I spent a fair bit of last week in bed. Struck down by some mystery summer virus, I managed to burn through an impressive variety of unpleasant symptoms - and yes, weather watchers, the heatwave was indeed in full swing. Spicy times!
As you'd expect given the circumstances, my skincare routine was far from the front of my mind. But, having hauled my sorry self to the fridge in search of a chilled ginger shot one sweltering afternoon, a little pink tube winked at me.
I'd stashed said eye serum in the veg crisper, in preparation for the heatwave. And, unlike every other product in my house at that particular moment, applying this one felt, not just feasible, but actively appealing.
Why this cooling, de-puffing eye roller is my beauty buy of the week
Lest I sound as if I'm selling Grace & Stella Cooling Eye Roller as some kind of medicinal tincture, rest assured, this is a skincare product through and through. In fact, it's a very well-formulated eye serum, containing hydrating, energising ingredients, cleverly delivered through a large metal rollerball that massages and depuffs as it goes.
As well as feeling like heaven on hot, tired or puffy peepers (whether you're under the weather or not), this includes several excellent ingredients for the eye area. There's hyaluronic acid, a light humectant that hydrates and plumps lines, niacinamide, which can help even out skin tone, and ceramides, which help bolster the thin and vulnerable skin in this area.
Any eye cream, at any price, would do well to pack these in, along with soothing centella asiatica and line-improving ingredient du jour, peptides. The fact that this also has the most welcome delivery method - a metal rollerball that cools and massages away fluid build-up - and costs just £10 makes it an uncommonly good find.
I far prefer using serums around my eyes vs rich creams - and so should you. Even if you have lots of dehydration or lines in the undereye area, the skin is very, very thin and really doesn't like to be smothered in ultra-thick ointments; it can actually make puffiness worse.
Another thing I like about this is that it doesn't over-promise. Even the best eye cream in the world can't firm eye bags up (that'd be surgery) or significantly reduce dark circles (sleep and genetics, I'm afraid). So the fact that this sells itself on simply refreshing and energising is bang on. More of this radical honesty in beauty, please.
As for me, in my sad little heatwave sick bed, rolling this icy elixir on honestly brought me similar levels of relief as my four-hourly ibuprofen hits. But I've continued using it long after the doldrums lifted - as a sub-tenner summer morning hydrator and enlivener, it's pretty unbeatable. Sounds good? Great! Let's chat next Sunday.
