The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream: a Guru Score of 71%

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored

~Yay

"The Inky List has their caffeine depuffing dark circle eye cream for $14. [...] It's more geared towards small areas like the under eyes or specific puffiness. Definitely another good one. It's fragrance-free and super affordable."

Dr. Aleksandra Brown

148k subs

~Yay

"The INKEY List makes one of the best value versions of this at the drugstore. This formula also includes a peptide matrix, which can provide some of the longer term collagen supporting benefits on top of that caffeine. The glycerin in here keeps the area hydrated. It's super lightweight and [...] it layers really comfortably under your makeup without peeling or interfering with it. My tip is to keep this in the fridge because the cold temperature on its own will help reduce puffiness."

All 3 takes from Dr. Aleksandra Brown

Are Eye Creams a Scam? A Dermatologist Reveals the Truth! | Dr. Aleksandra Brown

"I have been using this in the mornings for quite some time and I really enjoy it. It's more of like a gel cream that brightens and cools while working to visibly reduce dark circles and wrinkles over time. It helps firm and strengthen the skin around the eyes. The ingredients here it has three types of vitamin C, it also has niacinamide which is a brightening agent, it has some peptides and bakuchiol, caffeine and cedar bark."

Dermatologist's Skincare Routine: AM & PM Steps for Healthy Skin | Dr. Aleksandra Brown

"My next step is eye cream and I like to use the INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream. I like eye creams with a little extra vitamin C, and this one happens to have three types of vitamin C in it. It also has bakuchiol and caffeine and azelaic acid. While dark circles aren't a huge issue for me, I love that this one comes a little bit tinted, it almost acts as a primer for your sunscreen and makeup goes on really smooth and absorbs really quick. The ingredients will help brighten but also firm the skin."

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"The INKEY List makes one of the best value versions of this at the drugstore. This formula also includes a peptide matrix, which can provide some of the longer term collagen supporting benefits on top of that caffeine. The glycerin in here keeps the area hydrated. It's super lightweight and [...] it layers really comfortably under your makeup without peeling or interfering with it. My tip is to keep this in the fridge because the cold temperature on its own will help reduce puffiness."

Dr. Sam Ellis

893k subs

~Yay

"The Inkey List also has a super affordable caffeine under eye cream. So, if it's something where you just want to get a sense of does caffeine work for my under eye, I think that's a nice option."

Doctor Anne

56k subs

~Yay

"The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream is one I use in the mornings, and I love it because it works great for depuffing my eyes, something that gets more important the older I get. It brings the puffiness down within about a quarter of an hour, even if I had a good hormonal cry session the night before."

All 5 takes from Doctor Anne

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"The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream is one I use in the mornings, and I love it because it works great for depuffing my eyes, something that gets more important the older I get. It brings the puffiness down within about a quarter of an hour, even if I had a good hormonal cry session the night before."

My most loved skincare 2024 - Holy grail routine | Doctor Anne

"The most boring category of all, unchanged ever since I started: The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream for morning use. [...] I have used other lovely ones, but this is one of the two I keep coming back to."

My morning skincare routine for spring 2024 | Doctor Anne

"I use an eye cream, and again no surprises here, I love the Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream. I use others on and off, but I really enjoy that one [...] to reduce the puffiness I get, especially during springtime because I have seasonal allergies. It goes around the eyes, [...] I always take it onto the eyelid as well, it doesn't interfere with my makeup, and it leaves things plump."

My most loved skincare 2023 - Holy grail routine | Doctor Anne

"For the last four years the eye cream category has stayed unchanged, which is quite an accomplishment given how many products I test. The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream is one I would buy over and over again, for the mornings."

So many skincare empties - Everything I used up in 2023 | Doctor Anne

"It is just perfect for depuffing my eyes after a late night crying session."

Beyond50Skin

32k subs

~Nay

"I just didn't notice any changes in my eyes despite the fact that caffeine is supposed to help with the under eye area. [...] So this is not going to be a repurchase."

Hyram

4.34M subs

~Yay

"For how simple the ingredient list looks for this eye cream I dead ass would recommend something like the Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream because it basically has the same type of ingredients. It gives you that depuffing effect to the eye area and it's like $10. I have the little versions, big versions. I go through like eight of these. It's an affordable product and I'm obsessed with them."

All 6 takes from Hyram

Specialist Reacts to Bella Hadid's Skin Care Routine

"For how simple the ingredient list looks for this eye cream I dead ass would recommend something like the Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream because it basically has the same type of ingredients. It gives you that depuffing effect to the eye area and it's like $10. I have the little versions, big versions. I go through like eight of these. It's an affordable product and I'm obsessed with them."

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"This is a good formula, and I love the Inky List and their formulation philosophy, but this one I feel like really only works for deppuffing the under eye area and not really for darkness. [...] I don't really feel like this does anything to really address the root cause of dark circles beyond just deppuffing your under eyes. I would actually recommend the Inky List Retinol Eye Cream more than this one for dark circles."

Can Men Skincare? Reacting to TikTok Routines

"I do love that eye cream, the caffeine neck cream from the Inkey List is awesome, especially if you're like new to the eye cream game. It's a great introductory but beneficial formula."

Specialist Reacts To Charli D’amelio’s Updated Skincare Routine 2022

"I am totally here for it, this is something I've personally consistently used, [...] a good, stellar product."

