Sali Hughes on beauty: eye creams that are worth using down to the last drop

A hill I will die on: you do not necessarily need an eye cream. There are, I will admit, reasons why you might fare better with one. You may have a very dry eye area and oily skin elsewhere, for example, causing a skincare mismatch. Or, conversely, you may find your daily face cream is too rich for your eyes and makes them puffy, so they need something lighter. You may want a little cosmetic light reflection, or you might use active ingredients like retinol that your face tolerates perfectly well, but that your eyes can take only in a lower concentration.

It may, of course, be none of the above, but just that you find using an eye cream a pleasure, which is as good a reason as any.

My point is that eye creams are not the anti-ageing magic bullet that marketing campaigns would have us believe. Very many of us can do the same job with our facial skincare, saving time and cash. But if you would still like to try one without the considerable financial commitment that many require, there are some new eye creams that represent terrific value for money.

The Inkey List has a number of eye creams at great prices that cleverly address most of the variables above. Its latest offering, Bio-Active Ceramide Eye Cream (£15), is ideal for someone who prefers a fresh, watery day cream but craves a little richness around the eyes. It provides lasting, creamy, expensive-feeling hydration without feeling greasy, and it absorbs quickly. A peptide complex may support an improvement in firmness long-term (the company says a three-month blind clinical trial yielded positive results).

I also like The Inkey List’s Brighten-i Eye Cream (£12), which reminds me very much of the eye creams I tried on a recent trip to Tokyo – it’s light, refreshing and glowy. It is a great little buy for anyone who wants comfort, moisture and to brighten dark circles without committing to a full face of gleam.

The jury is still out on the ingredient du jour PDRN (studies are encouraging, but they are still lab-based and have a long way to go), but for £8.70, I think The Ordinary’s new Lacto PDRN 4% + B9 Eye Cream is well worth a stab. This is a gel-cream formula, so it’s ideal for those who find heavy, unctuous creams overwhelming. It has a mild but fast lifting effect, which, while ephemeral, is noticeable and has two of my closest friends hooked.