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Most Overrated & Underrated Hand Cream
Over & Under: Most Overrated & Underrated Hand Cream
There are always products that receive endless raves, but they don’t always live up to our expectations or work out as well as they do for others. Share your picks for most overrated and underrated HAND CREAM. Don’t forget to share your whats and whys as to your choices!
- Most Overrated: [answer]
- Most Underrated: [answer]
My Picks
- Most Overrated: I can’t think of one. I know Elizabeth Arden’s 8-hour is super popular, but it’s a pretty good formula.
- Most Underrated: Jack Black Hand Healer! Fantastic stuff. I have a big jug of it on my desk, LOL!
Overrated would be Aveda Hand Relief. It’s nice but nothing special, especially at the price.
Underrated – lots but the top 3 for me are Glysomed (it’s cheap and effective and you can get huge tubes of it at Costco), Neutrogena Norwegian Formula (boy, does that stuff ever work on winter-chapped hands) and Gehwol hand cream. The company is best known for their foot care products but a few years ago, they came out with a hand cream that is every bit as good as I’ve come to expect from this company. But very few people here seem to know about it and not a lot of places stock it. I teach food and nutrition classes so I wash my hands a LOT and appreciate hand creams that really work and don’t cost a lot, since I have to reapply so often during my work day.
Most overrated handcream ? Well, I don’t know ! Maybe the Clarins one, good but not so effective
Most underrated handcream ? A very basic one from Zara home, it smells like jasmine and is very rarely used here, the formula is quite good and price for hand liquid soap and handcream is around 20 € ( I don’t know if Zara Home discontinued these products, I purchased them some time ago )
I’m interested to see who will say “MAC” is overrated again. lol.
@leihyingyang Believe it or not, one of the *best* hand creams I’ve ever used was by MAC, but since I never hear or read any mention of any MAC hand creams, I wasn’t sure they still make it anymore. Even if they do, the fact it is never mentioned makes it impossible to be “overrated”.
Most overrated for me would be most hand creams on the planet. I haven’t found a single one that doesn’t end up breaking me out. (sometimes I accidentally touch my face when I’m asleep).
As for most underrated hand cream? I think it’s The Body Shop’s Intensive Vitamin E moisturizer, as in yes, a facial moisturizer. It’s moisturizing enough for me and doesn’t cause me to break out. Plus, I can actually wear it on my face when the cold weather calls for it.
Overrated: Can’t say I’ve read any hype about any hand cream brands.
Underrated: I do love Marks and Spencer. My favorite scent is “Rose” and I though it had been discontinued long ago but apparently you can still get them in England. They smell so relaxing and they aren’t greasy, absorbs fast and just pleasant.
I love the Marks and Spencer hand cream. Its only £1 over here in the UK 🙂 For such a cheap hand cream they really do a good job. I think they’re just as good as the expensive ones I sometimes buy x
@ToxicAngel I can’t find Marks and Spencer anything in the US. The only time I was able to buy it was when we were stationed in Europe. 🙁
Overrated: aveda hand relief. I used to love this stuff, but after trying other (better) hand creams, it feels way too thick and greasy for me. Does not absorb well at all.
Underrated: I don’t know how underrated either are but my two faves at the moment are Bliss’ High Intensity hand cream, and Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment cream. The Clarins in particular absorbs cxrazy fast and is fantastic for soft hands. Bliss doesn’t absorb *quite* as fast but it’s still a great hand cream. My unscented favorite is First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream; I use it as a body cream but it works on hands, too. I keep it on my desk at work and it’s great.
@blueraccoon love love love the Bliss High Intensity hand cream, my favourite, and it smells like heaven!
I use Curel Lotion for mainly my hands. I wash my hands alot. I use it for my feet also. It is non- greasy and it feels comfortable after applying it.
I think all the rest of those high end department store brands are all over-hyped. I have tried Cle de Peau, Le Mer and the likes. When Curel is sale at Target or Walgreens, I buy truck loads of them.
I use nailtiques Avocado foot cream for my hand in the night and it works well.
but I can’t wait to get Jack Black Hand healer tomorrow. 😀
Most high-end hand lotions are probably overrated…
And most underrated? Probably my dad’s good old Stokolan hand cream 🙂 A plain red and white tube, nothing fancy or memorable about this hand cream whatsoever, but dang, it’s good!
