Singapore Beauty, Travel and Lifestyle Blog: My Holy Grail Series (3) : Eyecare Routine

Some lucky gals have been blessed with good skin, pretty eyes, etc. Too bad, I am just not one of them. I am sure there are many souls out there feeling the same as me. Girlies, cheer up! There is an amazing invention called 'skincare products'! HAHA! Which is pretty why I could start this blog... to introduce some of these awesome products that I personally tried & tested (and to ramble about things I like. Heh.)

This post is the third instalment of my Holy Grail Series. If you haven't read HG Series (1) and HG Series (2), please do so and share the love through your social media!

As you can probably guessed in the pic above, I do not load on skincare products around my eye areas. Yes you are right. I DO NOT and WILL NEVER use more than TWO products at a go, on my skin near the eyes!

You'd have already known by now, the skin around the eyes is much thinner and delicate than the rest of our face. That is why the skin around our eyes show first signs of aging.

Our mothers are usually among the first people whom we pick up beauty tips from. I am fortunate my mother has warned me to take care of my eye area, due to the fact that our family genetics seem to wreck havoc on our eye area prematurely. My maternal aunts & uncles all have wrinkles around their eyes when they hit late twenties. Sad.

Hence, I started putting on eye gel religiously at 13 years old, and never looked back.

I am not kiasu okay.

I am just vain. LOL.

After trying on NUMEROUS eye gels/eye creams/eye masks for a whooping 20 years, you bet I know what I am talking about when it comes to eye care products.

Blame on my acne-prone sensitive skin, the area around my eyes too is super picky when it comes to skincare products. I am prone to milia seeds ALL OVER my face, so you can imagine how cautious I get when it comes to selecting my eyecare products.

Because I do not want to look like this...

Image credit to trueaesthetics.net

So here comes... my holy grail eyecare products that I have been using for YEARS!!

Products featured:

Shiseido Sun Protection Eye Cream
Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Eye Cream
The Face Shop Raspberry Roots Collagen Eye Patch

You may be wondering why are there only three products being featured?

If you haven't caught on by now, I will reiterate:

You DO NOT need a ton of products on your skin, especially on the delicate area around your eyes. You only need a couple of quality products which are SUITABLE for YOU.

Shiseido Sun Protection Eye Cream with SPF25

I don't know about you, but my skin is pretty reactive to products with high SPF. I am probably sensitive to high amounts of titanium oxide or zinc oxide. I break out or develop milia seeds overtime if I apply anything higher than SPF30.

BUT we all need some protection from the sun, don't we? Especially when we know our skin around the eyes ages faster than the rest of the skin, all the more we NEED some SPF in our eye care products.

That was why I chose Shiseido Sun Protection Eye Cream with SPF 25.

SPF 25 is enough for the skin around my eyes. This cream is fairly moisturising but it does not boast of anti-aging properties or anti-dark circles technology. The number of freckles on & around my eyes maintained the same and did not develop new ones after I started using this product.

The best thing about this product is, it does not cause milia seeds or any other kind of breakout, despite containing SPF!

Note: Spread this product evenly on the areas around your eyes, using your fourth finger. Dab on repeatedly until you don't see a white cast.

Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Eye Cream

I used this at night after my daily skincare routine. On days when there is no sun and where my eyes are especially dry, I replace my Shiseido with this!

Kiehl's offers eye serum in this Midnight Recovery Eye range as well. It is meant to use as together to boost its effects. Back then. I personally thought it might be too rich for myself, if I use both eye serum and eye cream together. Fast forward 4 years, I think now I may give it a shot! Share with you guys next time when I try the serum!

Skincare Tip:
If you dislike the sticky feeling of lip balms, try using your eye cream (without SPF/whitening properties/AHA/retinol; preferably organic or with natural ingredients) as your lip moisturiser. Most stuff that works your eye area works for your lips as well. Sometimes I give my lips a treat by patting on a facial toner followed by this eye cream! (Will talk about how I take care of my lips in another post.)

Next, swatches of the two products!

Compare the textures side by side.

Remember: Spread, spread, spread...

....Until it absorbs into the skin!

Click on the third pic above and you will see on my hand where the Shiseido eye cream was applied, there seems to be a whitish cast. THIS IS NORMAL because all products with SPF leaves a white cast on photos - gets worse with camera flash! In real life, the whitish cast is not visible.

Obviously, Kiehl's eye cream absorbs faster since there is no SPF, and it definitely feels lighter. Not that Shiseido is very heavy - it isn't, though it takes a few more seconds to fully absorb into the skin.

Both eye creams produce a light pleasant scent that is very calming. Kiehl's one contains a very nice-smelling lavender, and that scent is one that I have been addicted to every night before I sleep!

The Face Shop Raspberry Roots Collagen Eye Patch

Award-winning long-standing product. No further elaboration needed. LOL.

I have a strange fetish of looking forward to peel off a pack every week. It excites me so much, cos it feels soooo easy and smooth to peel! Fantastic packaging! :D

So many layers, but ONLY the middle one is usable.

Yes, this is the one - the flimsy gel piece. Filled with awesome collagen goodness! No, you can't eat it despite it smells like raspberry.

To be honest, there are several points in my beauty journey that I wanted to leave this Raspberry Roots Collagen Eye Patch for something better. I felt that no doubt it has served my skin well week after week, I still hope I can find something more effective in hydration and lightening of dark eye circles. However, no matter how I try to break up with it, I come back to re-purchasing this EVERY SINGLE TIME, like a bad romance! Hahaha~!