I’ve noticed a change in my under eye skin over the last couple of months in that it looks more dehydrated, not normally a complaint coming from my skin that tends to lie on the oiler side of the scale but I took this as a sign as needing to give the delicate area some much needed love and attention, or at least a bit more so. The Body Shop ‘Oils of Life’ Eye cream gel The eye gel cream also has some great goodies in B3 Niacinamide, a hidden gem for smoothing pores, some lovely humectant and emoilant ingredients and Fagus Sylvatica Bud Extract which is a natural antioxidant, has anti wrinkle, moisturising and protecting properties. Caffeine is a nice bonus ingredient to help depuff any morning puffiness. A well-known thing about Caffeine isthat it improves the microcirculation of the blood vessels. Though conventional wisdom and anecdotal evidence says that this property is helpful for dark under-eye circles and puffy eyes, we have to mention that the double-blind research we have found about a 3% caffeine gel concluded that " the overall efficacy of the selected caffeine gel in reducing puffy eyes was not significantly different from that of its gel base." But you know, the proof is in the pudding.

So to sum it all up, here’s my list of pros and cons for the The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalizing Eye Cream-Gel:Because it is a gel-cream texture you have the hydration of a cream with the lighter consistency of a gel which leaves your under eye area well prepped and beautifully hydrated for makeup. It lends itself well when working with concealers and fighting the dreaded ‘concealer crease’, this lighter texture from being a ‘gel-cream’ hybrid means it doesn’t cause any creasing with my concealers (this maybe a skincare goodie that might make it into my pro kit).

I’ve been using this eye cream-gel for just over a week, day and night, and while I haven’t noticed any major differences in improvements of skin texture as yet, I do find it a very pleasant eye cream to use. It is hydrating whilst not heavy or occlusive, it’s a delight to apply with its cooling sensation and works well under makeup. Another thing Caffeine is used for in body care products is its anti-cellulite effects. In theory, it can speed up the lipolysis process (the "fat burning" by our cells) andstimulate the draining lymph system that might lead to the improvement of cellulite. But here again, the evidence that it actually makes a measurable, let alone visible, improvement on actualhuman beings is limited (we could find only some animal skin studies or caffeine being combined with other actives).

Wrap-Up

As for modern research and chemical composition, the fixed oil from the seeds is richin skin-nourishing unsaturated fatty acids ( mainly linoleic acid at 50 – 60%and oleic acid at 20%, but also contains some rare ones like C20:2 arachidic and eicosadienoic acids), amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. A component called thymoquinone (it's the main component of the volatile oil part, but the fixed oil also contains some) is considered to give the seed its main therapeutic properties including strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities.