Should You Make Caffeine Part of Your Skincare Routine?

If you can’t fully wake up without your morning cup of joe or you’ve ever had an energy drink (or two) to get you through an all-nighter, you know that caffeine can be powerful stuff for your body. But did you know that it can also help your skin? 

It’s true. When applied topically, caffeine increases circulation, decreases puffiness, combats skin damage, and more. Here are five major caffeine benefits for your skin and why you should consider adding the stimulant to your daily routine. 

1. Decreases Puffiness 

Caffeine is well-known for its ability to decrease puffiness. Though the results don’t last forever (only a few hours), caffeine is well-studied for its ability to perk up the eyes by: 

• Decreasing inflammation
• Increasing circulation
• Providing vasoconstrictive benefits 

Because of this, it can also decrease puffiness around the face, helping you look bright-eyed and awake even if you’ve had a bad night. That's why it's such a popular active ingredient in so many high-quality eye creams.

2. Protects the Skin

Caffeine is loaded with antioxidants, which means that it can protect the skin against free radical damage.

If you don’t really know what that means, here’s a breakdown: free radicals are unstable molecules floating around the environment (they’re created by things like pollution, cigarette smoke, and UV damage). When they land on your skin, these molecules try to stabilize themselves by stealing a hydrogen - the molecule they’re missing - from your cells. This puts your cells out of whack, causing cellular damage.

Antioxidants stop this cycle by donating their own hydrogen molecules to neutralize free radicals. This can have system-wide anti-aging benefits. When it comes to skincare, the application of antioxidants translates to fewer lines, sun spots, wrinkles, and signs of aging (not too shabby). 

Find caffeine - and other powerful antioxidants like vitamin C - in an effective eye serum.

3. Fights Signs of Aging 

In the same vein, many caffeine sources contain amino acids that can aid in collagen and elastin production. Again, it's easiest to explain through science. Collagen is a protein that is naturally produced by the body. It is responsible for skin elasticity, healthy joints, and more. 

As people age, collagen and elastin production decreases. That translates to fine lines, wrinkles, lack of volume, and aging skin. Amino acids are the building blocks of collagen and all proteins, so more amino acids means more collagen production in the body.

4. Soothes Inflammation 

Caffeine possesses anti-inflammatory properties that make it useful in treating: 

• Acne-related inflammation 
• Redness 
• Inflammatory conditions like psoriasis and eczema 
• UV-related inflammation 

5. Treats Dark Circles

Caffeine can also treat dark circles through many mechanisms. 

First, it dehydrates fatty cells, decreasing puffiness and making excess water disappear from the skin. It can also increase the microcirculation of blood while providing vasoconstrictive benefits (more blood circulation and smaller capillaries and veins), both of which diminish discoloration underneath the eyes. 

To maximize these benefits, look for a caffeine-infused eye cream with other restorative ingredients like: 

• Matrixyl 3000: Collagen is the main structural protein of the skin. As you age, you produce less collagen. Matrixyl 3000 is a blend of protein peptides shown to clinically reduce wrinkles by 45% in two months by boosting collagen production.

• MSM: A natural nutrient found in the skin - and in many well-known superfoods - MSM brightens the skin around the eyes by reducing age spots and skin pigmentation issues.

• Hyaluronic acid: This gel-like molecule retains over 1,000 times its weight in water, making it the ultimate moisturizer.

Find all of these ingredients and more in our Restoring Eye Cream. Here's to a brighter-eyed tomorrow!