Jurlique Lavender Hand Cream

If there's one thing I always aim to do, it's to moisturize my hands each time after I wash them.

I drink a lot of water. Hence, a lot of toilet trips. And, I'm very particular about washing my hands with soap each time after I visit the loo. Other than the hand wash I have at home, all other hand washes that I encounter do more than clean. They dry the hands up so badly that my hands would itch and flake.

I've noticed it all the more so in the cold weather where we crank the heaters up and think nothing of washing our hands in hot water.

At my desk at work, I've a tube of Nivea CoQ10 Anti-Ageing thingamajig. It works well and it's economic looking at the way I moisturize my hands like a maniac.

However, in my bag, I wanted something more luxurious. Something prettier. Something that would make me go "Ahhh..." after I use it. Something I won't use throughout the day but only when I'm out and aboutI fell in love with Jurlique's Lavender hand cream on a shopping trip to Myer Doncaster after work one day.



I picked up the tester, squeezed a tiny bit onto my palms and slowly massaged the product into my hands. It was thick and gooey initially but soon after that, every bit of the product was absorbed into the skin leaving my hands very smooth, very soft and smelling faintly of lavender.

On that particular day, I had on Hermes Kelly Caleche on my wrists and I was extremely pleased that the hand cream did not clash with one of my most favourite scents.

Encased in a metal-like and stiff tube, the Jurlique lavender hand cream felt solid in my hands. It's a no-fuss, no-frills packaging with hardly any motifs nor decoration on the tube with a plastic deep purple cap. One of the problems I always have with such products is the way you could use up every single drop of product there is. The very friendly sales staff then rooted around in the drawers and picked out the funniest looking contraption!

She then picked up the tester tube, laid it flat between 2 wooden pieces with grooves, clamped it down tight and started twisting the handle. She was effectively squeezing every single bit of the product from the bottom of the tube and forcing it all the way to the opening! And, I was told that I could bring my tube in anytime and they would be more than happy to help me flatten the tube to get all my products out!

I was tickled silly by the idea and was intrigued at the same time.

The Jurlique Lavender Hand Cream comes in 2 sizes: 125ml and 40ml and can be found in most drugstores, standalone stores as well as shopping malls.

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream

Image from neutrogena.com

When our housekeeper went home for a month-long vacation in January, my mother and I divided the housework among ourselves. Other women deal with this situation by covering their furniture with plastic or making their family members wear slippers inside the home, but for Mother of Shryh, it was business as usual. Business as usual meant the house gets dusted, vacuumed and mopped every morning without exception. I came away from the experience with a greater respect for my mother's housekeeping and a calloused right hand. I knew my hands were going to suffer, and I tried to keep rough skin at bay by moisturizing them several times a day with an old staple -- a L'Occitane Shea Butter hand cream. It was no match for work-roughened hands (although it made them smell great) so I decided to just let my hands heal in time.

It is March, however, and the callouses have outstayed their welcome. In desperation, I picked up a tube of Aquaphor ointment at Target, hazily remembering an online discussion of its wonderful dry-skin banishing properties, and squeezed a dollop onto my palms the second I got into the car. I massaged it into my skin and my dry cuticles, only to realize in seconds what a mistake that was -- the ointment coated my hand with a greasy petroleum-jelly film. As it wasn't a moisturizer, it sat on my skin like an oil slick and refused to be absorbed.

I'm having much better luck with the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, which was purchased only two days ago. The initial application caused a brief panic when I noticed that the thick cream was nearly the same consistency as the Aquaphor. The cream was not immediately absorbed into my skin and left a thin whitish film all over my hands. To my great relief, the whitish cast soon disappeared and the difference it made was felt immediately. For the first time in months my hands felt smooth and touchable. The cream softened the dry, flaky skin on my right palm and I felt like I was wearing silk gloves, a sensation which persisted even after I washed my hands. I have tried several hand creams before and while they were excellent moisturizers, Neutrogena's Norwegian Formula Hand Cream is the first to make me believe that my hands are actually being protected.

At less than US$5.00, Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream is an affordable yet effective hand cream that I cannot recommend highly enough. If you have dry, chapped skin, look no further and get a tube at your nearest drugstore like Walgreens, Guardian's or Watson's.