This Eye Cream Claims to Work Immediately, So I Tried It and Took Photos

This eye cream for dark circles and puffy under eyes is supposed to help right away.

Ever since I had eyelids, they were puffy. Yes, I could just say since birth, but I don't know when eyelids form in the womb and I don't want to rule anything out because they were probably puffy in there, too.

As I've gotten older, I've come to accept the shape of my eyes for what they are–regular ol' eyes–but when puffiness and bags started appearing under my eyes, I had to do something about it. (How much eye puff can a gal take?)

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Dr. Brandt's eye de-puffing gel, Needles No More, No More Baggage, has long been recommended to me by a trusted beauty source, AKA my friend with good skin, and the 10,000 loves it's racked up on Sephora's site make it look like a pretty promising eye savior.

What's even more attractive about Dr. Brandt's eye cream is that, in addition to the benefits of long-term and consistent use like what you're used to with other eye creams, No More Baggage claims it will make your eyes look brighter and more awake "immediately."

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In a string of socially-unacceptable actions to take in public, I put this eye gel to the test. First came the before selfies while hovered in the corner of my office's bathroom, then came the trial itself as regular bathroom users came, side-eyed, and went.

The texture of Dr. Brandt's eye cream was velvety and it came out pretty transparent when rubbed between my fingers, but went on a little more orange than looked natural. To be fair, I'd normally apply this before doing my makeup in the morning and be able to blend it into my paleness better–but instead, I decided to put it on in the middle of the workday surrounded by people who don't know me or why I would be loitering in the bathroom.

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After dotting the gel over my dark circles, I decided on a five-minute wait time–figuring this was "immediate" enough–and ambled over to the coffee station to undergo my promised transformation. About three minutes in, the skin under my eyes legitimately felt like it was tightening up as if being held in place by a piece of Scotch tape. Before I had time to stop myself, I was opening my mouth as wide as I could, squinting with one eye then the other, and doing all sorts of twitchy expressions to test the limits of this firming sensation. Honestly, it felt really cool. (To anyone on my floor who bore witness and thought I was suffering a breakdown: Rest assured, it was just an eye cream kicking in.)

I continued my reign of oddity and rushed to the bathroom to take a peak. The gel dried a tad too orange, but I do think this could be avoided by using less. The directions say to use a "tiny" amount, which I did not do because I was overeager.

Another noticeable change was that the bags under my eyes were a little bit lighter, but this could have been a concealing effect of the orange color. The most noticeable difference in my experience was how smooth the skin under my eyes looked.

I don't believe that anything is a miracle cure for your skin concerns, but Dr. Brandt's eye cream ($42; sephora.com) definitely helped brighten my eyes, and the slight tingle as it began to work even boosted my energy.

Who's laughing now, people on my floor?! I'm perked up and ready to take on this dreary hump-day afternoon; it was all worth it.

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