Does eye cream go before or after face moisturizer?

What order should I use?

1. 1Wash your face with a gentle cleanser and gently pat dry.
2. 2Apply any skin medication or treatment after cleansing. If you use a serum, apply it before eye cream.
3. 3Apply a small amount of eye cream with your ring finger. Gently pat it around the eyes without pulling or tugging.
4. 4Apply your face moisturizer.
5. 5Finish with sunscreen in the morning. Sunscreen is not needed at night.

Use face moisturizer morning and evening. An eye cream containing retinol belongs in the evening routine: retinol is a vitamin A ingredient, and sunlight can deactivate it and cause irritation. Do not assume every eye cream needs the same schedule just because it goes in the same place in your routine.1

What if my eye cream is thicker than my moisturizer?

Use texture as your guide rather than treating the product names as a fixed order. Applying a thick cream before a thin treatment can reduce how well the treatment penetrates the skin. If your eye cream is the heavier of the two products, applying it after a lighter moisturizer follows that general layering rule.1

Do I need both eye cream and moisturizer?

A separate eye cream is optional, even if the jar has been given its own job title. A simple routine can consist of cleanser, moisturizer and morning sunscreen. Moisturizer is often preferred over a separate eye cream for sensitive skin around the eyes to avoid adding another possible source of irritation.1

An eye cream makes more sense when you want ingredients aimed at a particular concern. Hyaluronic acid and ceramides help moisturize the eye area, and hydrated skin looks plumper, making wrinkles less visible. Retinol helps reduce and prevent lines by stimulating collagen. The skin around the eyes is especially thin and gets dry and irritated easily, so choose the formula rather than just the category.3

An expensive eye cream is not automatically more effective, so the price tag is not an extra active ingredient. Choose ingredients that match your concern and a price that fits your budget.3

How do I avoid irritating the eye area?

Use a gentle touch rather than rubbing the cream in. Strongly scented eye creams can irritate and dry out delicate eye skin. Keep the number of products low, especially products aimed at signs of aging: using several can cause irritation that makes those signs more noticeable.23

If a product causes skin irritation or contact dermatitis, an inflammatory skin reaction, stop using it and make an appointment with a dermatologist. Changing the order is not the next step when a product is irritating your skin.1