Eye Cream Tips - Soften It First

Eye creams come in all textures. Some are creamy, some are liquids, and others are gels. Some are thick and balmy. And some almost feel like dry ointments.

When my eye cream has a thick consistency, such as the one shown in the picture (Revision Skincare DEJ Eye Cream), I like to rub it between two fingers first, before setting it onto my skin.

Rubbing the cream between two fingers does two things:

It softens the cream, which makes it easier to spread over skin.
It warms it up, which increases its penetration into skin.

In the picture, the finger on the left has cream that has been rubbed. The finger on the right is what the cream looks like pumped out of the bottle. See how thick it is?

Imagine rubbing this ball of cream around your eyes. You’d have to rub it into skin for several passes to get it to spread.

Rubbing the eye area is not ideal. It pulls the skin, which is thin and delicate there. Repeated pulling damages the skin and makes it more prone to getting irritated and wrinkled.

I like to pre-rub my eye cream first, unless it’s a liquid or gel.

Eye Cream Tips For A Thick Cream – PRE-RUB & PRESS

Here’s the method that I use for applying an eye cream that is thick and creamy. You can also use this pre-rubbing and pressing method for any eye cream.

1. Pump or scoop out your eye cream onto one finger.

I like to put it on my middle finger. Some people say the ring finger (4th finger) is ideal, because it has the weakest strength of all the fingers. Personally, I don’t think it matters that much if you’re gentle. The middle finger is most comfortable for me, so this is what I use.

2. Now, with the same finger on your other hand, rub the other finger that has the eye cream.

3. Rub for a few seconds.

You just need to rub enough to soften the cream. At this point, one finger on each hand should have softened eye cream.

4. Gently and quickly glide both fingers under both eyes at the same time.

One glide is enough. What you want to do here is quickly spread the cream over the skin.

I was taught in esthetics school to apply eye cream below the eye in this direction: from the outer eye to the inner corner of the eye. The rationale is that this is the direction of the muscle.

However, I personally do not agree with this method. From my personal experience, both on my own skin and working on clients, going in the direction of the muscle actually pulls the skin MORE than going in the opposite direction. In other words, I find there is less skin movement when I move from the inner to outer eye.

But the ideal direction varies with different types of skin and bone structure. The tighter and firmer your skin, the less important the direction. But if your skin is loose and moves a lot, the direction of movement will matter more.

Either direction you choose, be gentle. The goal is to quickly coat the area so that you can press the product into skin (next step).

5. Now, press the cream into the skin. Hold for a couple seconds, and then press again in the adjacent area.

Move from the inner eye to the outer eye (or the opposite direction – up to you). The direction does not matter since you are pressing, not rubbing skin. Press several times until you’ve covered the area under the eyes.

6. Repeat on the area above the eyes.

If the manufacturer says the cream can be applied to the lid itself, do so. Otherwise, just apply the cream to your brow bone (the area above the eyelid). Eye cream does travel, so some of it will migrate downward.

Pressing cream into skin delivers the ingredients into your skin more effectively.

It also saves product. You don’t need to use as much cream. And you don’t accidentally use too much.

How Much Cream Is Right?

How much cream you need will depend on the cream itself and how big your face is. If the cream is very emollient and provides long-lasting moisture, you will need less. If there is a lot of water in the cream, your skin will dry out faster.

Also, the larger your eye area, the more cream you will need. If you have deep set eyes, you will need more (because you have more surface area to cover).

A general rule of thumb is to use the size of a dried rice kernel for each eye or dried corn kernel for both eyes. This is a ballpark estimate. Again, the amount will vary depending on the cream and your skin.

Don’t stress about how much you’re putting on. After experimenting several times, you will figure out the ideal amount for you.

Whenever in doubt, apply less. You can always re-apply later. If you apply too much, there’s a chance you’ll wake up with swollen eyes (too much eye cream can do that). Or you can get milia.

So start off with a small amount, and check your skin again in 2 hours. Is the skin dry? You need to apply more. (Or you need to layer – that’s another topic!)

In the picture, I pumped out more cream than I normally would, for illustration purposes so that you can see the cream better. What you see here is about enough for two applications on my eyes.

Related Posts: