Review: Skinfood Salmon Brightening Eye Cream

Recently I've been worried about the fine lines under my eyes but dark circles have been my biggest concern for not just my eyes but my whole face ever since... high school. So far I've tried Shiseido's White Lucent, Origins GinZing and A Perfect World with White Tea, Clinique's All About Eyes and All About Eyes Rich, Jack Black Protein Booster Eye Rescue (yes, this brand is for men; now you know how desperate I am for an eye cream) and a bunch of other things I don't even remember. Shiseido's White Lucent and both Origins products were money down the drain. Clinique's All About Eyes Rich actually did show some improvement but I wasn't completely satisfied. After reading some reviews and since I'm still on my Skinfood craze I decided to buy this.

Description (taken from eng.theskinfood.com):

• Containing arbutin and the extracts of Omega 3-rich salmon roe produced in Hokkaido Japan, this eye cream brightens and relieves dark circles around the eyes.
• After using the toner, apply an appropriate amount around your eyes, and tap the area lightly to help the skin absorb it.

My impression:

Its consistency is much more watery than I thought.. when I opened it I almost toppled some over. I would say it's around the same as Clinique's All About Eyes. Moisture level was also similar so it's more moisturizing as Shiseido's White Lucent. It's not moisturizing enough for me so I put this on top of Skinfood Gold Caviar Double Collagen Eye Serum.

One of the two active ingredients in this eye cream is arbutin, which helps brighten eye circles since arbutin inhibits melanin production but dark eye circles are caused by lack of blood circulation in the blood vessels under the eyes and not melanin. But I've had a noticeable improvement in my dark circles. I realized the difference in two ways: from looking at my eyes in the mirror and also from the amount/type of concealer I need to use.

Case in point: I used to use Bobbi Brown creamy concealer kit and pink concealer. I would put on two layers of concealer, first the pink one to counteract the purple, and then the beige concealer to hide the blue discoloration and brighten the skin. My dark circles needed that kind of heavy duty concealing to get things done (even then it wasn't completely covered, but to a point where it wasn't too noticeable and "natural" enough).

Before I bought this cream, I bought and tried using the Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Concealer Cream. I needed several applications and even then, it didn't cover my dark circles as well as Bobbi Brown. As a result of the multiple applications, my whole under eye area looked lighter than the rest of my face.

But now, after used this eye cream for 2 weeks, I tried using the Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Concealer Cream again. I only needed 1 layer and it adequately covered my dark eye circles without making my whole under eye area lighter than the rest of my face. It's also a lot easier to put on now because my under eye is smoother but I think that is more the work of Skinfood Gold Caviar Double Collagen Eye Serum than this eye cream.

Even now, without my concealer, my face looks like I just put some whitening/brightening sheet mask on just because of the fact that those dark circles aren't as dark anymore.  

My eyelids are also darker than the rest of my face, though of course not as dark as my dark under eye circles. I've also noticed a slight improvement in that area, though not as much as my under eye.

As my dark circles are pretty crazy, I understand this may be why this eye cream made such a "dramatic" difference in such a short amount of time. Since my dark circles are a lot better now, I don't think this cream will continue to work so effectively. I also don't expect this to cure my dark circles completely. This is, after all, only a cream and my dark circles are genetic as well. But I'm very impressed as I've tried many eye creams before, pricey and inexpensive, and this one is the most effective one yet.

Summary:

Most effective eye cream for my eye circles that I've tried to date
My whole face looks brighter because of lighter dark circles
Efficient results (I saw noticeable results in 2 weeks)
$22 for 30g on eBay

Grade: 5/5 not because it made my dark circles disappear completely (I don't think that's ever possible with a cream) but it is the most effective dark circle eye cream I've tried to date

Value: 5/5 because eye creams that don't do anything but moisturize cost more than $22 at Sephora

Repurchase? Definitely.