As a woman and a mom, I can attest to the fact that being pregnant doesn’t keep women from wanting to look and feel their best. Pregnant women still want to doll up, look beautiful, and showcase their self-confidence and sense of style.
Fortunately, they still can, though it may mean seeking out beauty products, such as eye creams, whose ingredients are pregnancy-safe.
The best pregnancy-safe eye creams are those that do not contain retinoids, hydroquinone, or any other chemicals and ingredients that could potentially be harmful to your developing baby (sources: The Embryo Project Encyclopedia & Yale School of Medicine).
Fortunately, there’s a large selection of products from which you can choose. Keep reading to find out more about my picks for the top five best pregnancy-safe eye creams on the market today.
You can easily find all of these products online (and usually your local retail store, as well).
1. Best Pregnancy-Safe Cream for Under the Eyes
Beauty By Earth Caffeine Under Eye Cream
One of the many great things about being pregnant is that your body begins releasing all kinds of hormones that give you that “expectant mom glow” that everyone loves. That means you may not need as much of your regular skincare routine as you normally would.
However, sleep is sometimes problematic when you’re pregnant, which means, despite your “expectant mom glow,” you still get those baggy, dark circles under your eyes from sheer lack of rest. That’s where Beauty By Earth’s Caffeine Under Eye Cream comes in handy.
It’s pregnancy-safe, of course, but it’s also highly effective at removing under-eye baggage and dark circles. Plus, the company believes in its product so much that it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee; if you don’t love the cream as much as they think you will, you can return it hassle-free!
There are three main ingredients that make this cream so effective:
- Aloe vera
- Cucumber (and sea buckthorn) extracts
- Caffeine
Doctors and other professionals warn expectant moms to stay away from caffeine while pregnant, but that’s only if you’re ingesting it. It’s usually safe for topical uses, and together, these three ingredients hydrate, rejuvenate, and lighten up your baggy eyes.
If you’re an animal lover, you’ll also appreciate that this product is cruelty-free and has the Leaping Bunny stamp of approval. You’ll also enjoy its mild coffee scent and its easy application.
When it comes to ridding yourself of dark circles, eye puffiness, and bags under the eyes, it’s hard to beat this particular eye cream.
2. Best Pregnancy Eye Cream for Wrinkles
No B.S. Caffeine Eye Cream
If the “B.S.” in this No B.S. Caffeine Eye Cream seems distasteful to you, take another look. No B.S. actually stands for “No Bad Stuff,” which is precisely what you want while you’re pregnant. This eye cream is excellent for pregnant women because it’s retinoid- and hydroquinone-free.
Plus, it has a lot of great stuff in it specifically geared towards reducing fine lines and wrinkles, soothing puffy eyes, and helping with dark circles or uneven skin tones. The most essential of these ingredients include:
- Caffeine
- Hyaluronic acid (perfectly safe for pregnant women, despite its scary name)
- Quinoa seeds
- Squalane
It’ll give you a ton of hydration and has a pleasant smell; it’s also easy to apply and dries quickly, which is always a plus when you’re in a hurry. It doesn’t leave a greasy residue, either.
It’s best to use this cream under your eyes and on the orbital bone. You shouldn’t apply it to your top eyelid, so if you’re having issues there, this might not be the right choice for you.
The product is vegan-friendly, cruelty-free, and gluten-free; it’s also optimized for all different skin types, so you should be able to use it as often as twice a day (morning and night), even if you have sensitive skin.
Finally, although it isn’t the cheapest eye cream on the market, it is relatively budget-friendly, and a little goes a long way, so a single tube should last you quite some time.
3. Best Cruelty-Free/Vegan Eye Cream
LilyAna Naturals Eye Cream
Let’s get the downsides of this one out of the way first so we can move on and get into the good stuff. This cream is somewhat runny and a tiny bit greasy. I often see this happening with vegan creams, but you can offset the runniness by keeping it somewhere cool so that it doesn’t melt further.
