Beauty consumers of all races, ethnicities and ages are indulging in under-eye patches, posting their beauty routines and rituals with glee and abandon. Depending on the brand, you’ll even spot fun patch varieties shaped like shooting stars or whales. The hashtag #eyepatches has 229 million TikTok views, and search patterns have steadily grown over the past five years, according to Google Trends search data — peaks typically occur during colder, dryer winter months.
According to new Launchmetrics data, a variety of brands comprise the top five buzziest eye-patch brands based on media impact value. MIV is a proprietary metric tracking the impact of influencers, print media, celebrities, official third-party partners and a brand’s own media channels. The top five buzziest under-eye masks are Peter Thomas Roth’s 24K Gold Pure Luxury Lift & Firm Hydra-Gel Eye Patches, Patchology’s Rosé Eye Gels, Florence by Mills Swimming Under the Eyes Gel Pads, Augustinus Bader’s The Patches and Dieux’s Forever Eye Mask.
“As beauty trends continue to evolve, it is evident that the current emphasis on overall skin wellness has propelled eye patches to the forefront of skin-care routines,” said Alison Bringé, CMO at Launchmetrics. “Moreover, the fascination with maintaining a youthful appearance and showcasing your self-care routine is driven by the influence of social media, and eye patches are a visible way to do just that. It is no surprise that these small, convenient, and targeted treatments have evolved from a niche product to a must-have in the pursuit of radiant, youthful skin and self-care selfies.”
Peter Thomas Roth’s 24K Gold Hydra-Gel Eye Patches have been a staple of the category since launching more than a decade ago. They have many famous users, including “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Kyle Richards, actress Margot Robbie and TikToker Alix Earle. In May, Peter Thomas Roth featured Lindsay Lohan in a campaign promoting the eye patch franchise. The campaign featured a 1980s-style commercial, with Lohan playing a Peter Thomas Roth “eye-conic” eye patch hotline operator. Wearing a suit, headset and glimmering golden pads under her eyes, she answered all under-eye-care-related inquiries that came her way.
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The eye-catching gold patches are also a staple of social media, where Peter Thomas Roth maintains 659,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. Meanwhile, Patchology’s Rosé Eye Gels have had their fair share of love from social, with the brand name seeing 17.7 million hashtag uses on TikTok. On its own social page, the brand frequently highlights the products’ jelly-like texture in videos.
The ranking of the Millie Bobby Brown brand Florence by Mills’ Under the Eyes Gel Pads is unsurprising when you recognize how powerful the brand is. An October story from Glossy showed that Florence by Mills grew its TikTok views by nearly 800% through a mix of lo-fi and behind-the-scenes content. The brand has 3.3 million TikTok followers. In the second half of 2022, Florence by Mills was able to drive more than 100% year-over-year sales growth through its TikTok content, with most customers coming to the brand’s store through the link in its TikTok account bio. It helps that the eye patches have playful designs, like the shape of whales, ocean waves or clouds.
What is unique about the month’s top-five eye patch products is that they fall within a wide spectrum of price points. At the lower end is Patchology, at $4 for a single pair or $50 for its largest size, at 30 pairs. The highest priced is Augustinus Bader, which offers a single pair for $22 and a max of six pairs for $125. Augustinus Bader’s The Eye Patch launched only in June and has since lept to the No. 4 spot by MIV. After a flurry of rave reviews at launch, the product has continued to receive praise, particularly from celebrities like Eva Longoria. In November, she detailed for Vogue her beauty routine, which includes several Augustinus Bader products like the face oil, the Rich Cream and, of course, The Patches. The video received 1.2 million views on YouTube alone.
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Perhaps the most exciting on the list is Dieux, which offers reusable eye patches. While not the only brand to embrace this concept — Onekind and 4AM Skin are among others — there is something special about Dieux patches’ aesthetic: Each features an elongated white serif font spelling out “Dieux” against a forest green background. Just like its name, the brand evokes the qualities of the French. The patches launched in Sept. 2020 and were widely considered a cool-girl beauty product the following year. Made of medical-grade silicone, they act like an occlusive to seal in creams, serums or oils. On the company’s website, the product is billed as “the last eye mask you’ll ever need.” The patches are designed to combat the single packet or single-use eye gels in jars that are used once and then thrown away.
Given its lack of replenishment, some people have questioned the scalability of such a product. Charlotte Palermino, CEO of Dieux, even responded on TikTok, saying she is “driven nuts” by planned obsolescence. She said the company’s standard business objectives are driven by word of mouth and her confidence that Dieux products are fun to use and useful.
“We knew we had the science to create best-in-class formulas [for topical products], but to get our name on the map and to also make something that was really fun, why wouldn’t we do that?” she said in the video. “It’s great marketing.”
