Brightening

Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Hydrogel Eye Patches Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - December 06, 2024

I love eye patches! I try to use them at least once a week to help hydrate my dehydrated undereye from insomnia. So I was quite happy to see these inside! Catrice eye patches have been pretty decent in the past, I am hoping that these ones will be good as well! Apparently, they are “energising and hydrating”, sounds good! Now, let’s see how good they really are!
 
 
 
 
Packaging: what a gorgeous sachet, oh my! The colour combo is a classic, yet royal one: purple and gold. You really cannot go wrong with this! This is one of my favourite colour combos, honestly. To match the style of the calendar, these patches also have art deco details, and they are so beautiful! It really makes the sachet look like an expensive, high-end product! Text is not white, but light pink, which is such a better colour to use with purple/gold. It’s gentler and just looks better overall. All the information is in the back, as is usual. The eye patches sit on a piece of plastic inside that keeps them safe so that they don’t tumble around during transport. Though removing them from that plastic can be a bit tricky. Still, very, very beautiful design!
 
 
 
Ingredients: glycerine, ginseng (Panax ginseng) root extract, hyaluronic acid, coconut (Cocos nucifera) fruit extract, Baikal skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis) root extract, caffeine, allantoin, Baltic pine (Pinus sylvestris) leaf extract for nourishment. No parabens. So, judging by the ingredients, these patches are supposed to be awakening, hydrating and balancing. Caffeine plus hyaluronic acid plus coconut fruit extract sounds very promising; I hope it’s able to make my undereye look at least a bit more healthy and awake. These patches don’t really smell like anything. There might be a hint of a fresh Aloe-like scent, but it’s mostly scent-free. The expiration date is not listed anywhere, which is a bit disappointing, but Balea has already conditioned me to this. The patches should be left on for just 10 minutes, which is awesome! I think that that’s just the right amount of time.
 
 

 
The patches are made of hydrogel. Now, I have a... history with hydrogel. At first, I low-key hated it because it slid all around and was difficult to grab without tearing it. Then, Balea started making actually good quality hydrogel patches, and my opinion swayed towards way more positive. 
 
 
 
So now the question is: which of this two are these patches? Sadly, they are the former. Ah, now I remember why I disliked hydrogel so much. These patches are incredibly delicate; just look at how thin they are! So, if you have longer nails, you have to super careful with how you get them out of the plastic container. They are very easy to tear, so be careful! They are also very floppy and slippery. This is very evident once you place them under your eyes. They just don’t want to stay in place!  
 
 
 
They slide all over the face, so you have to constantly fight to keep them under the eyes, where they should be. This is very annoying, which is a shame, because these patches really feel gentle on skin. They don’t feel like they are suffocating my skin and they are not huge, so they fit wonderfully in my undereye area. And they are loaded with serum! Part of the reason why they felt so slippery is because they had so much serum inside them! They were literally dripping! This will surely play a part in how effective the eye patches are! Oh and they are so pretty, too! They are clear, but they have gold dust sprinkled all over them, so your undereye looks like it’s got gold shimmer! So luxurious! 
 
 
 
Don’t worry, though, this gold shimmer is contained inside the patches so you won’t be left with a bunch of gold dust on your face. I am torn, I want to like these patches, but they are just so damn inconvenient to handle...

 
The serum is very watery and very lightweight! It also feels astonishingly hydrating! I like how it’s not at all greasy, it feels like it’s light enough to be able to absorb deep into the skin. Also, it does not become tacky after it dries, just soft! Really incredible serum, I must say!
 

 
Okay, hydration! That is the keyword here, as it feels soooo incredibly hydrating! My skin feels like it’s getting that sweet hydration deep into the deeper layers of skin, where it’s most needed. It also feels cooling, but since there is no menthol, this is caused by the surge of hydration. This is exactly what I like! None of that menthol stuff, just pure rich hydration! It also feels slightly balancing. My skin seems to really enjoy it so far! Yay! And I enjoy it myself, it is a really relaxing feeling.
 
 
 

Dear lord... these results speak for themselves. I never expected this... my undereye looks noticeably way healthier and so much plumper and more hydrated! It’s a visible change for the better, and here I thought that the results would be minimal. But nope! My skin feels majestic; like, it feels deeply hydrated and it is not one bit dry or like it’s taut. It just feels so calm, too! And it looks so happy! Plump, hydrated and super bright! You would never tell that I suffer from chronic insomnia with how my undereye looks now! It’s awake and bright and just so healthy-looking! Oh my... I am so happy! In fact, I am overjoyed! 
 
 
 
 

 
 
And these results last well into the next day! Granted, I was able to sleep pretty well, which helped, but these patches are the main reason why my undereye still looks healthy, plump and radiant. Ahh, finally something truly incredible...
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Overall, no lie, these eye patches are the best item in the Advent calendar so far! And it’s not even a competition! The only thing that I can say is actually bad about them is the damn hydrogel. See, it likes to slide around all over the face, so you need to constantly readjust the patches so that they are under the eyes and not somewhere on the outer cheeks. And the hydrogel is quite delicate, so if you aren’t careful, it’s way too easy to accidentally tear them. I had grown complacent with Balea’s hydrogel; I forgot how annoying it can be. Good thing these patches reminded me, ha ha... ha. The serum is so pleasantly watery – this is a good thing, as this will allow the serum to penetrate the skin more deeply and deliver the serum where it’s most needed. And golly, these patches work wonders! It’s been a long time since my undereye last looked this radiant and plump and healthy! Both my skin and me, myself, seemed to have enjoyed these patches! Definitely, because look how happy my undereye is! And this lasts for almost a day, as my undereye was still plump and hydrated until my next shower the following day, so, as you can see, the results are truly incredible! Just a shame that the hydrogel slides around that much; the serum would be able to absorb even better if it had just stayed in one spot. Aww, finally a very high quality product! Will this be the highlight of the entire calendar? Perhaps... but it’s still entirely too soon to tell. I certainly enjoyed using the patches, that’s for sure!
 
 
Rating: 7/10



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