Clinique Pep-Start Eye Cream Review

Rarely do I come across a product that does nothing for me. Not live up to all, or even a majority of its claims? Yep, I come across those all of the times. Not bring anything new or interesting to the table? Yep, I see lots of those as well. Poorly packaged and/or overpriced? Again, plenty of those product out there. But a product that does nothing is rare.

But here one is: Clinique's Pep-Start Eye Cream. This "pep rush for eyes" supposedly "hydrates, brightens, perks you up" thanks to its "cool touch and de-puffing (applicator) tip." And it does all of this almost instantly (okay, you're supposed to massaged it around your eyes for three second).

While using this cream I noticed zero improvement or impact. This product did not make me "look wide awake" or "refreshed." Instead, it left me looking like I hadn't even used an eye cream. Now, I did use a sample version of this product that didn't include the "de-puffing" application tip so maybe that's why the puffiness level of my under-eye skin never changed but that doesn't explain why skin still looked dull and tired.

Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder

There are a few items that I was try to have in my bag: some kind of tinted lip balm, some kind of headache medicine and Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder. This is a fantastic product and because of that, it’s one of the few items I consider to be a “must-have.”

My skin has a tendency to be a bit oily. While mattefying primers, foundations and loose powders (particularly those from Make Up For Ever) can keep the oil at bay for a few hours, eventually, if I’m out long enough, the oil makes an appearance. That’s when I turn to this pressed powder.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

When I was a poor university student, I used Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion all of the time however, it wasn’t completely by choice.  My mother, a big fan of Clinique’s three-step cleaning system, would regularly give me her gift-with-purchases, and these gifts almost always included a sample tube of Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. And since I had no money, and since the lotion sort of worked, I used it. But once I got a job and could afford to buy my own beauty products, I switched to something else. While this product never irritated my skin, I just felt like it wasn’t delivering the moisture that my skin needed.

Since then, there have been a few times were I gave this product another shot (yes, I was given more free samples) but every time the results were the same: This lotion just didn’t do it for my skin.

Clinique’s Rinse-off Eye Makeup Solvent Vs. Yves Rocher Gentle Makeup Remover for Sensitive Eyes

My go-to makeup remover is Clinique’s Rinse-off Eye Makeup Solvent. It doesn't irritate my eyes or skin, doesn't leave any kind of residue and does do a great job at removing even heavy black makeup.

But over the last few weeks I've been using a different eye makeup remover: Yves Rocher Gentle Makeup Remover for Sensitive Eyes, which I received earlier this year in one of my Luxe Boxes.

Like the Clinique product, the Yves Rocher makeup remover is ophthalmologist tested and designed to be as gentle as possible on the eyes and eye area. Both items are also wipe-on, wipe-off products, that are quick and easy to use and don’t require water or rising. But the Yves Rocher remover is free of parabens and is significantly cheaper than the Clinique one (about $6 versus $20) so I was hoping that maybe I could replace my bottle of Clinique’s Rinse-off Eye Makeup Solvent with a bottle of Yves Rocher Gentle Makeup Remover.

Clinique All About Eyes

When I started testing this under-eye cream out, I would gently pat a small amount under my eyes each night. After about a week, I took a careful look at my under-eye areas and came to the conclusion that this product wasn't doing much.

Of course, a week’s not much time for a skin care product to do its thing so I decided to continue my testing but to do it slightly different way: Instead of applying this cream under both eyes, I started just applying it under my right eye.