Skinvitals Eye Brighten Cloth Eye Treatment Mask

Part of my personal beauty routine, such as it is, is a weekly(ish) home facial.  This usually just incorporates exfoliation plus a mask.  I do use separate moisturising and clarifying masks and the moisturising mask I currently use is suitable for use around the eyes.

However, I was tottering around Priceline the other day and caught sight of a single use mask that promised to deal with dark circles and that would brighten and invigorate the eye area.  Skinvitals produces a range of cloth masks and Eye Brighten just happened to be at my eye levels.  A single packet was about $5 (less the 40% Priceline was having off skincare) but from the website it looks like these also come in packs of three for $10.50.

Although the packet extols the fact the mask contains Vitamin C and licorice the ingredient after water is sodium hyaluronate.  If you were just reading the back of the packet, this might sound vaguely scary but a bit of googling shows that it is absolutely the opposite.  In one form (hyaluronic acid) it occurs naturally in the body, including in the eye's own vitreous humour.  This form is quite large (on a molecular level) and doesn't penetrate the skin well but it is often used in injectable fillers (mmmm, doesn't that sound nice?).  Sodium hyaluronate, however, has many of the same positive properties but is smaller and more readily absorbed by the skin, taking its moisturising properties with it and providing a bit of plumping at the same time.  Unsurprisingly, this makes it popular in skin care and, as it occurs in the body, it is very low risk in the allergen stakes.

The mask is easy to use:  cleanse your face, open the packet, pop the cloths under your eyes and sit back and relax for 15 minutes or so.  The cloths are very cooling and I loved the feel of this on my skin.  Because there's not a lot of preparation involved, this is definitely a very quick pick me up.  When you're ready, remove the cloths and any excess serum can be wiped away with a tissue or cotton pad, or patted into your skin.  I didn't find that there was really any excess.

So you can judge for yourself whether or not a one off application had any brightening effects, here are before and after photos (sorry they aren't at quite the same angle - I think the pre-angle is more flattering ...).  I have a toddler, so if anyone is going to have dark circles and puffy eyes, it's me!

Personally, I wasn't convinced that as a one off this had any incredible immediate effects but I do think that expecting that is unrealistic.  I can see myself definitely buying this again and I'll definitely be trying out the remainder of the SkinVitals range.

Available from Priceline.  Other stockists on the Skinvitals site.  Around $5.

Skinvitals.

Source: purchase.

Pond's Age Miracle Dual Action Eye Cream

This cream, from the relatively recently relaunched Ponds, offers 'dual action' with separate creams for eye lid and under the eye.

Initially I was very sceptical about this, especially as the two creams are very different in appearance and texture.  And while the jar is quite funky (and also quite luxe for a relatively cheap product) I could see myself running out of one cream a lot sooner than the other.

This didn't happen - I have run out of the eye lid cream and still have a little of the under eye cream left, but it's only a tiny disparity.

As for the creams themselves - I actually quite liked the pale pink eye lid cream.  It was very smooth and light, went on easily and had a nice matt, powdery feel to it.

However, the under eye cream (and let's face it, that's where most of us are worried about wrinkles!) didn't do it for me at all.  I found the cream far too heavy and often, especially in slightly cooler weather, I felt like I was dragging it across the delicate eye area.  It also had a tendency to sit in the eye crease if I accidentally used too much.

In terms of performance, I'd rate this product as maintenance rather than anything else.  I didn't notice any improvement in terms of appearance but also I haven't come out of the experience looking worse.

The main ingredient in both creams (before water even!) is cyclopentasiloxane, a silicone that appears to most commonly be used in conditioners.  But it is used in make up and, like all the silicones, has emollient properties and can fill in fine lines temporarily but seems to be there more for feel (which makes it even stranger than that the under cream felt so heavy, but there you go) and its ability to deliver other ingredients to the skin.  The lower lid cream does contain glycerin (which appears to be my skin's favourite!) but it's well down the list of ingredients.

I picked this up from Priceline with the benefit of both some SisterClub vouchers and a special SisterClub discount so it set me back all of about $15, however it is normally more expensive.

Would I buy this again?  No.

Available from Priceline.  RRP $29.99

Ponds.

Source: purchase.