and de-puffing your under-eye area. Spend lots of time Insta-scrolling? This stuff even helps protect your eye area from fatigue from blue light.
10. Best Rejuvenating & Firming Eye Cream:
IT COSMETICS Confidence in an Eye Cream
Price: $39.50
Active Ingredients: Peptides
Benefits: Improves fine lines, lack of firmness, and dark under-eye circles
Catching a full eight hours of sleep isn’t always easy. When you need to be out the door in five looking and feeling refreshed, this baby does the trick. Like a true “confidence” boost for your under-eyes, it visibly color corrects, brightens up skin, firms, smooths, and hydrates. It’s all thanks to highly effective ingredients like the brand’s super ceramide complex, licorice root, avocado, squalane, and more.
Member legana79moon loves it too, saying “Ah yes I love this cream. It's great on lines around the eyes but it’s also good with keeping them from feeling dried out, too. I also noticed it didn't run into my eyes and seemed to also help with puffiness.”
11. Best Eye Cream For Dark Circles:
THE ORDINARY Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG
Price: $7.50Active Ingredients: Caffeine
Benefits: Improves dark circles and puffiness
Look to this brand for pure, no-fuss skincare that targets all of your skin concerns (without the painful price tag). This lightweight formula features a high concentration of caffeine plus epigallocatechin gallatyl glucoside, or EGCC (say that five times fast), that help calm puffiness and brighten up dark circles in the eye contour, which can be difficult to treat. Tip: It’s always a good idea to do a patch test when trying new skincare, especially with highly concentrated formulas such as this.
12. Best Squalane-Infused Eye Cream:
BIOSSANCE Squalane + Marine Algae Eye Cream
Price: $54
Active Ingredients: Squalane, marine algae peptide, paracress extract
Benefits: Hydrates, visibly lifts, minimizes appearance of fine lines
This award-winning eye cream is loved by beauty editors and skincare pros alike, and for good reason. Made for normal, dry, oily, and combo skin types, it helps target multiple concerns from fine lines and wrinkles to dark circles to loss of firmness and elasticity. A marine algae complex helps visibly reduce signs of aging, while paracress extract smooths and firms, and squalane locks in moisture for the long haul. Plus, the formula is vegan and cruelty-free.
13. Best Eye Cream With Ceramides:
YOUTH TO THE PEOPLE Superberry Dream Eye Cream
Price: $48
Active Ingredients: Ceramides, prickly pear, goji berry, moringa
Benefits: Visibly smooths fine lines and wrinkles
Two ingredients we can’t go without? Brightening vitamin C and barrier-boosting ceramides—which are both star ingredients in this good-for-your-skin overnight formula. The rich cream uses goji stem cells to smooth fine lines and wrinkles, vegan hyaluronic acid and ceramides to plump and hydrate during your beauty sleep, and, of course, vitamin C to firm and brighten.
14. Best Do-It-All Eye Cream:
MURAD Renewing Eye Cream
Price: $86
Active Ingredients: Peptides, retinol
Benefits: Firms, brightens, targets signs of aging
The first eye cream on our list comes from MURAD, a brand approved by our skincare-loving editors and members alike. This cream is suitable for all skin types and is made with advanced peptides and retinol to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, plus mango butter to help to boost elasticity. If those benefits weren’t enough to convince you to add it to your routine, get this: MURAD’s signature Eye Brightening Complex included in this formula lightens dark circles and deflates puffiness for instantly younger-looking eyes.
"This product is AWESOME," says one user. "It's an eye cream that renews, refreshes, reduces swelling, moisturizes, and brightens." This eye cream truly checks all the boxes.
15. Best Eye Cream for Puffiness And Discoloration:
DR. BRANDT SKINCARE No More Baggage Eye De-Puffing Gel
Price: $42
Active Ingredients: Peptides, algae and plant extracts
Benefits: Tightens, smooths, de-puffs, brightens dark circles
Lack of sleep giving your eyes some extra baggage? Get de-puffing with this cooling gel that targets discoloration (we’re coming for you, dark circles) and puffiness at once. Inspired by second-skin technology developed at MIT, this fragrance-free eye treatment tightens the delicate skin around your eye area, minimizing the appearance of fine lines and tamping down puffiness as soon as five minutes after application.
"This eye gel is amazing," one fan of the product says. "You only need a little bit (about the size of a match head) on each eye. It works instantly and absorbs well. Even under makeup! Tightens baggy under eye skin immediately."