Over-rated: I rarely use enough high-end hand creams or much-raved about cream to know, with the exception of L’Occitane but I think that one deserves *every* bit of praise that it gets. I really do.
Under-rated: No-one ever talks about the Couvent de Minimes line which I absolutely adore and almost ties with L’Occitane for me. My God, I love their creams, the incredible smell, how it coats and softens the skin without greasiness, the quick absorption and the silky feel. Now that I think of it, I may even prefer it to L’Occitane. Another big favorite: Pacifica. (Their Tahitian Gardenia line… mmmmm). Pacifica is much cheaper than L’Occitane, too. I’ve also had good results from the True Blue Spa line available at Bath & Body Works. For example, their Glove Potion #9. Not as great as Couvent de Minimes, Pacifica or L’Occitane but still good for the price.
@Kafka Now I’m curious – where does one find Couvent de Minimes?
@blueraccoon They used to carry it at Bath & Bodyworks but since they’ve stopped, I get mine at a shop in Houston’s giant Galleria mall or sometimes directly from the US website (which has free shipping on ground orders): http://www.lecouventdesminimes.us/ . I believe a friend of mine gets hers from Beauty.com, so if you generally order from there, you can look for it. Look specifically for the Honey & Shea Hand Repairing cream, any of their honey products (like their wonderful bath gel), and/or, if you’re lucky enough to find it, their Orange Blossom body cream which is to die for. (Except, I suddenly remembered, you are sensitive to scents, no? It’s not overpowering to me but if you’re super sensitive, stick to their Honey & Shea line.) If I recall correctly, Couvent de Minimes goes back several centuries and was originally done by convent nuns in Provence. I don’t know if they’re still behind it, but their formulas are used, the line is still manufactured in France and it’s NOT testing on animals either. 🙂
@blueraccoon They used to carry it at Bath & Bodyworks but since they’ve stopped, I get mine at a shop in Houston’s giant Galleria mall or sometimes directly from the US website (which has free shipping on ground orders): http://www.lecouventdesminimes.us/ . I believe a friend of mine gets hers from Drugstore.com, so if you generally order from there, you can look for it. Look specifically for the Honey & Shea Hand Repairing cream, any of their honey products (like their wonderful bath gel), and/or, if you’re lucky enough to find it, their Orange Blossom body cream which is to die for. (Except, I suddenly remembered, you are sensitive to scents, no? It’s not overpowering to me but if you’re super sensitive, stick to their Honey & Shea line.) I think they have lipbalms too. If I recall correctly, Couvent de Minimes goes back several centuries and was originally done by convent nuns in Provence. I don’t know if they’re still behind it, but their formulas are used, the line is still manufactured in France and it’s NOT testing on animals either. 🙂
@Kafka I am less sensitive to scents than I used to be, so I’ll look for the Orange Blossom cream and the hand cream. I love what I’m using now but I’m always looking for new options 🙂 Thanks for the suggestions on where to find it!
@Kafka I miss the days when they sold it at B& BW… I discovered so many awesome things from them
Overrated: Clarins Hand and Nail Cream–it is good, but doesn’t live up to the hype
Underrated: Neutrogena Norwegian hand cream–it provides excellent protection against winter elements.
Overrated: Soap and Glory hand food: this was really watery, didn’t do anything at all.
Underrated: Neutrogena Norweigan hand cream is fantastic but since I’m the third person to mention it here, maybe it’s not so underrated!
Underrated: Aveda’s Hand relief and Johnson and Johnson’s body cream (works has a great thick hand lotion in the winter)
Overrated: L’Occitane- Didn’t provide as much moisture in the winter as expected for the price I paid
L’Occitane, as wonderful as it is, may be overreated. I actually really love it, but at the pricepoint, I can get a few large tubs of pure shea butter, which I find to work just as well. Shea butter & Burt’s Bees Hand Salve are both very underrated.
