Compared

Eye cream vs face moisturiser

Buy the eye cream if your face moisturiser stings near the eye, travels into it during the day, or makes concealer crease by lunchtime. If none of those happen, take your moisturiser up to the orbital bone and keep the money. What an eye cream is really selling is texture and tolerance — thick enough to stay where it is put, formulated to be worn that close to an eye — not an ingredient the face cream lacks.

Kiehl's

Avocado Eye Treatment

Anyone whose concealer creases, or whose moisturiser will not stay out of the eye

Pros

Thick enough to stay on the thinnest skin on the face without migrating into the eye
Softens the crepe that makes an under-eye shadow read deeper than it is
Gives concealer a surface that does not drink it, which is the job people actually notice

Cons

A small jar, and the amount needed is genuinely tiny — which cuts both ways
Rich enough to be too much under makeup on some skin
Does not touch a hollow, and no eye cream does — that is bone and fat, not skin

Buy on Amazon

Kiehl's

Ultra Facial Cream

Skin that flakes, and anyone who wants one jar for the whole face

Pros

One product for the whole face, applied to the orbital bone and no closer
Oil-based with squalane, so it stays put overnight on skin that goes rough
Fragrance-free, which is what makes taking it near the eye reasonable at all

Cons

Heavier than most under-eye skin wants under makeup
A cream this rich has further to travel if it is applied too close
Not formulated for the eye area, so a reactive eye is a real possibility

Buy on Amazon

Side by side

	Kiehl's	Kiehl's
Where it goes	On the orbital bone and the skin inside it.	The face, up to the orbital bone.
Why the texture differs	Thick, so it stays put on skin that thin.	Rich, and built to be spread over a larger area.
Under concealer	What it is for — a base that stops creasing.	Can be too much, and creasing is the result.
Fragrance	Fragrance-free.	Fragrance-free.
The tell you need this one	Concealer creases, or your moisturiser stings near the eye.	Neither of those happens and your face is dry.

Everything above is about what these products are, not about tests we ran — we do not test products, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. Prices live on Amazon, where they change hourly, so we never quote one.

What neither of them can do

Fill a hollow. If the shadow under your eye is a shadow being cast rather than a stain in the skin, it is the shape of the bone and the fat beneath it, and nothing topical reaches that. It is worth knowing before buying, because it is the reason a lot of people conclude eye creams do not work when the one they bought was never aimed at their problem.

The one case where it is not optional

If your face moisturiser is scented, do not take it near the eye. Fragrance is the most common cause of a reaction in the thinnest skin on the body, and a cream that behaves perfectly on a cheek can leave an eyelid swollen. That is a formulation difference, and it is the one that genuinely justifies a second jar.

Your turn

What should we dress next?

An occasion you cannot find anything for, or a product you want us to look at properly.