Time spent outdoors has rewards — the vitality of unconditioned air, an intrinsic sense of each season’s changes — but it also has some pitfalls, like the ravages of too much sun. While we’re not naive enough to ignore that sun exposure leads to premature aging (especially on our faces), we’re also usually not smart enough to admit that we don’t usually do a good job with our skin care. A quick scrub with the bar of soap isn’t enough to stem the tide of wrinkles, brown spots, bags and crows feet.
The skin around our eyes has a tendency to make us look far older than we are, but there’s something we can do about it, even if we can’t stop the hands of time. There are some solid choices out there specifically geared towards men, and we’ve selected 10 great men’s eye skincare products to help you both look and feel your best.
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Every Man Jack Age Defying Eye Cream
Because Green Tea Is Good for You: Every Man Jack is a line of men’s grooming products that won’t kill your budget. Their Age Defying Eye Cream contains green tea extract, which has anti-inflammatory properties, as well as hydrating aloe and cocoa butter, enriching vitamins and antioxidants that nourish your skin and help prevent and repair damage to body tissue, including the skin. The rich formula goes on easy and absorbs quickly so you don’t look like you just lost it at a rom com, and it won’t clash with your fancy cologne, since it’s fragrance-free.
Kiehl’s Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer
Because It’s like Hockey Eye Black, Only Clear: It’s not uncommon, especially during winter months, to wake up looking like Rocky Balboa in the twelfth round. Bags, puffiness and all-around facial unpleasantness can make you look like you slept on your face the entire train commute. To help talk your skin off the ledge, apply Kiehl’s Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer, which does pretty much what it says. It looks like a deodorant stick for your face, and you can apply the caffeine-infused applicator directly under your eyes. Keep it in your office drawer for those particularly rough work days, so you can take your girl to dinner and look like you just got eight hours of shuteye. (Okay, maybe six.)
Kyoku for Men Eye Fuel
Because We All Need Fuel: Sometimes your eyes have that loose look that makes it seem like you’ve spent a night bingeing, and you need a quick fix that tightens the skin. Kyoku’s Eye Fuel uses sugar extract, lavender oil, bamboo extract and sea fennel wax to make those baggy eyes look taut and ready again. It also helps prevent wrinkles with, of all things, licorice root extract, which promotes elasticity and reduces skin irritation. It’s fuel for youth, but it won’t, unfortunately, fix some of the mistakes you made the night before.
Face Washing 101
1. No extremes: Wash with lukewarm water in the morning and evening. No extreme temperatures that will unpleasantly shock your skin.
2. Don’t be lazy: Don’t use soap, especially what’s in your shower. Soap dries out your skin. And don’t use crap with fragrances; something basic like Cetaphil or CeraVe cleanses your mug without pummeling it into submission.
3. Go gently: Don’t scrub when you wash. Take it easy on your face and mildly rub the cleanser over your face and neck. Think: gentle massage, not kneading bread dough. Pat dry your face, don’t rub it like it’s a magic lamp.
4. Make a big splash: Rinse thoroughly. Get all the cleanser off your face, again with lukewarm water.
5. Lube up: Moisturize immediately to give your face a protective barrier. Apply lotion with sun protection in the morning, followed by an eye gel with caffeine to reduce the puffiness. Moisturize at night, as well, when you get zero hydration.
6. Shed the lizard skin: Exfoliate about once a week, and use a gentle exfoliant rather than scrubbing your face off. Your daily cleanser exfoliates to an extent already, but a dedicated exfoliant will get rid of the really stubborn dead stuff.
Zirh Restore Herbal Under Eye Cream
Because Dark Circles Are for Losers: Dark circles are the skin equivalent of spinach between your teeth. Everyone stares, but no one says anything. Zirh’s Restore helps you get rid of those unappealing “death warmed over” signs under your eyes with caffeine to reduce redness, calendula flower extract that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties to nourish the skin and cucumber extract to reduce puffiness. It even has a touch of vitamin E that protects and reduces moisture loss.
Anthony Logistics High Performance Continuous Moisture Eye Cream
Because You Need Help ‘Round the Clock: This bad boy’s got everything to help reduce damage and maintain good under-eye health. First, it hydrates with shea butter, jojoba oil and squalane (which occurs naturally in our bodies) to provide much-needed hydration. A, C and E vitamins provide nourishment to firm up lines and eliminate dark circles, and Arnica and allantoin reduce puffiness. The formula is time released, so it keeps working when you can’t tend to your face.
Lab Series AGE RESCUE + Eye Therapy
Because Ginseng Isn’t Just for Tea: LAB SERIES has been around for decades, and there’s one good reason why: their stuff works without the fancy marketing of other men’s skin care products. Their new AGE RESCUE + Eye Therapy gives the one-two-three punch of reducing fatigued-looking skin (with ginseng), fighting the effects of aging (with peptides for collagen repair) and neutralizing skin damage (with 10 antioxidants) from all the stuff your mom told you not to do.
Nivea Men Energy Eye Roll
Because Cheap Doesn’t Mean Useless: If you’re the guy who refuses to spend good money on skin care products, then the Nivea Energy Eye Roll is for you. For well under $10, you get the immediate benefit of cutting down on dark circles and puffiness. As an added perk, it also cools the skin and absorbs quickly. Just roll it on underneath your eyes, and watch it go to work. Plus, you can keep it with you and use it around the clock for that “I just inhaled fresh pine and drank a quad Americano” look whenever you want.
Bulldog Original Eye Roll-On
Because Skin Care Is Manly: Bulldog prides itself on being straightforward, no-nonsense skin care for dudes; there’s a gruff bulldog on the packaging, not a poodle shaved like a lawn shrub. But Bulldog also give you exactly what your tired eyes need: avocado oil, cucumber oil and Brazilian ginseng extract will mitigate dark circles and cut down on puffiness. There’s no fragrance to stink things up, no unnecessary artificial colors and no animal products.
InstaNatural Youth Express Eye Serum
Because Fresh Is Better: There’s nothing on InstaNatural’s Youth Express Eye Serum package that says “men” on it, but who cares — it’s an express trip to youth (don’t you know?). It uses an antioxidant arsenal for nourishment, caffeine to tighten the skin and vitamin C, plant stem cells and astaxanthin to prevent premature aging of the sensitive skin under the eyes. Its quick absorption rate means you can use it on the fly, and the fact that InstaNatural makes their products in small batches means you’re sure to get fresh product whenever you order.
Viva Labs Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
Because Both Skin and Food Are Good: This one’s a survival special, since it’s the only skin care product here that you can also eat. Coconut oil is famously known for its excellent skin care properties, and in pure form it’s easy to apply and deeply nourishing. Viva Labs provides theirs completely unrefined, certified organic and free of bleach or pesticides. Simply apply this cold-pressed coconut oil directly under your eyes and it will moisturize deeply to keep the aging gremlins at bay while cleansing the skin naturally without detergents. Plus, if you get hungry, just break out the spoon. It’s apparently as good for your dietary system as it is for your skin. Who knew?