My Thoughts On Selena Gomez’s Affordable Skincare Routine

"If you're looking for an affordable eye cream that helps energize the under eye area and fade the initial signs of hyperpigmentation, I would recommend the Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream. It's a great simple formula that's very affordable, a really great starter eye cream to help prevent some of those long term problems."

Specialist Reacts to Gemma Chan's Skin Care Routine

"That's the Caffeine Eye Cream from the Inkey List. It's a great basic eye cream that utilizes the antioxidant benefits of caffeine to help re-energize the skin. I love the Inkey List, I literally created my brand with them. [...] I'm always like on eye creams, I think they're not necessary but they can be beneficial in a routine, but I think a lot of them are overpriced."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

722k subs

~Yay

"The Inkey List has a Caffeine Eye Cream that's been nice."

Dr. Vanita Rattan

1.23M subs

~Nay

"Caffeine on its own isn't going to do much. This is expensive, so this is the upgrade when all the drugstore products don't work. This has been formulated for skin of color. [...] This is really the upgrade if you have dark circles, puffy eyes, fine lines, and have skin of color and the cheaper products don't work you have an option, but this is expensive. It's around 34 dollars for 10 mls, so you know, not something that you would go for first, but you have an option."

All 3 takes from Dr. Vanita Rattan

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"Caffeine on its own isn't going to do much. This is expensive, so this is the upgrade when all the drugstore products don't work. This has been formulated for skin of color. [...] This is really the upgrade if you have dark circles, puffy eyes, fine lines, and have skin of color and the cheaper products don't work you have an option, but this is expensive. It's around 34 dollars for 10 mls, so you know, not something that you would go for first, but you have an option."

Best & Worst Affordable eye creams Review | Dr Vanita Rattan

"The way caffeine works is it's a vasoconstrictor so this actually melts very nicely into the skin. What it does is it prevents swelling around the eyes and it helps with puffiness, so you will get a temporary reduction of puffiness. It is decent. I would give this product a five out of 10. Nothing bad in it, but you're going to get very mild results. It's not going to help you with hyperpigmentation or with fine lines around the eye areas. This is purely for puffiness."

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"This is purely for vascular bluish dark circles. If your dark circles are pigmentary, this isn't going to work for you. It's also fine that this is in tube packaging because there's no antioxidants in here. If you have vascular bluish dark circles, this is a solid 8 out of 10. But if you have dark circles from pigmentation, this is a 0 out of 10. You're going to get nothing from it. I do love the price point, though. £10."

Sincerely Miss Ash

195k subs

~Mixed

"It's affordable and it does work for deep puffing. [...] I have used this on and off for a couple of years now and it really does work. I just feel like it works better when I pair it up with an eye serum or right after one of the eye masks. [...] On its own it does work, but it works better with something else that helps to depuff. Great underneath makeup, great underneath sunscreen. You can use this every day, twice a day, and I've never experienced irritation with this one either."

Kelly Driscoll

90k subs

~Yay

"This is the Caffeine Eye Cream from The Inkey List, and it has that creamy gel type texture. [...] If you don't like super thick eye creams, look at that, it's not super creamy, it's got more of a gel type of texture, and it just feels really plumping, which I love. I love to plump up my under eye area with eye creams. It's quickly absorbed and really just fresh feeling, which I really appreciate."

Cassandra Bankson

2.46M subs

~Yay

"I tried some of The INKEY List's eye creams, like the Caffeine [...] Eye Cream, because I thought if it's inexpensive enough and actually works, maybe this is an eye cream I can get behind, and I can say that about the caffeine one, yes. [...] With all of The INKEY List's eye creams, I like that they're inexpensive, but I wouldn't say that any of them are hits for me."

Dr. Shereene Idriss

1.73M subs

~Yay

"If the shadowing and the darkening is due to blood vessels and enlargement of your blood vessels you want to take that blood vessel and close it up. Caffeine is a huge plus. [...] The INKEY List has a caffeinated eye cream I believe it is at four percent with Matrixyl 3000 in it that has peptides to help reduce the appearance of fine lines."

All 2 takes from Dr. Shereene Idriss

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"If the shadowing and the darkening is due to blood vessels and enlargement of your blood vessels you want to take that blood vessel and close it up. Caffeine is a huge plus. [...] The INKEY List has a caffeinated eye cream I believe it is at four percent with Matrixyl 3000 in it that has peptides to help reduce the appearance of fine lines."

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"If you have a lot of puffiness or you swell easily, The Inky List has a Caffeine Eye Cream for 10 bucks."

Nadine Baggott

164k subs

~Yay

"The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream actually uses this one. [...] I like that product. I think it's very nice."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Humectants and emollients

Ingredients like these draw water into the surface layers and slow how fast it leaves. The evidence is for comfort, softness and hydration rather than for changing the structure of the skin.

Source: DermNet

Peptides

Peptides are short protein fragments meant to signal repair. The evidence for them is thinner than for retinoids or vitamin C, and it varies a lot by the specific peptide, so the category is more promising than proven.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, and it is often in a formula to keep the other ingredients stable rather than as the active itself. It pairs well with vitamin C, though on its own the evidence for visible change is limited.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Frequently asked.

What is The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream?

A lightweight caffeine and peptide eye cream designed to reduce the appearance of under-eye puffiness and dark circles.

Is The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream worth it?

The gurus are split. 10 of the 13 gurus give it their stamp of approval while 2 would skip it, which lands it in the middle at a Guru Score of 71%.

What is The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream's Guru Score?

The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream holds a Guru Score of 71%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 13 expert reviewers we have collected.