Today, I’m reviewing my beauty expenses for 2022. I know we’re more than half way through 2023, but I realized that I forgot to do last year’s beauty expenses.
As you can see from the graphs, I started spending money on beauty products again. There was a significant decrease in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID. The majority of the skincare purchases were the Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve and First Aid Beauty KP Bump Eraser. I’ve been lucky enough to receive skincare products to review. So I haven’t bought many skincare products for my face, but somehow I spent $550 on things like hand cream, body scrubs and pimple patches.
My 6 most expensive beauty purchases of 2022:
Sephora Collection PRO 8-piece Brush Set – $92.80
Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize Cream Eyeshadow Trio – $70.20
Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm (Value size) – $52
Uoma Beauty Say What?! Foundation – $50
Youth to the People Dream Eye Cream with Vitamin C and Ceramides – $49.60
After seeing how much I spent last year on makeup and skincare, I’m actually quite surprised. It didn’t feel like I spent that much on beauty products. Since we’re in August 2023, I can say that I’ve actually tried my 6 most expensive purchases and I like all of them. I think I’m starting to prefer powder or cream foundations though, so I probably wouldn’t repurchase the Uoma foundation. I like all of the other products though. I haven’t opened the Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm, but I’ve used it in the past. I really like the Sephora Collection PRO brushes. They’re so soft and fluffy. The ABH eyeshadow palette is a classic, I still need to use it more. I haven’t used the Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize shadows as much as I’d like. I chose more smokey shades and I’ve mostly been going out during the day and prefer to do a natural eye look in the morning.
I’m interested to see my beauty expenses for this year. I think I’ve bought more clothes than beauty products, but we’ll see what happens in the next few months when the Sephora sale and Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales come around lol.
This is basically a repost of the blog post I wrote in May 2019, but I’ve added added new eye creams I’ve tried since then and also organized them into Hits, Likes and Misses. I’ve written a mini review of each eye cream I’ve tried and also said if I had a reaction to it or not.
Before you read this post, please remember that we all have difference preferences and skin types. These are MY hits, misses and likes. You might love something I don’t like or dislike something I love.
HITS
DearKlairs Fundamental Nourishing Eye Butter – I like this eye cream. Based on the name, I thought it would be a bit creamier/heavier, but it’s a bit like a gel cream. At first, I was on the fence about repurchasing it since the Cerave Eye Repair Cream is a bit similar (and Cerave is a bit easier for me to purchase). After checking the cost per mL though, this one is actually cheaper because there’s more in the tube. So I think I would get this one instead. I’ve already been using it for about 8 months (once daily) and there’s still quite a bit left in the tube. I was using this one as my PM eye cream, but I think I would prefer using it as an AM and using one of the thicker ones at night. At the time, I was using the Pixi Botanical Collagen Eye Serum which is a bit tacky, so I preferred using that one during the day, so naturally, this one became a part of my night routine.
Reaction? No reaction.
Cerave Eye Repair Cream with Hyaluronic Acid & 3 Ceramides – When I first started using this, I was a bit underwhelmed. I thought it would moisturize my under eyes more. I’ve finished the tube now and I changed my opinion about it. I liked this eye cream.
Reaction? No reaction.
Youth to the People Dream Eye Cream with Vitamin C and Ceramides – I’ve been enjoying using this eye cream. I have been using it at night, while I used the Cerave Eye Repair Cream during my morning routine.
Reaction? No reaction.
Pixi Retinol Eye Cream* – I enjoyed this one and my under eyes didn’t feel dry after using it. The tube also lasted a long time (8 months of using it twice daily).
Reaction? No reaction.
Pixi Botanical Collagen Eye Serum* – If you like a more gel-like eye cream, this one is quite nice. If you prefer a cream, the retinol one is good. It is a little bit tacky, so I liked to use this one for AM.
Reaction? No reaction.
LIKES
Tarte Maracuja C-Brighter Eye Treatment – If I remember correctly, this one was similar to the Youth to the People one in terms of how thickness. It was a good one for my night routine.
Reaction? No reaction.
Clinique Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector – In my 2019 blog post, I said this was my favourite eye cream I’ve tried so far. I’ve tried several sine then and this one has been bumped from its top spot. Although it made my under eyes feel smooth, it didn’t really hydrate as well as other eye creams. When I initially purchased this, I had bought it from a warehouse sale for about $20-25 (15mL tube). I purchased it during the Sephora sale more recently and not only have they raised the price, they’ve also made the tube smaller (8.5mL). While I used the new tube, I found that I didn’t have the same love for it as I did four years ago. Also, I can no longer justify the price, especially when I don’t love it as much as I once did.
Reaction? No reaction.
Volition Beauty Helix AM/PM Eye Gel (read my review) – I think I would’ve liked this more if I had tried it in the summer time. It’s more of a smoothing eye gel than a hydrating or moisturizing one. They’ve also changed the packaging. I tried it in a pot, but now they have it in a bottle with a pump.
Reaction? No reaction.
belif Moisturizing Eye Bomb – I had a sample of this one and I enjoyed it. Although I’m not crazy about the slight scent to it (natural fragrance, it’s not scented).
Reaction? No reaction.
