When it comes to collagen, more is more: The ingredient is enjoying a surge of popularity, whether delivered via supplements or infused into face masks. And collagen patches are the latest iteration of that. It’s not all that surprising: The protein is a critical component of your skin structure, where it acts as scaffolding to keep your skin firm, smooth, and supple. It naturally weakens with age (and through damage from external aggressors, like UV light), which eventually contributes to wrinkles and fine lines over time.
Vogue’s Favorite Collagen Patches:
But replenishing collagen—and more youthful skin in the process—is not as simple as just putting collagen back into skin, especially when it comes to topical formulations. (For one, collagen itself is far too big to actually penetrate through your skin barrier.) Instead, actives like retinol and peptides are far better for actually boosting collagen production.
But collagen patches can still be helpful for different reasons, according to Jeannette Graf, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “For example, they can act as a really great humectant, drawing moisture from the air into the skin,” she says. “This can soften the appearance of fine lines, improve elasticity, and prevent moisture loss.” With that in mind, scroll ahead for our picks and everything you need to know about incorporating them into your routine.
In This Story:
- Do collagen skin patches work?
- Can you absorb collagen through a patch?
- How often should you use collagen patches?
- What are the first signs that collagen is working?
- How We Tested
- Meet the Experts
Best Overall: CosRx Peptide Collagen Hydrogel Eye Patches
- Why We Love It: Like many novel skin-care products before it, collagen patches originated in Korea—so it’s little surprise that CosRx, known for popularizing snail mucin stateside, offers an excellent version of a collagen patch. It pairs collagen with peptides and adenosine, which both work within skin to encourage its own collagen production. Moreover, “the peptide collagen hydrogel locks in moisture, while antioxidants like niacinamide and caffeine work to reduce that classic morning puffiness,” says Graf. The quotation mark–shaped patches also allow you to apply them to the eye area as well as the forehead and the marionette lines around the mouth.
- Key Ingredients: Collagen, peptides, caffeine, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid
- Best For: Undereyes, forehead, near the mouth
- Size: 60 patches
Best for Expression Lines: Mixsoon Melting Collagen Neck Forehead Film
- Why We Love It: Forehead lines, smile lines, neck lines—they’re all fair game with Mixsoon’s Melting Collagen Film. The patches are infused with both collagen and hydrolyzed collagen; the latter has been broken down into its parts, which makes it easier to absorb into the deeper layers of skin. Meanwhile, glutathione serves as an antioxidant to brighten skin, while hyaluronic acid draws in water to plump skin on the spot.
- Key Ingredients: Collagen, hydrolyzed collagen, hyaluronic acid, glutathione
- Best For: Expression lines, dry or dehydrated skin
- Size: 5 patches
Best for Crow’s Feet: Peter Thomas Roth 24K Gold Pure Hydra-Gel Eye Patches
- Why We Love It: Graf recommends these eye patches, as they serve as an all-in-one option for a host of concerns like puffiness and dark circles. “They include hydrolyzed collagen—allowing the collagen to penetrate the skin—and caffeine, which helps wake up tired eyes,” she says. “The colloidal gold helps the undereye area look more lifted and firmer.” They come with a spatula for mess-free application, and the gel-based patches adhere easily and firmly to skin.
- Key Ingredients: Colloidal gold, hydrolyzed collagen, caffeine
- Best For: Crow’s-feet, dark circles, mature skin
- Size: 60 patches
Best for Neck Lines: Anua Collagen Melting Patch For Glass Skin
- Why We Love It: These collagen patches are relatively large compared to other versions, which makes them especially well suited for the neck or forehead—where a straightforward blend of collagen and PDRN, or salmon-derived PDRN, works to renew skin cells and smooth the look of lines. The patches stick tightly to skin to maximize absorption and, if you mist one with an essence (or apply a serum underneath), really do “melt” into skin.
