As far as I'm concerned, you're never too young to start using an eye cream. The skin around our eyes is incredibly delicate and us women are known for tugging and pulling on it when applying eye makeup - this unfortunately just promotes early wrinkles. I've used and loved the same eye cream since I was about 16 but recently discovered It's Potent! by Benefit. I purchased a Limited Edition skincare set for £10 which included generous travel sizes of their new skincare products so I thought I might as well give their eye cream a go.
I've had a very love hate relationship with Benefit over the years - I absolutely love their products and their charity work for Women's Refuge, but I don't like how sneaky they are with reducing the amount of product and upping the prices! Nevertheless, I thought I would love this, although I can't quite say I did...

It's Potent! eye cream apparently fades dark circles and helps smooth fine lines for brighter, younger looking eyes. The description says you simply apply delicately under the eyes to use.

The eye cream itself comes in a small sea green glass pot (extra small if you have the travel size like me!) with a cream plastic lid (the full size has a screw off cork lid). The lid simply has the product and brand name printed on top and the base of the pot tells me there are 3g of product in this pot and it should be used for no more than 6 months after opening. It's important to follow these guidelines, especially with a product to be used near the eyes due to the bacteria that can build up in creamy products - you don't want those bacterias breeding in your eyes! The full size pot contains 14.2g, so you get a fair bit more with that.

Opening the pot is simple with the screw off lid, so I have no complaints there! There isn't a strong scent that hits you upon opening, but when you stick your nose in and sniff you can instantly detect a very fake, medicinal scent that also smells somewhat plasticy. Nothing like the fresh scent that comes with a few of the other products in the line (reviews to come). I can't really say that I was particularly impressed with this, and I'm pretty fussy with what I put on my face. Something that smells like plastic really doesn't entice me to rub it around my eyes, but I carried on and tested it out anyway.

The cream itself feels slightly like a gel when you dip your finger in the pot, which, by the way, is almost impossible with the travel size. I don't have particularly large fingers, but I found it difficult to get a reasonable amount of product out of such a small opening - this will obviously not be a problem with the larger pot though.
When I did get the product out, I noticed it was quite a thin, light cream that felt somewhat greasy to the touch. I went ahead and applied it under my eyes as I normally would - with my ring finger so as not to use too much pressure on my delicate eye area. It seemed to sink in instantly and I wasn't left with any greasy residue or anything, so I was very impressed with that. I always apply eye cream both morning and night, so an eye cream needs to be able to hold a concealer and foundation on top of it if it's going to be one that I enjoy using. This one didn't make a very good base for concealer alone, but after applying a small bit of primer, it worked fine.

I've used this product day and night for 3 weeks now and am disappointed to say I haven't noticed any difference in my dark circles. I didn't have wrinkles in the first place, but when I've had a late night followed by an early morning I often find a few fine lines under my eyes and this doesn't help with those either, despite claiming it is filled with collagen boosting ingredients. I wasn't impressed with it's moisturising qualities either, it was much less moisturising than my previous eye cream which I can't wait to go back to! I'm sure my eyes will thank me for it!

Not only did it not do what it claimed, it brought my under eye area out in a rash after the first week of use. I decided to continue using it as it may just have been my skin playing up due to a change in routine, but two weeks later I still have the rash and have no good points to justify it with. The only good thing I can say about this product is that a little goes a long way and it will last a long time, but when the full size pot contains 14.2g and can only be used for 6 months, it may turn out to be poor value for money as you'll probably be throwing some away.

It's Potent? It's Shit.

If you decide you do want to buy the full size of the product, you can get if for £23.50 at any Benefit counter or online at benefitcosmetics.co.uk. Having worked out that the 3g pot I have should have cost me £4.96 alone, I don't feel too out of pocket as the set I bought it in did have a few hidden treasures, but I wouldn't buy it again, even if the price did come down drastically.

100% not recommended. This is essentially the most useless cream I have ever used.

Thanks for reading! All reads and rates are going towards my upcoming trip to New York, so they're greatly appreciated.