"I was a beauty editor who thought all eye creams were a scam... until I found this one."

In my former life as a beauty editor, I spent a lot of time testing products.

For over ten years I took home bags of everything, from cleanser and eyeliner to cuticle remover, to trial on a weekly basis. I was a (very) pampered professional guinea pig. (One with a stockpile of moisturiser and mascara that would make Marie Kondo shriek.)

My job was to know the Australian beauty market inside and out, and I took it seriously. I was making product recommendations for a living, and I wanted to be sure the advice I was giving was solid. All this to say, there really aren’t a lot of products or brands I haven’t yet tried.

But though I discovered many winners (some of which continue to drain my bank account to this day), there’s one product category I just never got on board with – eye cream.

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I’ve tried just about every eye cream under the sun. Eye creams for dark circles, eye creams for puffiness. Eye creams for wrinkles and eye creams for sagging. None of them ever did much. I tried to like eye cream.

But even the brands recommended to me by other beauty editors as “life-changing” failed to turn my head. Some I straight-up hated. They were too thick, too fragrant, didn’t sink in fast enough, made my foundation slip off, and stung my eyes. I thought the problem was me. I knew the skin around my eyes was thinner than the rest of my face. (Fun fact: only 0.5 millimetres thick – this is one of the reasons why you see wrinkles there first.)

But I told myself my eye bags were resistant, compromised by patting my regular moisturiser all the way up, and left it at that.

Fast-forward to a few months ago. A facialist I had recently become obsessed with via Mamamia’s Leigh Campbell (Carina at Belaméres in Sydney’s Double Bay), introduced me to a Danish brand called Beauté Pacifique.

Immediately my interest was piqued – I had never so much as heard of them. After my first facial using the products (which Carina unofficially refers to as her “fairy dust treatment”), we sat down to discuss my skincare routine and what I was using. When we got to the eye cream bit, Carina asked about my go-to product. I can’t remember but I probably laughed in her face and said something like, “eye creams are a scam”.

I do recall Carina looking me square in the eye and telling me I would benefit from trying something called Beauté Pacifique Puffy Eyes Gel ($99). Suitably admonished, I said I would give it a go. I don’t think you’ll be shocked to hear I didn’t have high hopes.

It didn’t win me over immediately, but three weeks in I realised I had been applying eye cream day and night consistently for the longest stretch of time of my entire life. Somehow, it had infiltrated my routine. Now the thought of not using it seemed odd. The product, which is somewhere between a cream and a gel in texture, delivers a tightening effect on application which is crazy-satisfying. You can literally see it work.

According to Beauté Pacifique, it visibly firms the under-eye area via a special flower extract that encourages cells in the connective tissue to “pull the skin’s fibre-network tightly together”. (It’s said this specific extract can relax the skin’s expression muscles for an effect sort of similar to Botox.) Also in the mix are caffeine and “a cocktail of vegetable extracts” meant to reduce those little pockets of fluid that hang about after a late night like it’s their job.

Side note - Rachel Corbett recommended this product on her episode of You Beauty's In Her Bag, get it in your ears below. Post continues after audio.

That all sounds very science-y (and it is) but all you really need to know is that it visibly demolishes puffiness in a way I previously never thought possible. Did I mention I have a toddler? My under-eye bags are on level 100. That this stuff can make even the teeniest improvement to my face is a damn miracle.

One 15ml bottle will set you back $99 but believe me when I say it lasts for absolute ages. I use a minuscule amount - the size of half a grain of rice  - for both eyes, morning and night.

I’ve travelled interstate a fair bit recently, and Puffy Eyes Gel has come with me on every trip. I usually edit my regime right down when travelling so this speaks volumes about how much I really like it.

Lisa is a self-described beauty know-it-all who never met a dry shampoo she didn't like. She likes expensive body wash, oversized shirts, Maltesers, obscure disco music and hanging out with her son and husband.

What's your go-to eye gel? Do you have a favourite one? Tell us in a comment below.