Is the VBeauté Eye Never Nourishing Repair Eye Creme a Sight for Sore Eyes?
What woman doesn’t want to banish crow’s feet, exile those perky little lines to a dungeon somewhere? And that’s just one of the concerns women express when it comes to their peepers — dark under eye circles, puffiness, droopy lids, and sullen skin are other common worries. So how can a gal find an eye cream that addresses this grocery list of issues? Well, since it’s becoming clear that women want to address all these concerns in one fell swoop, the beauty industry is hard at work trying to develop eye cream formulas that prove to be true multi-taskers. That was certainly the goal for VBeauté when it unveiled its Eye Never Nourishing Eye Repair Creme ($18 for 8ml tube and $43 for 15ml jar at vbeaute.com).
Touted as an “eyelift in a jar,” the Eye Never cream is formulated with the following ingredients: caffeine to firm the skin by dehydrating fat cells and shrink blood vessels, thereby reducing any puffiness and making the skin appear taut; Nylon-12, a synthetic polymer that is generally used as a thickening agent in beauty products and which gives the skin a silky feel and reduces shine; Sensytens, a muscle relaxer that helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles; and an Alpine Rose Botanical Technology that helps protect your skin’s stem cells, guarding them against UV damage and ensuring greater longevity while also working to improve the skin’s barrier function and to boost cellular activity and regeneration. Other ingredients include: grape seed extract, which acts as an alpha hydroxy acid when applied topically, stimulating the skin’s natural exfoliation process and stimulating collagen and elastin production, and which contains potent anti-aging benefits thanks to its flavonoid and resveratrol content; rice bran oil, an excellent emollient that promotes microcirculation, working to reduce puffiness and dark eye circles; magnolia bark extract, a natural anti-inflammatory; antioxidant-rich pomegranate extract; and raspberry extract, which soothes irritated skin and helps to reduce redness.
Overall, I was pleased with the VBeauté Eye Never Nourishing Eye Repair Cream. It felt gentle on the skin, and I noticed dramatic results in terms of puffiness in particular — this eye cream really worked to drain any excess fluid and boost circulation under the eyes, so that I no longer had unseemly bags under my eyes (whether they were due to a lack of sleep, a crying bout, or general fatigue). It also proved excellent as an anti-inflammatory — in fact, about a month ago, I somehow managed to cut myself right under my eye with one of my rings (super smooth of me, I know!) and this cream helped to reduce the swelling and redness that accompanied my minor injury.
As an anti-aging eye cream, its performance was fair — not stellar, but fair. It did give my eyes a pick-me-up in the morning (which I attribute primarily to the caffeine in the formula) but, in terms of long-term effects, I didn’t ascertain the type of results I got from other eye creams like Caudalie’s Premier Cru Eye Cream, La Mer’s The Eye Concentrate, Clarins’ Super Restorative Eye Concentrate, or Relastin’s Eye Silk. In other words, I’d give it a B or a B- on this front — a fair grade, but not quite the epitome of excellence.