- Key Ingredients: Collagen, PDRN
- Best For: Those with lax skin on the neck
- Size: 4 patches
Best Multipurpose: Mediheal Collagen Ampoule Pads
- Why We Love It: The beauty of a toner pad is that it can serve as a makeshift collagen patch whenever (and wherever) you might need it. A combination of collagen, ceramides, and milk-derived proteins works to boost elasticity in skin, leaving it supple and bouncy. It can plump the eye areas, smile lines, or both, and the pads are so thoroughly saturated that they leave behind an essence that you can pat into skin after you remove them.
- Editor’s Experience: “The product that put me onto the hydrating toner pad, I love this Mediheal collection. The Collagen Ampoule ones drench my skin with moisture—layering hydration well beneath a face cream. I like that I can sweep it along my skin for a quick treatment or leave on for a few minutes as a makeshift sheet mask.” —Kiana Murden, beauty shopping editor
- Key Ingredients: Collagen, ceramides, milk protein extract, allantoin
- Best For: Dry or sensitive skin
- Size: 100 pads
Best for Dark Circles: Abib Collagen Eye Patch
- Why We Love It: If vegan skin-care products are a priority (and even if they aren’t), you can take comfort in the pairing of rose extract and vegan collagen that powers these gel patches. Both work to support skin elasticity wherever you choose to apply the adhesive gel patch, be it your forehead or your neck. But what makes these patches especially impactful for dark circles is their combination of caffeine and niacinamide, which target the discoloration at the source—be it poor sleep or sun damage.
- Key Ingredients: Jericho rose extract, collagen extract, niacinamide, shea butter, caffeine, allantoin
- Best For: Puffiness or dark circles
- Size: 60 patches
Everything You Need to Know:
Do collagen skin patches work?
It depends on your expectations. While you won’t necessarily see a boost in your skin’s own collagen (unless it’s paired with other ingredients, like retinoids or peptides), “these types of patches can provide the skin with amazing moisture, firmness, and radiance,” says Graf. To that end, collagen as an ingredient also doesn’t work alone; it’s typically paired with other time-tested ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, to deliver other benefits. So it ultimately depends on the overall formula versus collagen alone.
Can you absorb collagen through a patch?
It’s possible to absorb collagen through a patch, but not guaranteed. “It depends how big the molecules are and if they are in delivery systems that can get through the skin barrier or travel through cells,” says Nava Greenfield, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology in New York, who adds that the benefits merit further study.
Collagen’s molecular structure is generally too large to make it deep into skin. However, hydrolyzed collagen, which is smaller, may have more success. “Hydrolyzed collagen is broken down into tiny fragments so it can penetrate through the skin, just not to deep layers,” says Graf. It ultimately depends on the type of collagen.
How often should you use collagen patches?
Graf recommends using a collagen patch two to three times a week. But it may depend on the exact product, she says, as “some are gentle enough to use daily.”
What are the first signs that collagen is working?
It’s hard to say what the first signs are that collagen is working—though Graf points to more hydrated, radiant skin as an immediate result. “When used as a skin-care ingredient, users will see reduced fine lines and wrinkles, enhanced glowiness, and an improved skin barrier,” she says.
But again, the full effects may also rely on those other ingredients that work alongside the collagen; hyaluronic acid can quickly plump the skin, too, for instance. And it’s slightly different from when collagen is taken as a supplement, in which case it “usually shows up as stronger hair and nails, more elastic and smoother skin texture, quicker muscle recovery, and even reduced joint inflammation,” says Graf.
How We Tested
When we test and review a product, we take a holistic approach to deliver well-rounded product recommendations. First, we lean on Vogue’s vast network of experts—from board-certified dermatologists to celebrity aestheticians—to gain professional acumen on the industry s standout products, ones these specialists would actually use on their clients. We pair their expertise with our editorial best practices to curate the thoughtful edits you read on our site.
As it relates to collagen patches, we selected the best based on the following characteristics: ingredients, texture, patch size, and the skin-care concerns they address. To do this, we paired our own personal tests of each formula with expert guidance and reviewer insights to determine which we would recommend to you.
Meet the Experts
- Jeannette Graf, MD, board-certified dermatologist and professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York
- Nava Greenfield, MD, board-certified dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology in New York
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