Good Molecules Yerba Mate Wake Up Eye Gel* (read my review) – Even though I gave this a pretty high rating in my review, I found that my eye would twitch occasionally when I would use this so I had to stop using it. I also didn’t love the tackiness of it.
Reaction? Occasional eye twitching from caffeine.
Goldfaden MD Bright Eyes Dark Circle Radiance Concentrate* – I received this from Calissa.com when I was receiving boxes from them. While I did like this eye cream, it’s not really as accessible to me as the other eye creams I’ve tried. I don’t know if it would cost an arm and a leg to pay for shipping or duties. It was a nice eye cream, but it wouldn’t be worth it for me.
Reaction? No reaction.
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel Cream for Eyes (read my review) – Unlike the Hydro Boost Cream for the face, this didn’t have a smell and it wasn’t tacky at all, but it just didn’t ‘wow’ me.
Reaction? No reaction.
Lkins Skincare Vitamin C Eye Gel* (read my review) – This was a nice gel texture, but it just wasn’t hydrating enough. I have really dry under eyes.
Reaction? No reaction.
Saturday Skin Wide Awake Brightening Eye Cream (read my review) – This one didn’t do much for me. It didn’t hydrate my under eyes as much as I needed it to and I didn’t get any reaction from it.
Reaction? No reaction.
OLE HENRIKSEN Banana Bright Eye Crème – I liked this eye cream, but after hearing about the lawsuit for allergic reactions for this eye cream, I decided not to risk re-purchasing it.
Reaction? No reaction after using the travel-sized pot.
MISSES
Tula Multi-Spectrum Eye Renewal Serum (read my review) – It seems like they’ve renamed a lot of their products. I believe this was renamed: Instant De-Puff Eye Renewal Serum. Both my mom and I tried this eye renewal serum. We both felt itchy using it and it wasn’t allergies or anything because we were using this in the winter time.
Reaction? No physical reaction (appearance-wise), but eyes felt itchy.
Origins Ginzing Refreshing Eye Cream to Depuff and Brighten (read my review)
I’m not a huge fan of the smell of this. I accidentally bought this instead of another product – I meant to get the Ginzing moisturizer. A little goes a long way and while this does brighten the under eyes, you have to be careful not to use too much or it looks too white. I was using this off and on because I got one spot and I wasn’t sure if it was the eye cream or something else. I stopped using it until it got better and then I used it again and I’ve had a bit of texture under the eyes since. So, I won’t be using this anymore.
Reaction? Got a milium (singular of milia) and also got red bumpy spots
Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (read my review) – I’ve been using this for about a while now and I’ve been using it on and off because whenever I use it, I get 1-2 red spots under both eyes. Also, it has a weird texture that’s almost glue-y. If you use too much, it doesn’t blend in very well, but if you use a very small amount, it absorbs into the skin and almost feels like water.
Reaction? Red spots under eyes whenever I used it.
Kiehl’s Eye Fuel* – After my reaction to the Creamy Eye Treatment, Kiehl’s messaged me asking if I would like to try a different product and I chose the Eye Fuel. THIS MADE ONE OF MY EYES TWITCH SO MUCH.
Reaction? Eye was twitching like crazy.
Price (CAD)
Size (mL)
Cost per mL
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel Cream for Eyes
26.99
14mL
1.93
Lkins Skincare Vitamin C Eye Gel
22.99 USD ~ 30 CAD
15mL
2
Saturday Skin Wide Awake Brightening Eye Cream
25 USD ~ 32 CAD
15mL
2.13
Saturday Skin Wide Awake Brightening Eye Cream
46 USD ~ 60 CAD
30mL
2
Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado
70
28g ~ 28mL
2.5
mini Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado
44
14g ~ 14mL
3.14
Origins Ginzing Refreshing Eye Cream to Depuff and Brighten
44
15mL
2.93
mini Origins Ginzing Refreshing Eye Cream to Depuff and Brighten
36
10mL
3.6
belif Moisturizing Eye Bomb
60
25mL
2.4
Cerave Eye Repair Cream
27.99
14.2 g ~ 14.2mL
1.97
Clinique Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector
59
8.5mL
6.94
Goldfaden MD Bright Eyes Dark Circle Radiance Concentrate
55 USD ~ 71 CAD
15mL
4.73
Good Molecules Yerba Mate Wakeup Eye Gel
8
15mL
0.53
Volition Helix AM/PM Eye Gel
70
15mL
4.67
Tarte Maracuja C-Brighter Eye treatment
51
10mL
5.1
Youth to the People Dream Eye Cream
62
15mL
4.13
Tula Instant De-Puff Eye Renewal Serum
76
15mL
5.07
Pixi Botanical Collagen Eye Serum
34
25mL
1.36
Dear, Klairs Fundamental Nourishing Eye Butter
31
20g ~ 20mL
1.55
Here are some eye creams that I want to try:
Cetaphil Optimal Hydration Eye Serum
COSRX Advanced Snail Peptide Eye Cream
I’m From Ginseng Eye Cream
PURITO Centella Green Level Eye Cream
I’ve been looking for eye creams that don’t have caffeine because my right eye keeps twitching whenever I use eye creams with caffeine.
What’s your fave eye cream?
Love,
Last updated Aug 2023
Products marked with * were sent to me for review.
