Photo: Imaxtree
The skin around your eye area is one of the first to start showing your age – it’s where crows feet live and where dark circles show up even after a good night’s sleep. That’s why, when it comes to combating the visible signs of aging, your eye cream is essential. It’s also why you shouldn’t wait to introduce an eye cream to your skincare regime. When it comes to fine lines, wrinkles, crepey skin, and dark circles, the earlier you start, the better off your skin will be.
Staving off these markers of age doesn’t have to come at the expense of our furry friends, though. Like all skincare products, there are plenty of cruelty-free eye cream options to choose from. What’s more, many of the products that don’t test on animals have more than just animals at heart – they also tend to use more organic and natural ingredients than their counterparts. And that’s extra important when it comes to taking care of the delicate skin around your eyes.
16+ BEST CRUELTY EYE CREAMS
Below we’ve gathered the best cruelty-free eye creams out there, so you can start taking care of your eyes with the best ingredients, with a clear conscience.
Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Eye Treatment $50
This gel cream delivers rich hydration through a potent blend of essential fatty acids and vitamins derived from plant oils such as jojoba and shea as well as a unique blend of evening primrose, borage, and linseed. Hydrating and nutrient-rich, these certified organic ingredients target fine lines as well as dark circles and are all highly concentrated in antioxidants for a preventative treatment that’s designed for all skin types.
100% Pure Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream $27
Caffeine can do for your skin what it does for your energy first thing in the morning. That is, perk it up and give it life. That’s why 100% Pure has harnessed caffeine from two sources for this eye cream: Green Tea and Coffee. Combined with Rosehip Oil, these anti-inflammatory, brightening ingredients will reduce puffiness and make you look more awake (even before you’ve had your morning brew).
100% Pure’s Retinol Pm Eye Cream ($52) is only intended for nighttime use, when it can penetrate deep into your skin and deliver potent ingredients like retinol, peptides, vitamins, and stem cells. These ingredients work together to increase cell turnover, promote collagen production, and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. And while they do all that, a hydrating trio of hyaluronic acid, acai oil, and pomegranate oil ensure the skin is nourished.
Not everyone requires the strength of a retinol. For something that’s appropriate for both day and night, and a little gentler, try 100% Pure’s Superfruit Super Fruit Nourishing Eye Cream ($46). It’s packed with pomegranate, avocado, goji berry, grape, and coconut oil, for an ultra-moisturizing under-eye cream that also tackles fine lines and promotes elasticity.
Acure Radically Rejuvenating Cream $11
Acure’s mission is to create uplifting products with powerful ingredients that take into account your wellbeing and the wellbeing of our planet. That’s why all of their product are certified cruelty-free, vegan, and free of chemicals like parabens as well as unsustainable petrolatum ingredients. For this anti-aging eye cream, they’ve combined edelweiss extract and chlorella – two incredibly hydrating ingredients that help protect your skin’s moisture barrier.
Dr Alkatis Organic Eye Crème $67
The light, velvety, and gentle texture of this intensely moisturizing crème is only one half of what we love about. The other half is the unique combination of Herbal Eye Renewal Complex and Eye Rejuvenation and Support Complex. At the heart of the latter is omega-3-rich Sacha Inchi seed oil while the former boasts the raw extract of the Ilex Paraguariensis leaf. Together, they hydrate even the driest skin, reduce puffiness, and fight free radicals.
Pai Skincare Feather Canyon Eye Cream $54
This eye cream achieves more than just fixing damage that’s already been done. It’s formulated with some powerful ingredients that help maintain the long-term health of your skin. Take, for example, the addition of echium. Echium has the highest concentration of Gamma Linolenic Acid (Omega 6) and Stearidonic Acid (Omega 3) you can find in any plant source, which contribute to skin cell regeneration and skin conditioning on a deep, cellular level.
Boscia Peptide Eye Cream $40
The peptide trio in this eye cream is where you’ll find boscia’s anti-aging magic. Carefully selected for their ability to renew cells, target fine lines and wrinkles, and create a visible plumping effect, they’re complimented by a blend of conditioning organic botanical oils (almond, avocado, and sesame) and hydrating hyaluronic acid.
If the visible signs of aging are the number one under-eye skin concern, then dark circles are a close second. To combat this common condition, Boscia has crafted their Indigo Eye Cream ($38) with wild indigo, an ingredient that improves luminosity and reduces inflammation, puffiness, and darkness. Combined with collagen-stimulating, hand-harvested Fucus algae and the antioxidant power of cacao root, dark circles don’t stand a chance.
Dr Hausshka Daily Hydrating Eye Cream $55
A nourishing anti-aging eye cream that works to visibly reduce and refine the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, the star of this product really is the brand behind it. Dr. Hauschka is certified by NATRUE and they never use animal testing, synthetic fragrance, colors, or preservatives. Every ecologically conscious ingredient they use is either grown in their very own biodynamic herb garden, at their Demeter-certified German farm, or handpicked from sustainable and fair-trade sources. Through all of those efforts, this eye cream not only nurtures the delicate skin around your eyes, it nurtures a better world for all of us.
African Botanics Resurrection Eye Cream $150
Fatigue, stress, age… all of these things can seriously impact the skin around your eyes. If you’re struggling with all of the above, you need something to bring you back from the dead – and this Resurrection Eye Cream is it. This ingredient list has too many wild harvested ingredients, exotic oils, and natural botanicals for us to name. They range from hydrating Marula oil to antioxidant green rooibos tea and from plumping peptides to brightening vitamin C. And that’s why this cream is an appropriate choice for all skin types and all skin concerns.
