Battle of the Hand Creams!

Hello lovely readers! Today's post will be about those everyday staples - Hand Cream!!

So the hand creams I have selected range from the very cheap 99p to the more expensive £10.50.

Soap and Glory Hand Food
I received this in a gift set at Christmas but having checked the Boots website, it retails for a slightly pricey £2.50 for 50 ml. The cream is extremely moisturising and leaves my hands very smooth. The smell is surprisingly quite nutty (the packaging says macadamia and marshmallow so that explains it!). I think when you first apply it, it can feel slightly greasy but this wears off after 10 minutes and your left with very soft hands!!

Atrixo Enriched Moisturising Cream

I bought this from bodycare for a rather purse friendly 99p!  Unfortunately, you kinda get what you pay for as I honestly wouldn't recommend it. It's extremely greasy, even when I apply a small bit I still find it very greasy. I find I can't so much as write with a pen as it makes my fingers very slippery and I have to wait for a while or wipe off the extra grease with a cloth. The smell is quite standard although in my opinion it does kinda resemble incense.

Nivea Refreshingly Soft Moisturising Cream

I actually bought this 75ml bottle in Savers for £1 which I thought was a bargain! I normally see this around the £2 mark. I have used this cream for years and it never lets you down. It always leaves the hands so soft and again it's not greasy! It doesn't really have much of a smell but if I had to describe it I'd say its very light,fresh and slightly florally.

Palmer's Coco Butter Concentrated Cream

I kinda feel Palmer's needs no introduction but if I had to, this is an extremely thick rich cream with a very intense coco butter smell. The smell is kinda love it or hate it but I've noticed they also do fragrance free alternatives.  A little goes a long way as for moisterising hands you really only need a 5p sized amount. Any more, and I think it gets quite greasy and slightly sticky. It's meant to have vitamin E which helps reduce any scarring or stretch marks. To be honest, I've used palmers as an all over body cream and I haven't really noticed any marks disappearing. But for anyone with dry skin this product is definitely for you!  It retails on the slightly pricier side of around £2.50 - £3.00 for a 100g bottle but it does last ages!

Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream

This was given to me as a Christmas gift and came with other little Clarins goodies. Although I cannot find a link on the Clarins website for this 50 ml bottle I think the retail price would be around £10.50 as the larger 100ml hand cream retails for £21. This product honestly reminds me of the sea. It's got that sea salt smell like is just washed up on shore! I would say after application it leaves my hands feeling like its coated with velvet and when I say coated I really mean it feels like there's some kind of soft film around them. It's not greasy either but given the high price I probably wouldn't purchase this!

I know this is a really weird picture! But anyways - I've taken little swatches of the different creams so you can get an idea of textures. They go in the order I've reviewed them - Soap & Glory, Atrixo (definitely more grainy texture), Nivea, Palmer's and Clarin's.


Thanks for reading & let me know what are your favourite hand creams !

Soap & Glory!

Hello pretty readers & welcome to my first review!!=D

So, I received a  Soap and Glory set as a gift some time ago and decided to rediscover this brand as it's definitely been getting a lot of good press lately. I had a little splurge and bought the  'Daily Smooth' Body Lotion, the Glad Hair Day' Shampoo and Conditioner all on a 3 for 2 offer at Boots.

First of all can I just say LOVE LOVE LOVE the design of these products, so fun and girly with the oh so vintage photo's!

Glad Hair Day Shampoo & Conditioner

Now, at £5.50 for 250ml I had high hopes for these two! The packaging states they will smooth, gloss, strengthen and repair the hair. I have used them all of 4 times now and I have noticed that  my hair gets less greasy now and it  does leave my hair feeling a lot lighter. I would say I can go around 3 days until I start showing any signs of greasiness whereas my previous Loreal Elvive had me going greasy after 2 days!  However, I haven't noticed any extra gloss or softness.

The Shampoo itself is your usual clear glossy texture. 

When lathered the product didn't really foam up so well. You probably need to apply alot of this product to get it to lather into a nice foam. I also didn't think it spread too well when trying to work it into the hair. You have to apply a fair bit to get much effect. The picture to the right, shows the amount of foam from a little over a 10p sized amount.

I would say the Conditioner has that lovely creamy consistency (see pic below)   but again  doesn't spread very well when applying to your hair.

The smell of both products is that kind of fruity clinical smell (wasn't too sure how else to describe it!). The product states it's raspberry with some kind of fruit vinegar but I don't really detect the raspberry. I do think it's pleasant though but compared to other Soap and Glory products (the marshmallow and macadamia lotions smells heavenly!) this really wasn't anything to rave about.

'The Daily Smooth' Body Lotion

The product is retailed at a steep £10 for a 500ml bottle. I would say a little pricey for your everyday lotion. The product itself has a beautiful consistency which is both thick and creamy but what I really love is that it's not greasy at all! I have tried it for a week now and it really does moisturize the skin. Again not a fruity smell although the packaging states it has fragrant notes of bergamot, blackcurrent, magnolia, freesia, vanilla and musk. It's definitely musky and I may even go so far as to say woody with hints of floral. If I had to compare it to a smell, I would say it smells a lot like 'Sweetheart' by Ghost. It's also an extremely long lasting smell.

Well that's all for now! Have you tried Soap and Glory before? Which products would you recommend? Or is there a product you would rate as even better?

Thanks for reading!!