The 17 Best Eye Moisturizing Creams Dermatologists Love

For ingredients you need eye creams that contain occlusive substances, humectants, emollients and / or barrier components. Gmyrek breaks down on what these terms mean below. She notes that your eye cream doesn’t have to contain all of these ingredients, but you will likely find a combination of the ingredients from different categories in products.

Occlusive: These form a barrier over the skin surface to prevent the evaporation of water from the skin into the environment. They reduce the transepidermal water loss. Examples include dimethicone, petroleum, shea butter, and colloidal oatmeal.

Humectant: These attract water and moisture. When humectants are present on the skin, water is absorbed from the deeper skin level, the dermis, the upper skin or the epidermis. Water is also attracted and absorbed by the environment, but this is minimal. Examples include glycerin, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, urea, lactic acid, shea butter (Butyrospermum parkii) and colloidal oatmeal.