Caudalie Pulpe Vitaminee Eye and Lip Cream

Originally this was going to be a review of the Caudalie Eye Contour Cream that I have been using over the past few weeks. But when I went onto the Caudalie website to find it, I found that it wasn't around anymore and another product had taken its place in the Energizing collection. I then clicked over to the Sephora website to see what they had available and they also only had the Pulpe Vitaminee Eye and Lip Cream available for sale. This news affected me in two ways. First, I was irritated because I wanted to write this product and the good results that I had with it up. Second, I found an eye cream that I was happy with and now it isn't available anymore. Great.

I decided to at least take some time and review the new eye cream that they offered and lo and behold, I found right in the description on the Caudalie website that this is Eye Contour Cream renamed. Same formula, same package, new name. Maybe my life isn't ruined right now...

"This gel-cream reduces wrinkles, lightens dark circles, decongests, and protects the skin from free radicals." The major ingredients are listed right here: grape-seed polyphenols (OPC), Ceramides 3, tetrapeptides, horse chestnut, liquorice, witch hazel, fern, plant glycerine, and calendula. As will all products from this line, this product is more on the natural side and contains anti-oxidant ingredients. The horse chestnut is what makes this product unique to all the other eye creams on the market today. This is a natural ingredient that fights dark circles and puffiness without any type of bleaching agent. It has been said in some circles that chemical bleaching agents used around the eye area (especially hydroquinone) are responsible for an overall thinning of the delicate skin of the area and will actually make the effects of aging much worse down the line. However, to be fair, I was told this from a representative of Caudalie and have seen no information to back this up. In fact, the Murad eye cream with hydroquinone in it is a best seller and highly recommended by all who have used it. But I digress...

I was given this product by a rep for Caudalie a bit back and she told me that it would help with both my dark circles and puffiness but without drying out my eye area. I love the gel-cream texture of this product, it is very easy to work with and goes on easily without me having to tug on the skin of my eye area. The product worked well at depuffing my eyes but fell down a bit in the dark circles area. I have used this product both alone and alternating with the B. Kamins eye creams that is specifically designed for very bad dark circles. My dark circles are on the blue side, so they are a result of thin skin and are not going anywhere anytime soon (since they can't be lightened at all). I had the best overall results when I used this cream in the morning and the B. Kamins cream at night. However, this eye cream has an ingredient to help thicken skin and this process would take much longer than a lightening. The Vitamin K in the B. Kamins cream works much the same way to build skin up. When I reviewed the B. Kamins cream last year, I was on my second tube in a row of it, so the long term benefits were becoming more obvious.

The Caudalie alone was not enough to help minimize the appearance of my dark circles. But I should reserve full judgement until I purchase and use another tube of this cream and give it more time. And will I purchase this product and replace my tube? Yes, this depuffing powers are first-rate and the texture ranks among my favorite ever in an eye product (and has the B. Kamins beat by a long shot in this area).

photo courtesy of Caudalie