I have dark circles under my eyes as well as a reddish-purple colour on the outer corner of my eyes, which makes me look tired and washed out. I use YSL's Touche Éclat to cover the darkness, but wanted to try and get rid of or at least minimise the dark patches, so that I could go without make-up and not feel so self concious. I read a lot of reviews and looked around a lot online, before deciding on the Clinique All about Eyes cream.

After buying this, I returned home to find that the extremely miserable woman on the Clinique counter had actually given me All about Eyes Rich, rather than the original All about Eyes. The main difference between the two seems to be that the rich one is more intensely moisturising than the original as well as being a thicker consistency, although it does still say it is suitable for all skin types.

The product is said to get rid of dark circles, shadows and fine lines whilst 'de-puffing', calming and strengthening the skins moisture barrier. So that's pretty much every skincare problem with your eyes covered then! I have to admit that being one of those people who has tried pretty much every skincare product going, I was quite sceptical that it would do all of these things, but given the price tag of Clinique products, hoped that it would at least do some of them!

The cream comes in the standard pale green Clinique box, inside of which is a small pink glass tub with a silver screw top lid. The packaging looks quite classy, whilst being simple and not too fussy in appearance.

The cream itself is a pale peach colour and has a glossy sheen to it. It is fragrance free, which I feel is essential as you wouldn't want to be putting a highly scented product near to your eyes. The cream is very thick and fairly solid and buttery in consistency. To pick it up, I simply rub my finger over the top of the cream - it's too thick to really scoop out of the tub as such. I must admit, I do prefer tubes with products like this where possible, because of course applying from a tub means there is a danger there will be transference of germs from fingers.

I find the best way to apply the cream is to take a very small amount and gently pat it into the eye area. The skin around the eyes is rather delicate so it is best not to rub or drag the skin where possible.

As the cream is rather thick, it does take a little time to sink in. I have also found that it leaves a slight greasy residue on my skin. When applying make-up over the top of this, I do find that the greasiness can make my make-up a little difficult to apply, so I try to apply this at least 20 minutes before putting my make-up on. Obviously like many people I am often time-poor and cannot always wait, so often I will not bother applying this as I know I won't have time to do my make-up if I apply the cream as well.

The first result I can see with this is that on mornings where I have puffy eyes, they are soothed really quickly and the puffiness goes down within minutes of applying the cream. I must admit, I do sometimes wonder if the patting motion is also helping just as much as the cream itself. A very slight sheen is left on my skin which does make my whole eye area look much brighter in general. I do have some fine lines around my eyes, but I personally don't think I can see any difference to them after using this. Even after several months of use, I don't feel the dark circles under my eyes are reduced at all either, although the brightness around my eye area in the few hours after applying the cream does minimise their appearance to some degree and give me an all round healthier, more awake look.

As well as my eye area looking better, I do find the cream very moisturising as well. My skin is generally quite dry and this cream hydrates it well. During the winter my boyfriend's skin became incredibly dry due to the central heating and cold winds, causing the skin on his eyelids to take on a strange scaly appearance - I've honestly seen nothing like it! I let him borrow this and it really did sort the problem out, so I can confirm that it works well to moisturise even the driest of skin.

One thing I have found with this cream is less is definitely more. If I apply too much, I find the cream works its way into the corner of my eyes, which not only looks gross, but is really uncomfortable -especially as I wear contact lenses.

Like all Clinique products this cream is not the cheapest around. A 15ml tub costs £22.50 from Boots. The box indicates that a tub of this should be used up within 6 months of opening. Mine has been open a little longer than this and it still seems fine to me, so I've continued to use it and have had no problems. I use this probably four or five times a week and as such a small amount is needed per use, I can't help thinking that even if I was using this on a daily basis it would be difficult to use it all in 6 months.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this cream. It's good as a moisturiser and it does brighten my under-eye area and get rid of puffiness. On the other hand, it doesn't reduce my dark circles which is what I was really hoping for and it takes quite some time for the greasy residue to fade. It's also really expensive for what it is and I feel that on the whole I can only give it three stars, because the level of performance doesn't match the price tag in my opinion.