The tension is that BHAs for blackheads can be drying, so keep them targeted – use a salicylic tonic only on your nose and T-zone, apply your caffeine and peptide eye product separately, and let a ceramide moisturiser hold the rest of your barrier together while both actives work.

• Apply a salicylic acid tonic only where blackheads actually are – usually the nose and T-zone – rather than your whole face.
• Keep your caffeine and peptide eye serum as a completely separate step around the eye contour.
• A ceramide moisturiser applied everywhere helps keep your barrier intact while both actives are doing their job.
• Introduce these actives gradually rather than all at once, especially if your skin is prone to dryness.
• Targeted application, rather than treating your whole face the same way, is the key to avoiding overall dryness.

It works for the right type of dark circles – if yours are from puffiness or fluid buildup, caffeine genuinely helps, but if they're the purple, genetic kind caused by thin skin and visible blood vessels, you need peptides and possibly retinol, not just caffeine alone.

• Caffeine works specifically on the lymphatic, fluid-buildup type of dark circles by reducing puffiness.
• Genetic dark circles (a purple tint from blood vessels showing through thin under-eye skin) need peptides and potentially retinol, not caffeine.
• Skin Functional's formula combines caffeine with peptides, so it's designed to address more than one cause at once.
• Test any eye product for at least four weeks before deciding whether it's working for your specific type.
• Track whether puffiness or pigment/colour is your main issue – that determines which actives will actually help.