[REVIEW] Aveeno Intense Relief Hand Cream

Hello!

In this post, I'll be reviewing a highly-recommended hand cream of mine - Aveeno's Intense Relief Hand Cream.

Quick Review:

Price: NZD$12.99 (from Farmers)

Pros: Very very moisturising, fast-absorbing

Cons: Heavy texture may be off-putting

Overall: ★★★★☆

Where to get: Anywhere! (Supermarkets, pharmacies, Farmers etc.)

I get very dry skin on my hands, especially after doing the dishes with bare hands. I get such terrible eczema all over my hands that I never ever do the dishes without gloves anymore.

However, I hate the icky feeling you get after putting on hand cream! I never had a staple hand cream for this reason, even though I suffered from very dry skin - until my sister introduced me to Aveeno's hand cream.

I am actually not a great fan of Aveeno (I know!), despite having dry, sensitive skin. I found their daily moisturising lotions too greasy-feeling afterwards, and broke out after trying their facial cleansers. While this hand cream isn't completely non-greasy-feeling, what I love about it is that it absorbs so quickly - and you can wash your hands without worrying about it turning into a greasy mess! Yey!

The consistency is quite thick, which is why I guess they called it a hand cream and not a hand lotion. It took a bit of work to work it into my hands the first time I used it. I must admit, the greasy feeling is still there after you've rubbed it in. But as I mentioned before, it absorbs very quickly.

To test its claim to "last through hand washing", I gave my hands a good wash with water ten minutes after application. To my surprise, it didn't turn into the slippery nightmare I was worried about! My hands washed clean easily, no sweat. They still felt plump and smooth afterwards, too.

Overall, this is a great hand cream to use if you have dry hands, especially if you do a lot of cooking and housework and have to wash your hands frequently. I've never bought another hand cream since this one!

I heard the Neutrogena hand cream is really good too. Have you tried it? Any other recommendations? What did you think of the Aveeno hand cream? Leave a comment and let me know!

[REVIEW] Snowberry Starbright Moisturiser 50ml

Hello!

In this post, I will be reviewing Snowberry's Starbright Moisturiser.

Quick summary:

Price: NZD$54
Pros: Lightweight and fast-absorbing, skin feels nice and soft
Cons: Expensive, no sun protection, might be too lightweight for dry skin
Overall: ★★★☆☆

Where to get:
Farmers, Smith & Caugheys, various pharmacies and beauty shops, online (www.snowberrybeauty.com)


Snowberry is a New Zealand-based skincare line that boasts its use of natural, bio-active ingredients and avoidance of potentially harmful chemicals (although it is not certified organic). Because it is not a well-known brand and is quite pricey, I couldn't find any reviews on many of their products. I was tossing up between trying this and buying the infamous Clinique moisturising gel, but was won over by my curiosity.

Oh, and the packaging, of course.

Look, how cute!

Description on the package:
"A cascade of superfruits and Ubiquinone promote age-prevention moisturising and clear skin tone, especially for combination skin."

On the bottle:
"Very light moisturising, especially for combination skin."

The moisturiser comes in a gorgeous white plastic pump bottle. To be honest, if it wasn't for the beautiful packaging, I wouldn't have even looked twice at this product.

I was taken aback by the smell at first - like plastic berry-pomegranate (?). My nana, after trying it, reassured me that it was simply the "smell of nature" (???). After using about two or three times, I'd forgotten the smell was even there. Who knows.

The consistency is on the liquidy side, and absorbs very, very quickly. My skin feels baby-soft and supple afterwards.


I do have three major drawbacks regarding this moisturiser though:
1. It's quite pricey - I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay this amount of money for a moisturiser that doesn't feel that much more amazing than one from a regular drugstore.
2. It doesn't have sun protection. Boo.
3. I still feel a bit dry around the eyes even after using the moisturiser - although I admit this might be my fault, since I don't use a separate eye cream. Even so, I did find that my eyes felt more dry than when I used other moisturisers without eye cream.

My overall opinion - a nice but expensive moisturiser. I'm glad I tried it, but I probably will try another brand once I've used it all.


Thanks for reading, everyone! Have anything to say? Have you tried this product before? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!