16. Best Dark-Circle Eye Cream:
GOLDFADEN MD Bright Eyes Dark Circle Radiance Concentrate
Price: $55
Active Ingredients: Arnica tincture, hyaluronic acid, soy peptides, apricot kernel oil
Benefits: Brightens dark under-eyes, reduces puffiness
This eye cream expertly tackles everything you could want from a great under-eye product. It minimizes the appearance of dark circles, reduces puffiness, boosts glow, and even comes with brightening benefits. This formula's secret is a killer combination of hyaluronic acid, dark circle–eliminating arnica, firming soy peptides, and vitamin-rich apricot kernel oil.
"I've tried SO MANY products to reduce under-eye puffiness and this one actually works," one IPSY member confesses. "It takes about 3 days to see the full effect, but it is amazing." Another says, "I’ve used it for a little over a month and my eyes are already visibly brighter."
17. Best for Super Tired Eyes:
GLAMGLOW BRIGHTEYES™ Illuminating Anti-Fatigue Eye Cream
Price: $39
Active Ingredients: Caffeine, illuminating spheres
Benefits: Brightens dark circles, addresses signs of fatigue
If you got next to no sleep last night and you need your eye cream to really go above and beyond, try this powerful eye cream from GLAMGLOW. The formula is packed with energizing, de-puffing caffeine extract to reduce inflammation and minimize shadows, plus hyaluronic acid to plump the skin with hydration. The secret weapon that makes this eye cream ideal for super tired eyes is ultra-fine illuminating pigments, which add a natural radiance and well-rested look to your eye area, even when you feel anything but.
User @viccav12 writes, "I’m a night shift nurse and the bags are real so this is awesome." Another adds, "I absolutely love this product!! Keeps my eyes looking beautiful. It has a nice creamy texture, goes on smooth, and absorbs quickly!!"
18. Best Eye Cream For Allergies:
111SKIN Space Defence Bright Eye Lift Gel NAC Y2
Price: $190
Active Ingredients: Caffeine, argireline, B vitamin complex
Benefits: Improves fine lines, wrinkles, and under-eye darkness
Allergies and stress don’t stand a chance against the power of this wonder-worker. The eye cream helps stimulate collagen production around your eyes to keep them looking firm and youthful, protect your fragile eye area from environmental factors, and deeply hydrate to prevent wrinkles and dark eye circles. You’ll def want this product on your skincare team come allergy season.
Whether you apply it morning or night (or both!), IPSY members are in agreement about the powerful de-puffing powers of this moisturizing eye serum. One member says it "tightens without drying." Another says, "This stuff is amazing! Works wonders on puffy, tired eyes. I was skeptical but I love it!”
19. Best Eye Cream For Wrinkles:
SKINCEUTICALS Eye Balm
Price: $86
Active Ingredients: Soy isoflavones, vitamin E, silymarin
Benefits: Hydrates, reduces puffiness and signs of aging
The skin on your under-eyes is thinner and can show signs of aging faster than the rest of your face. So if it’s fine lines and wrinkles you’re seeing, treat them to this rich, hydrating balm that uses plant-based ingredients to target everything from puffiness to crow’s feet, and even moisture loss and free radical damage. The moisture-packed formula helps boost essential lipids in skin to kiss dullness and dryness goodbye, and it feels so soothing on your skin.
20. Most Innovative De-Puffing Eye Cream:
DR LILI FAN PROBIOTIC SKINCARE Probiotic Eye Repair Cream
Price: $54
Active Ingredients: Patented peptide blend, orange peel oil, safflower seed oil
Benefits: Reduces puffiness and fine lines
If you tend to nerd out on the science of skincare, you'll love this eye cream that was developed by scientist, biochemist, microbiologist, and skincare guru Dr. Lili Fan. This formula uses stimulating stem cell and lipopeptide technology to effectively tackle under-eye puffiness, fine lines, and dark circles. As if that weren’t enough, the eye cream also features probiotics to restore a healthy pH balance to the skin, giving it a calming, hydrating, and soothing effect for rested-looking, glowing skin.
"Love, love, love this stuff!!!! It lasts so long and it genuinely feels like it's doing something amazing every time I use it," says user @stevenot444. Another adds, "This product made my eyes feel so good and moisturized."
Want the best products for bright, hydrated under-eyes? Take our Beauty Quiz now to get started. Already a member? Refer your friends to earn points, which you can use toward products. Either way, don’t forget to check us out on Instagram and Tiktok @IPSY.
Like this article? Share it with your friends by clicking the icons below!