Alpyn Beauty Plant Genius Line-Filling Eye Balm With Bachachol $62
This line-filling eye balm has been featured in the likes of Elle, Marie Claire, Byrdie, and Popsugar. It’s an award-winning cream that acts more like balm and it literally blurs the fine lines in the under-eye area upon contact. And while it’s filling those lines with precision and ease, it’s also delivering a host of skin beneficial ingredients to this sensitive skin. While vitamin C, licorice root, and bearberry leaf bring brightening effects, caffeine wakes up the skin, and bakuchiol oil hydrates and smooths.
Maya Chia The Eye Achiever $70
What we love about an eye serum is their ability to harness the power of so many performance ingredients in one highly concentrated formula. Maya Chia outdid themselves with this award-winning serum that’s been called a super food for your skin. This multi-correctional serum targets everything from puffiness and dryness to fine lines and dark circles, and it does it all with a quick swipe of a roller ball. Formulated with macro and micro marine extracts and some of the most nutrient dense plant oils you can find, you’ll notice your eyes are brighter and smoother.
Kypris Ad Astra Nighttime Eye Cream Emulsion $150
We love this night cream because we love Kypris, the brand behind it. Their entire line is formulated with organic, wild crafted, naturally-derived, and sustainably-grown botanicals, plant extracts, and essential oils. In their eye cream, just a *few* of the stand out ingredients include: cacao seed butter, coconut alkanes and coconut fruit, radish root ferment, baobab seed oil, caffeine, matricaria flower extract, rosemary leaf extract, and ceramides. Together, these nourishing and natural ingredients feed the skin and help to sooth and smooth while you sleep.
Odacite Ultra Effective Eye Cream $95
Blending tried, tested and true ingredients like hyaluronic acid and vitamin E with more recent and novel items like blue green algae and pomegranate, it’s wonder it visibly improves the texture, tone, and complexion around the eye area. But the key to what makes this eye cream as ultra-effective as the name suggests lies in the quality of ingredients they use. In fact, there are so many nutrient-dense organic ingredients on this list we don’t even know where to start!
Eminence Organic Skin Care Wild Plum Eye Cream $70
Ideal for sensitive, dry, and oily skin, the focus of this eye cream is your under-eye area. This area dramatically effects your overall appearance, and there’s no better way to keep it youthful than wild plum juice and green tea. Together, these ingredients brighten your skin, give it the burst of radiance it needs, and leave behind antioxidant staying power that fights further damage. Taking it one step further is the addition of vitamin E hydrate: a known anti-aging vitamin that not only helps with dryness, but also impacts fine lines and wrinkles.
Dermologica Age Reversal Eye Complex $111
If you know anything about the world of anti-aging, then you know Retinol. This Age Reversal eye treatment utilizes exactly that to smooth away the visible signs of aging that concentrate in your eye area – but they’ve done it in a revolutionary way. Dermalogica has developed microencapsulated Retinol, which optimizes both the potency of absorption of this anti-aging powerhouse. And to back up its efforts, they’ve also microencapsulated the hydrating qualities of niacinamide and the dark-circle-reducing benefits of ash tree bark extract.
Goldfaden MD Bright Eyes $55
This powerhouse product was developed for the soul purpose of restoring radiance to eyes suffering from dark circles, puffiness, or that overtired look. The soy peptides, rice bran extract, organic red tea, and arnica are all powerful brightening, de-puffing ingredients – and Goldfaden has a third party consumer study to prove its effectiveness. Indeed, with 2-3 times use per week over the course of 28 days, participants noticed greater nourishment, healthier-looking eyes, reduced signs of aging, and brighter skin.
Naturopathica Argan Peptide Wrinkle Repair Cream $111
There’s something to be said for the power of plant-based ingredients, which is why we find them in so many organic and natural skincare products promoting rejuvenation and refreshment. Containing Argan and edelweiss plant stem cells, this wrinkle repair is no different. What sets it apart is the addition of Matrixyl and plant peptides. Smoothing, lifting, and plumping, these peptides target 6 essential constituents of your skin, including laminin, collagen, and fibronectin.
IDENTIFYING CRUELTY-FREE PRODUCTS
Cruelty-free means that a product was developed without any testing on animals. However, like the term ‘natural’, there’s no standard legal definition for ‘cruelty-free’. Meaning that manufacturers can use this label and language to imply that they don’t test their products on animals, without any actual commitment to our furry friends.
There are some common ways in which this term is misused by brands in order to attract conscientious consumers.
- A brand may not test its finished product on animals, but individual ingredients in the supply chain may be tested on animals. If a company isn’t checking where each ingredient is coming from, how it’s processed, and how it’s tested, this misuse of the term cruelty-free may be unintentional.
- A brand may not test on animals themselves but will contract testing out to companies and suppliers that test on their behalf.
- A brand may use misleading images on their packaging (such as a bunny that looks like a verified Leaping Bunny but, in fact, is not) or they may label their product as ‘vegan’ or ‘vegetarian’, which doesn’t necessarily mean cruelty-free.
To be sure that you’re purchasing a product that hasn’t been tested on or harmed animals at any step of its development or manufacturing, there are two certifications you can look for: the PETA certification or the Leaping Bunny certification.
To earn a PETA certification, a brand must sign a statement of assurance verifying that they don’t conduct, commission, or pay for any tests on animals for ingredients, formulations, or finished products. The Leaping Bunny certification program requires brands to implement a Supplier Monitoring System that allows independent audits of the business.
Keep in mind, too, that cruelty-free is simply a baseline. And while a company may not test on animals, their product can still contain animal ingredients or byproducts. The opposite can also be true. To be sure your eye cream and other makeup and skincare products are truly ethical, do your research, read your labels, and ask the right questions.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When brands take the cruelty out of their formulas, they make room for a whole lot of great stuff. And we’re not just talking about the consideration of our environment and the creatures that call it home – we’re also talking about organic and natural ingredients that your skin will love.
