This Neutrogena Hand Cream is one of many many different creams I've tried on my hands over the years. I purchsed it in Boots several months ago for around £2.49 for the 75ml tube.

The bold, primary colouring of the packaging really makes it stand out on the shelves as many hand creams tend to come in more pastelly coloured tubes or pots.

Like many people at this time of year my hands tend to suffer from the cold weather and can end up feeling quite chapped and sore so I end up applying hand cream on a very regular basis and have several of them scattered around the house. What attracted me to this one in particular was the wording on the tube which claimed it is a fast absorbing and non greasy hand cream.

On using the hand cream I was immediately impressed with the tube as it comes complete with a fliptop lod rather than a screw top which makes it much easier to close again once you've squeezed the cream out. It is a very easy tube to use, simply squeeze the required amount out then massage it into your hands and nails. It is a pleasant smelling cream, quite undefineable really, but fresh smelling with a hit of florals in the background.

My initial impression of the cream itself was one of surprise as the tube states it is a light texture, but I fond this to be quite a thick cream when compared to others I use, not that the thickness of a cream is an issue for me but I was slightly concerned that it might not be as quickly as absorbed as I had initally hoped. This proved to be true, unfortunately. I rubbed the cream into my hands, paing particular attention to the skin around my nails and my knuckles, which tend to my problem area. Whilst it does rub in easily I wouldn't say it is absorbed particularly quickly and so I ended up only ever using this cream last thing at night before I went to bed so my hands would have longer to absorb the cream properly. I don't feel like I can use it during the day as I use my hands too much to have to wait 10 minutes for them to feel like they're not going to leave sticky marks over anything I touch.

As a hand cream though I have been impressed with it. You only need to use a small amount to get good effects and it genuinely does leave me skin feeling softer and moisturised and it soothes the cracked skin on my knuckles. After several applications over a period of a week or so there was a noticeable difference to the problem areas of my hands, with my skin being much less chapped and sore.

For me this is a difficult product to rate because whilst it does work as a more intense handcream this isn't what it claims on the packaging! I originally bought it as a lighter handcream for constant, every day use but I can't use it in this way and use it at bedtime as a more hardcore cream because I don't find it quickly absorbed. I think I'll give it 4 stars for it's hand cream properties, but don't buy it expecting to be able to get on with things a couple of minutes after you've used it.