Beauty Review: Guerlain’s Happylogy Eye: Glowing Eye Care

Product Tag Line:

The eyes sparkle of youth.

Product Profile in short:
(as described on Guerlain Website)
• Action on 1st wrinkles/dark circles/puffiness
• Signs of fatigue reduced
• Eyes sparkle with special glow

Promise:
“Makes first wrinkles, dark circles and puffiness fade away”

What’s Inside:
• Extract of ruscus (Ruscus aculeatus ) – helps to stimulate microcirculation of the skin and helps to alleviate the dark circles.
• Flavonoid - to help diminish puffiness around the eyes
• Lipopeptide – to tighten and tone the skin
• Dipeptide – to help avoid recurrence of puffiness


Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water
Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer- emulsion stabiliser
Butylene Glycol – humectant (attracts moisture to the skin)
Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate – emollient, hydrating agent
Squalane - natural organic compound used in cosmetics as a natural moisturizer, emollient (mostly comes from shark liver oil)
Glyceryl - emollient (softens, lubricates skin, helps to prevent loss of moisture)
Polymethacrylate - salt or ester of polymethacrylic acid (seems to be used for lubricating purposes)
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride – emollient from the mixed triester of glycerol, caprylic and capric acid, used for its excellent skin conditioning abilities; also used as a dispersing agent and solvent for actives
Glycerin - humectant
Steareth-21 - emulsifier
Linum Usitatissium seed extract – linseed extract, effective emollient, extremely rich in fatty acids, has soothing, anti-inflammatory properties and believed to produce rejuvenating effect
Hexyldecanol - skin-conditioning agent
Stearalcomium Hectorite - suspending agent used for dispersion of solids in liquids
Cetyl Alcohol - emollient and emulsion stabilizer, gives skin a velvety feel
Stearyl Alcohol – emollient and emulsifier
Althaea Officinalis root extract – Marshmellow root extract’, has antioxidant, soothing and calming properties. According to some sources, it is used to reduce pigmentation
Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis fruit extract - sweet almond, rich in fatty acids and acts as an effective emollient, protects the skin from drying and improves its barrier function
Hesperidin Methyl Chalcone - Citrus bioflavonoid. Hesperidin helps to reduce dark circles by preventing the blood vessels in the skin around the eyes from leaking. However, there are some doubts if it can be effective when applied topically.
Triticum Vulgare germ protein- wheat germ protein, emollient and antioxidant
Avena sativa kernel protein – oat kernel protein, emulsifier, anti-irritant, has soothing, antioxidant properties
Theobroma cacao extract - cocoa extract, antioxidant
Sanguisorba officinalis root extract – skin conditioning, anti-oxidant
Pyrus malus fruit extract -apple fruit extract, astrigent, Skin conditioning agent, so-called “Cell-Communicating ingredient” see this article
Eriobotriya japonica leaf extract – loquat leaf extract, effective antioxidant
There are about 20 more ingredients following the list above. Among them 2 parabens towards the very end, a bit lower one more ingredient of interest - plankton extract.

As you can see there are a lot of humectants and emollients to keep the thin eye skin hydrated and prevent loss of moisture (provide certain level of occlusion) There are no pure occlusives which makes this product light and comfortable. There are also several potent anti-oxidants to fight free-radicals and soothing ingredients to prevent inflammation/irritation. There are also some advanced ingredients such as apple fruit extract which improves cell communication.

Experience

Texture: creamy but not rich and not at all oily, light pink color
Smell: no smell and no perfume/fragrance mention among ingredients

Guerlain’s Happylogy line has a far-reaching goal. It aims at making your skin happier by stimulating release of endorphins. This way it aims to “recreate the effects of happiness deep within the skin” and “a woman never looks so glowing as when she is happy”. And even though, I have to admit, this claim seems too incredible to be realizable, Happylogy Eye works miracles and I love love love this product!

I have been faithful to Happylogy eye cream for at least 4 years. When I turned 24, I started noticing these thin lines around my eyes. It was time I switched from my light Vichy Thermal Fix Eye Gel to something stronger. After asking around, considering several options, I decided to go for Lancome’s Primordiale. I liked the results so I bought it again. However, it just seemed to have stopped working. Lines were there and seemed to get worse and worse. So I kept trying out other products and tested Dior’s and Channel’s eye creams for first signs of aging. None of them would take my lines away. I went on a search party for the best eye cream out there! And then it happened… Finally hours spent reading and searching online yielded a result…Many good reviews and some articles pointed to one product – Guerlain’s Issima Happylogy Eye: Glowing Eye Care. I made the final choice. I bought it. Used it only a couple days and couldn’t believe the result. In two days there was almost no lines anymore. In a week the skin around the eyes was smooth, looked fresh and glowing just as promised. Dark circles didn’t disappear but did improve. I have been using Guerlain’s Happylogy Eye ever since!

Want to mention one more great feature of this product… As you can see from the ingredients analysis above, this product has a lot of emollient ingredients and several humectants but no occlusives. I think it is thanks to this that it doesn’t roll off or turn into these terrible crumbs when you apply makeup over it. It feels very comfortable upon application and gets quickly absorbed.

Price Tag:
$ 60-65, EURO 50-55

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