Refresh from Your Best Face Skincare is their mid-range eye cream that is lightweight and claims to de-puff, brighten dark circles and reduce appearance of fatigued skin.

Ingredients: reverse osmosis water, ceteareth-6 olivate, ethylhexyl palmitate, REGU®-AGE (glycine soja (soybean) protein (and) hydrolyzed rice protein (and) superoxide dismutase), EYEDELINE™ (butylene glycol, water, plankton extract), Eyeseryl® (water (and) butylene glycol (and) acetyl tetrapeptide-5), Collageneer® (helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil and lupinus albus seed extract), Haloxyl® (hydroxysuccinimide, chrysin, palmitoyl oligopeptide, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3), Leucidal® (leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate), cetearyl olivate (and) sorbitan olivate, chicory root extract (Ichorium intybus root oligosaccharides, caesalpinia spinosa gum, water, glycerin), caffeine, hydroxyethylcellulose, Sepilift DPHP (dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline)

Refresh contains a number of peptides and actives. Renu-Age is said to reduce puffiness and dark circles while protecting and strengthening the skin. Eyedeline is a marine ingredient that reduces extra fluid and boosts elastin and collagen synthesis. Eyeseryl is a tetrapeptide that reduces puffiness due to poor lymphatic circulation, and dark circles. Collageneer is an antiaging and firming ingredient. Haloxyl reduces under-eye circles. Caffeine is toward the end of the ingredient list and reduces under-eye bags. Chicory root increases collagen production and smooths fine lines. Sepilift DPHP smooths fine lines.

Directions: Apply a small amount and massage into entire eye area including eyelids.

I have dark circles, puffy eyes, some fine lines and generally look tired all the time. The ingredients and mechanism of ingredients sound promising. I’ve used this morning and evening for the last 5 months.

Refresh is a lightweight, serum-cream with no scent that applies easily and doesn’t leave a greasy or heavy feeling. It absorbs quickly and leaves the skin feeling immediately smoothed and moisturized. Makeup applies nicely over this.

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Above, there might be a very slight reduction in puffiness and the dark circles look maybe a bit less blue, but I’m not sure if this is due to difference in lighting. This is a nice moisturizing cream and the eye area feels hydrated. On the side view photos, there is a reduction in fine lines and the skin has a generally smoothed appearance.

I think Refresh would make a nice preventative to target loss of elastin and collagen and is generally a nice moisturizer.

For me, I think I might need to make peace with the realization that my dark circles are genetic (so not much I can do about that), but I was hoping for more reduction in puffiness at least. I likely will not be buying the more expensive eye creams that claim to reduce dark circles, and should probably focus on hydration and prevention of fine lines and wrinkles (Refresh did a good job hydrating and reducing fine lines).

Thank you for reading.