The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream: a Guru Score of 69%

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 Approved takes Critical takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored

~Approved

"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. The vasoconstriction from the temperature combined with caffeine is going to give you noticeably better results than using it at room temperature alone. So if you wake up puffy in the morning, this is going to be your go-to. The key ingredients here are the caffeine, peptide matrix, and glycerin."

All 2 takes from Dr. Aleksandra Brown

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

"The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream is a really lightweight hydrating eye cream with a blend of caffeine and peptides. It's clinically proven to reduce the appearance of puffiness and dark circles. The key ingredient is the caffeine which will vasoconstrict, and it also contains the Matrixyl 3000 peptide which helps plump, firm and smooth skin's appearance."

Best Affordable Eye Creams That Actually Work | Dermatologist Approved

"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. The vasoconstriction from the temperature combined with caffeine is going to give you noticeably better results than using it at room temperature alone. So if you wake up puffy in the morning, this is going to be your go-to. The key ingredients here are the caffeine, peptide matrix, and glycerin."

Dr. Sam Ellis

873k subs

~Approved

"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

55k subs

~Approved

"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

I Used Up ALL of These in 2025 - Skincare, Hair & Makeup Empties | Doctor Anne

"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

31k subs

~Skip

"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

4.35M subs

~Approved

"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."

I Tried Every Eye Cream Ever Made (here are the best 👀)

"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. [...] It's a good eye cream and I love how affordable it is, but it just doesn't do enough. [...] By no means is it the worst and it didn't make my under eyes worse, but it just didn't do enough."

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

"The Caffeine Eye Cream is a great product, it's very simple, it utilizes caffeine to help awaken the under eye area. In general you want to be careful about applying products right on the eyelid because that's a much more sensitive part of the face and a lot of products aren't tolerable there, but the ingredient list on this one is good for sensitive skin, a very basic formula that gets you under eye hydration with a little bit of an awakening and energizing effect, without having to spend a lot of money. 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. The great thing about the Caffeine Eye Cream is that it's really simple, doesn't have an overly expensive ingredient list, and it's totally doable for introducing to your routine because it's such a great price point."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

720k subs

~Approved

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

Dr. Vanita Rattan

1.22M subs

~Skip

"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 2 takes from Dr. Vanita Rattan

BEST & WORST DRUG STORE EYE CREAMS

"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

"It's got caffeine at the correct percentage between 0.5 to 3% which is the therapeutic index. 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."

Sincerely Miss Ash

195k subs

~Mixed

"This one has caffeine to depuff but it also contains Matrixyl 3000, which is a type of peptide that helps with signs of aging. 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

~Approved

"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

2.45M subs

~Approved

"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."

Nadine Baggott

164k subs

~Approved

"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 eye cream containing caffeine designed to reduce puffiness and depuff the under-eye area, with a gel-cream texture.

Is The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream worth it?

The gurus are split. 8 of the 11 gurus give it their stamp of approval while 2 would skip it, which lands it in the middle at a Guru Score of 69%.

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

The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream holds a Guru Score of 69%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 11 expert reviewers we have collected.