Additionally, the greasiness goes away in about three minutes after applying it, so you can just wait that out.
Now, since I started by telling you something bad, why in the world should you even give this one a try?!
Because I think it’s fantastic.
Since it’s an all-in-one cream, it takes care of just about any eye issues you could be having during pregnancy, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Brightens and lifts dark and baggy eyes
- Firms skin and reduces lines and wrinkles
- Moisturizes skin for a plump, fresh look
- Reduces swelling and puffiness
- Removes crow’s feet
- Actually restores damaged skin to help freshen your appearance
- Protects skin from further damage
For such a responsibly priced product, this eye cream does a lot. It’s also safe for both you and your developing baby and contains all kinds of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The company is US-based and uses all-natural, vegan ingredients. They avoid gluten, petroleum, parabens, and artificial dyes and perfumes.
It’s well-suited to multiple skin types (so don’t be surprised if your partner starts sneaking in and using it, too) and is safe and gentle enough to use twice a day. That allows you to apply it at night and give it plenty of time to help your skin.
However, you can also use it underneath your makeup in the mornings for a fresh, all-day youthful look.
4. Best Pregnancy-Safe Eye Cream for Hydration
100% Pure Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream
Here’s another great natural, vegan cream, but this one costs a bit more than the LilyAna brand. Still, it’s an excellent choice, especially if you need extra hydration.
As I’ve already mentioned, caffeine is safe for pregnant women when used topically, so saturate your eyes with this coffee-based cream and let them “drink in” all the coffee you’re not able to drink yourself. In fact, this cream contains both coffee and green tea, which is why it’s so great at hydrating your dry, puffy skin.
It’s best to use this cream in the mornings, as it’s specifically designed to work under your makeup and last all day. According to the company itself, the intended uses for this product include:
- Reducing wrinkles
- Acting as an anti-aging cream
- Soothing puffiness
- Eliminating dark circles
However, as I’ve already mentioned, hydration is where it really shines, so if you’re looking for something to counteract dry, flaky, or damaged skin, you can’t beat this one.
5. Best All-Around Pregnancy Safe Eye Cream
Belli Beauty Skincare Eye Brightening Cream
If you were to stop right now and do a Google search for “best pregnancy-safe eye creams,” I can almost guarantee you that Belli Beauty Skincare Eye Brightening Cream would appear on just about every list you find, including this one! It’s that good and one of the absolute safest for expectant moms.
That’s because Belli Beauty is dedicated explicitly to putting out pregnancy-safe beauty products. That’s the company’s whole reason for existing; it has an entire line of maternity skincare products, which you can find on its website. It’s hard to argue against that.
Belli is an American-based company that prides itself on not using harsh chemicals, artificial fragrances or dyes, or parabens in its products, making them 100% safe for use while pregnant or even while breastfeeding.
This specific eye cream handles all the common complaints:
- Eye puffiness
- Dark circles
- Bags under the eyes
- Fine lines and wrinkles
- Dry skin
Plus, it just feels good on your skin, especially if you place the tube in warm or cold water (as you prefer) before using it. It’s so soothing and incredibly hydrating. And because it’s jam-packed with vitamins, it also has those wonderful anti-aging properties that all women, myself included, love so much in an eye cream.
Furthermore, like most of the products on this list, it’s vegan-friendly and cruelty-free; Belli never has and has pledged that it never will test its products on animals.
It has been tested extensively, though, by both dermatologists and OBGYNs, and both professionals recommend it to pregnant women looking to brighten up their eyes. It’s undergone severe allergy testing, as well, and for the most part, women with any skin type, including sensitive skin, can use it without issue.
Final Thoughts
Being pregnant doesn’t mean we have to forego our beloved beauty routines, but it does mean we might have to alter them a little. Hopefully, this list has given you some great options to choose from when it comes to eye creams. If not, just be sure to check out the ingredients of any cream you finally decide on buying.
