Review: The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG (10 months!)

Finally, here’s my review on The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG! I’ve been using this eye serum (gel) for 10 months! I’m nearing a whole year soon! The purpose of this serum is to help with dark under eye circles (eye contour pigmentation) and puffiness. It contains caffeine (as the name of the product states) and green tea catechin. Both of these ingredients are known to help with under eye bags. Remember when people would place green tea bags over their eyes? This serum works just like that. Caffeine helps to improve circulation to reduce the appearance of dark under eye circles. Green tea catechin helps to reduce swelling and puffiness. Sounds like a perfect combo to destress the eyes! Since I’ve been using The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG for 10 months now (moving on to a year soon in a few months!), I’m here to share my experience with this serum. I hope this is helpful. Keep on reading!

My experience

This product has a serum, gel-like texture to it. It’s light yellow, golden in color. I only use 1 drop for both eyes. A little goes a long way. Using more product than necessary isn’t going to lead to faster results. It’s just a waste of product. From my experience, anyways. The serum spreads easily underneath the eyes without tugging the skin. I don’t pat this serum into my skin. I glide it on and let it sink in by itself, naturally. Give it some time to absorb. Once it absorbs into the skin, the skin feels tight and firm. Application is very easy. It’s the first product I put on my eyes, since it takes time to sink into the skin. It’s also a thin serum/gel. After I apply the serum, I go about my eye care products to keep my skin moisturized. This sequence seems to be working for me because I’ve seen results.

Here are my results using The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG!

In the first month of using this product, I didn’t expect to see results but I did. I saw visible results! So amazing! This product claims to reduce the appearance of eye contour pigmentation and puffiness. And it does! My dark under eye circles improved after using this serum within the first month. It also helped to depuff my eyes. Some days I would wake up in the morning with really puffy eyes, and this product helps to reduce the swelling and puffiness. Overall, I think my dark under eye circles benefits from this serum a lot more. It was the first thing I noticed. With the positives, there’s gotta be at least a negative. I thought the serum was drying on the skin even though I applied heavier eye creams and moisturizers on my skin afterwards. The weird thing is that this serum doesn’t feel drying, but I visually noticed that the skin around my eyes appeared drier. It looked crepey. I saw some skin flaking off too. So I only used the serum at night. The recommended use of this product is in the AM and PM. I’ll get into that later.

After 5 months of using The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG…

I was able to finish a whole bottle of this serum. I could’ve stretched it out even longer if I wasn’t experimenting with it so often. I tried using it on my neck and sometimes I still do. I think it’s just a habit now. I tried using it on my facial skin. That was a no-go. This serum is not suitable for my face. I ended up with breakouts. Ouch! I’m never doing that again. lol. After 5 months of using it on the skin around my eyes, I didn’t see an increase in or drastic improvements, but my under eye circles looked better, and the serum is still helping with the puffiness. All I know is that my skin just looks better using this product. It simply just works and does what it’s supposed to do. It lives up to its claims!

About that dry skin problem that I had…

Once the dryness subsided, I was able to use the serum twice a day in the morning and at night. This took me over half a year to get to this point. I can’t help it, my under eyes dry out so fast. Before that, I would try to use the serum twice a day on and off until I got to the point where I can use it twice a day. Even with using it twice a day, I didn’t see an increase in benefits, but I love how the product calms and cools down my skin whenever I use it. Like having tea bags on my eyes in the morning and at night. haha. Without having to make the tea, lol. It helps me to unwind and relax that part of my face. It’s mentally calming and helps to relieve stress too. Like I’m unwinding for the day (or to begin the day). It just feels really nice. Since I know that this product is working on my eyes, it doesn’t hurt to bump it up to twice a day.

Did it work on fine lines and wrinkles??

As for fine lines and wrinkles, this serum helps to smooth them out, but it doesn’t get rid of them. I don’t think any product can get rid of them. It’s part of the aging process. It’s bound to happen. Also, the purpose of this serum is to help reduce the appearance of dark eye contour pigmentation and puffiness. It didn’t say anything about fine lines and wrinkles. Smoothing out some fine lines and wrinkles here and there is just an added benefit that I noticed. It’s better than nothing, to be honest. But, overall, I really like this serum. It works on my dark under eye circles. And they are quite terrible. lol. I wouldn’t be using it for 10 months and moving on to a year soon if I didn’t like it. This is pretty much a staple in my eye care routine by now. Love it! This stuff works!

This is what the serum looks like. It’s a light yellow, golden color. This is a drop of the serum. I use about this much on both eyes. No more, no less.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Contains caffeine and green tea catechin
• Feels lightweight on the skin
• Leaves the under eye area nice and firm
• Helps with dark under eye circles and puffiness
• Helps a bit with fine lines and minor wrinkles
• Inexpensive

❌ Cons

• Can be drying

Conclusion

This is one of my HG products. This is the only product from The Ordinary that has made it into my routine as a staple. And I’ve used a bunch of The Ordinary products with less than stellar results. This product actually does what it’s supposed to do. It helps to reduce the appearance of eye contour pigmentation and puffiness. It doesn’t say anything about fine lines and wrinkles on the product, but I have noticed my fine lines and wrinkles (if there’s any) smoothed out. After applying the serum, the skin around the eyes feel tighter and much more firmer than before. After seeing my results with continued use (10 months, whoooaaa!!!), I really like this product! It’s inexpensive, effective, and lasts for such a long time. My second bottle has lasted much longer than my first, since I’m only using 2 drops a day (in the morning and at night). If you’re looking for something that’s effective at reducing dark under eye circles and puffiness, this is it. Give this one a try. I highly recommend it!