Image via Kiehl's

Last year, I invested $90 and eight weeks of my time on Hylexin, the supposed "miracle" dark circle-under-eye treatment. After the tube ran out, my eyes still looked as sunken and bruised as a malnourished Dickensian street urchin. Worse, I'd started to develop thin facial lines that perfectly outlined the bottom of each circle, basically providing the facial equivalent of flashing neon arrows pointing out my purple eye bags. So naturally I was skeptical when I previewed Kiehl's brand spankin' new Line Reducing Eye Brightening Concentrate, from their Dermatologist Solutions series. 

The tube promises to "noticeably decrease the appearance of crow's feet and sub-orbital wrinkles and visibly brighten the eye area and minimize dark circles." The cream has a fat dose of pure vitamin C and Haloxyl, an ingredient that's supposed to increase skin density and help boost your skin's own capacity to eliminate pigmented by-products of hemoglobin (better known as "bruiser eye sacks"). The stuff has a thick & slick feel to it that somehow feels authoritative instead of heavy and I think it's actually working. After only a few days my bags look way lighter and I can barely see those lines that used to so perfectly frame them. I haven't really noticed any change to back up its promise to make your eyes brighter, but the concept of "bright eyes" just makes me think of old Joan Crawford films where there is an obvious, rectangular shaped spotlight on her peepers. And who wants that?

P.S. In or near Costa Mesa? Ask Kiehl's derm Adam Geyer his (likely biased) opinion on the new eye product on November 3.