September 15, 2009

Are you fanatic about hand cream like I am?  In the summer my hands just feel crunchy, and in the winter they feel parched, irritated and sometimes get red and crack between my fingers.  Not a very lovely image, right?

So I put on hand cream several times a day and have tried lots of different ones over the years.  I like the classic Neutrogena Norwegian Formula but it's strictly a nighttime treatment because of its' greasy nature.  I also love the traditional Jergens with the cherry vanilla scent because it reminds me of my grandmother.  But it's not really moisturizing enough for me; just nostalgic.

My current 3 favorites are excellent hand creams that you may have never heard of.  Here are my nominees for the 3 best hand creams:

Neutrogena Deep Moisture Hand Cream, Butter Cream –  I just picked this up over the weekend at Ulta.  I've never seen it before, but the Butter Cream label grabbed my attention.  This cream smells like the Birthday Cake scented candles, and it leaves that delicious scent on your hands for a while.  It contains shea butter, cocoa seed butter, and mango seed butter.  Surprisingly, with all of those rich ingredients, it does melt into your hands without being greasy.  LOVE it!  They also have a body cream and body wash in this line, and in my future!  $21.78 for 4 tubes (2 oz each) from Amazon

L'Occitane Hand Cream with 20% Shea Butter –  Rich, rich, rich!  I've been buying this cream for a while from L'Occitane in the small travel sizes, but LilSis bought me a big tube last year on my birthday and I'm just now finishing it up.  You need very little of this cream, so it goes a very long way.

It's just a touch greasy, but I can still use it in the morning on my way to work.  Besides shea butter, this cream also has vitamin E and extracts of honey and sweet almond.  The jasmine and ylang ylang scent is fabulous!  There are lots of other shea butter products in this line…try the foot cream too!  $25 for a 5.2 oz tube from Amazon

Medline Remedy Skin Repair Cream –  I can almost guarantee that you haven't heard of this cream!  I certainly hadn't, until last year when I was in the hospital with the Nasty Virus and asked the nurse for some cream.  She brought me this, and I went nuts for it!  Medline apparently makes all kinds of medical products.  They've formulated this cream with a trademarked ingredient called Olivamine which contains antioxidants, amino acids, and vitamins which supposedly play a role in basic cellular construction and protection.

I don't know about all of that, but I know it soaks into the skin quickly and leaves it feeling very hydrated.  Plus the scent has an awesome orangey creamsicle kind of a thing going on.  I've never seen this cream in a retail store, so I'll be ordering online now that I've used up the whole tube.  It's amazing.  $7.79 for a 4 oz tube from Amazon

There you have it…my best 3 hand creams you didn't know about til now!  Please let me know if you try any of these, or if you have another fabulous hand cream I should try!

~BigSis