Hydrogel under-eye patches with 24-carat gold, from Natura Siberica's Dyal line. Fifteen to twenty minutes, and a good deal of glamour.
An honest word about the gold
We would rather tell you this than let you discover it later. Gold does not do anything to your skin. It is one of the most chemically inert elements there is — that inertness is precisely why it does not tarnish, why it is used in dentistry, and why it is safe in food. Inert also means unreactive, and a metal that does not react with your skin cannot act on it either. The gold particles are also far too large to pass the skin barrier.
So what is it for? Appearance and occasion. Gold patches look extraordinary, they photograph beautifully, and they make twenty minutes feel like an event rather than a routine step. That is a perfectly legitimate thing to want, and it is what you are buying.
Everything the patches actually do for your skin comes from the serum they are soaked in and from the physics of the hydrogel itself.
What the patches genuinely do
A hydrogel patch is mostly water held in a gel matrix. Laid on the skin it does two things at once: it delivers water, and it seals the area so that water cannot evaporate. That combination — occlusion — pushes far more hydration into the top layers of skin in twenty minutes than a cream can, because a cream is competing with the air the whole time.
Hydrated skin is temporarily plumper, and plumper skin creases less. The effect is real, useful and short — hours rather than days. Which makes these exactly right before an event and pointless as a daily habit.
Getting the most from them
Chill them. Cold constricts the small vessels under the eye and does more for morning puffiness than any ingredient in the serum.
Fifteen to twenty minutes, not longer. Once a patch dries it begins taking moisture back from the skin.
Do not rinse afterwards — tap the remaining serum in.
Note
Single use. External use only — avoid direct contact with the eye. Patch test first if your skin is reactive.