These last few years come the period between November and March I pretty much turned to a tub of L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream every hour to relieve me of my dry hands. Unfortunately they must have changed something in their formulation because lately when I applied it to my hands, it irritated and actually burned my skin a little bit (albeit this only happened when my skin was already dry and a bit red). I asked my dermatologist about it and she said that it’s possible that I bought an old tub or that some random ingredient in the formulation changed that my skin might not respond well to. As an alternative I’ve been using La Mer ‘The Hand Treatment’ ($70) which is lighter and more greasy than the one from L’Occitane (and therefore requires less cream — thankfully since the tube is a lot smaller than L’Occitane’s!). It’s super delicate — literally barely has a smell and moisturizes for more than an hour at a time (though I still find myself applying it 3-4 times a day). They’ve also got a Lip Balm ($45) which I’ve been using in combination with Blistex Medicated Lip Ointment (ultimate high-low pairing!), to keep my lips moist (chapped lips might actually be even more unattractive than red, dry hands!).
How do you keep your lips and hands moisturized during these harsh dry months?
I like Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve (the only thing that kept my hands moisturized the winter I was using Accutane) or Eucerin Calming Creme for my hands (and feet!) and Aquaphor or Smith’s Rosebud Salve for my lips. The La Mer lip balm sounds wonderful but I’d be more likely to finally buy a Guerlain Rouge G lipstick before spending $45 on lip balm…
So funny you posted this today because I just bought the lip balm yesterday and was planning on buying the hand cream tomorrow! Thanks for the tip!
La Mer hand Creme is the best! I use OPI hand serum underneath & my hands are never dry.