Wonderfully Soft Hands (Vaseline Intensive Care Hand & Nail Lotion)

Member Name: krazykat2005

Product:	Vaseline Intensive Care Hand & Nail Lotion
Date:	03/02/06 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Leaves my hands feeling lovely and soft

Disadvantages: Not for men, uninteresting fragrance, occasionally irritated my skin

Winter usually means you have the central heating on which can result in skin problems unless you are taking good care of it. My hands get quite dry and cracked as I spend a lot of time with them in water and use a lot of cleaning products. I used to just use whichever body lotion I had at the time to moisturise my hands as well, but found that this didn’t always do a very good job.

One day when I was doing my weekly shop I decided to have a look at hand creams. I was drawn to the product I am reviewing because it was dual purpose, meaning that not only were my hands going to be lovely and soft, it was going to strengthen my nails as well.

I am reviewing the 75ml tube of Vaseline Intensive Care Hand & Nail Lotion. It is also available in a 200ml bottle.

Other products available in the Vaseline Intensive Care range are:
- Aloe Fresh Body Lotion
- DermaCare Dermatological Lotion
- Essential Moisture Hand & Body Lotion
- Firming & Nourishing Body Lotion

-- PRODUCT DESCRIPTION --

This is a moisturising and strengthening cream for hands and nails. It contains milk proteins and AHAs, which soften and moisturise hands and cuticles, and moisturise and strengthen nails, leaving them up to fifty per cent stronger. It is has a non-greasy formula which is easily absorbed.

The cream itself is quite thin and is pink in colour. It has a strong citrus smell with a flowery undertone.

You are advised to use this product two to three times a day to achieve the best results.

Once opened, this product has a twelve month shelf life.

For anyone who is interested, the ingredients are as follows:
Aqua, Stearic Acid, Dimethicone, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Cetyl Alcohol, Triethanolamine, Paraffinum Liquidum, Glycerin, Sorbitol, Diglycerin, Panthenol, Tocopherol Acetate, Petrolatum, Glyceral Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Glycol Stearate, Stearamide AMP, Aloe Barbadensis, Hydrolysed Milk Protein, Lactic Acid, Phospholipids, Magnesium Aluminium Silicate, Carbomer, Parfum, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxycitronellal, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Limonene, Linalool, CI 14700

-- PRICE --

I usually buy mine in Asda where it retails at £1.25 for the 75ml tube.

A quick look on the internet shows me that you can get it at Tesco for £1.18 or you can get the 200ml bottle from Boots for £2.69.

This means that the 200ml bottle is £1.34 per 100ml and the handy handbag sized 75ml tube is £1.66 per 100ml.

-- PACKAGING --

This product comes in a baby pink tube, with an opaque pink flip top lid.

The front of the tube is mostly taken up by the dark blue Vaseline Intensive Care logo, with the product name and a brief description underneath.

On the back there is a more in depth description of what the product does, directions for use, ingredients and weight and shelf life indications.

-- WHAT I THOUGHT --

I only tend to use this product when my hands have gotten so dry that they are bothering me and they definitely feel better straight away, but I have found that if my hands are extremely dry this cream can make them sting a little bit on initial application. I do not use it as much as they advise you to and have found that the effects are not particularly long lasting, but I am really putting it to the test at the moment due to very frequent hand washing after nappy changes and before feeds. Before I had my baby the effects definitely lasted a lot longer!

Some hand creams are really thick and this makes it difficult to rub them in to your hands. Some are really runny and end up going everywhere. This cream is the perfect texture as it is somewhere between the two extremes, fluid enough that even just a little blob is enough for both hands, but not so liquid that it goes everywhere. It does take a minute or so to be completely absorbed into the skin, but once it has there is no greasiness at all, just smooth, moisturised hands.

On application, the fragrance is very strong to the point of being overpowering, but it quickly dies down and leaves my hands smelling subtly citrusy with a hint of flowers. I have to say that this reminds me of the hand wipes you get free in Macdonalds, so I’m not massively impressed with the smell, but I am very hard to please!

I haven’t noticed any improvement in the strength of my nails, as is promised, but they definitely look a lot healthier after an application of this cream.

A 75ml tube lasts me about two or three months, so if you are planning on using it often as is directed on the tube I would say it will probably only last for a month.

Obviously it is better value for money to buy the larger bottle, but the 75ml tube is very handy for keeping in your handbag. What I would suggest is buying the 75ml tube and then decanting from the 200ml bottle when you run out… this way you always have some in you handbag for when you are out and some in the bathroom for when you are in.

One negative is that this is definitely not one for the boys. With the pink packaging and girly fragrance this product is very firmly aimed at women, which is a bit annoying as my darling partner has been moaning about his dry hands but won’t use this cream, so now I have to go out and buy him his own.

-- CONCLUSION --

I would give Vaseline Intensive Care Hand & Nail Lotion four stars out of five. It does a good job, but the uninteresting smell and need for very frequent applications prevents me from giving it full marks.

- Good Points -
- made my hands lovely and soft
- good value for money
- handbag sized tube, with a handy flip top lid
- lasts for a while
- cream is the perfect texture for coverage and absorbsion

- Bad Points -
- not suitable for men
- occasionally irritated my skin and stung on application
- uninteresting smell
- noticed no difference in the strength of my nails

Summary: A great hand cream, but just for the ladies!