L’Occitane, as wonderful as it is, may be overrated. I actually really love it, but at the pricepoint, I can get a few large tubs of pure shea butter, which I find to work just as well. Shea butter & Burt’s Bees Hand Salve are both very underrated. I’m a hand cream addict, so I’ve tried many things over the years, but these are what I keep coming back to. In colder months, I use pure cocoa butter on my hands at night.
overnight I like to use Weleda Skin Food. It is quite greasy, but nothing is more moisturizing, so I just put it on before I go to sleep. During the day I like to use MAC Mineralize Face & Body Lotion… maybe just because it is always available to me at work, but it is very very lightweight and doesn’t make my hands feel greasy at all. After using it throughout the day at work my hands feel silky soft, and it absorbs very fast so it doesn’t affect my work, I don’t have to wait for it to soak in.
Most Overrated: Burts Bee’s … The smell is horrible!
Most underrated: Neutrogena norwegian formula
most overrated: L’occitane shea hand cream. It did not work for me at all. My hand are really dry though.
most underrated: Neutrogena norvegian formula concentrated hand cream. This is the only one that works for me. And it is not expensive.
Overrated: The Burts Bees one, it just didn’t do much for me.
Underrated: I really like the Clarins Hand and Cuticle treatment, the Philosophy Hands of Hope, and the Ahava hand cream. Those are the best in my opinion. 🙂
@AmoraStJames
The Clarins is awesome, it really helps strengthen my nails. I go a day or two between new colors, and rub it into my nails as often as I remember to. I just wish I didn’t have such an earthy scent….at least it goes away.
@FallonFan2012 @AmoraStJames Agreed. It does have kind of an awful smell, but it works so well it’s worth it just to ignore it for a few seconds!
Most overrated: Mary Kay Satin Hands
I was pressured into buying something after getting suckered into going to a Mary Kay party or whatever you call it. The lotion was ok but the smell was too old lady for me.
Most underrated: Silk Elements Shea Butter with olive oil! I adore this hand cream! You can only find it at Sally’s Beauty! It works well for all seasons! I work at a clinic and I constantly wash my hands. I slather this on at my desk after every washing and it keeps my hands soft and supple each time!
Overrated curel. Underrated utterly smooth.
Most underrated is soap and glory hand food, its creamy and thick yet it absorbs fast and leaves hands smelling sweet and feeling super soft!
@jessluvsmason
I agree!! I bought some Soap and Glory Hand Food not long ago, and I love it! I would definitely buy it again. And it smells wonderful!
@jessluvsmason
I agree!! I bought some Soap and Glory Hand Food not long ago, and I love it! I would definitely buy it again. And it smells wonderful!
I think I’m the only person who will say that all hand creams are overrated. I NEVER wear hand cream because I feel like I can’t touch anything for the next four hours. I’ve tried many creams, most of which said “no greasy feeling” or “quick absorbing” on the label but they all feel way too greasy to me. The weather where I live feels neither dry nor humid (although apparently it hovers around 85% humidity) year-round (yay! for living near the Equator!) so I only have to worry about dryness in my skin when I travel to a dry climate, like Bogotá or somewhere in the wintertime.
@cristiramirez Nope, you’re definitely not the only one! Basically every hand cream that I’ve tried have left my hands either greasy, sticky or waxy. What I usually do is apply it when I’m about to watch a movie or something and know I won’t be touching anything for at least an hour, and then I take a moist towel and wipe most of that grease off.
I have to say, though, that L’Occitane is extremely overrated. Same with Ahava and Elizabeth Arden.
The only hand cream I am willing to put on my hands these days is CND Solar Silk (think the name has changed to Almond Lotion now). I don’t know if I would say it’s underrated, though, but I feel like CND in general is one of those nail brands that very few people talk about.
Overrated – Nivea (the kind made in Germany, not Mexico) My hands, unlike any other part of my body, will randomly turn bright red and then get exceedingly dry. I read reviews and did my due diligence in sampling different brands. Nivea kept coming up again and again as a good buy. So I bought it from a little European marketplace…and it was no bueno. It was uber-slippery, never settling into my skin and the lid was too loose for the jar, enabling slippage and loss of product.
Underrated – Gold Bond. I found some in a drawer and was amazed at how soft it was and how much it relieved my dry hands. For $1 at Target, it’s an uh-mazing buy.
Overrated: L’Occitane Shea Butter hand cream.
Underrated: Glysomed! Walgreens used to carry it but now I can’t seem to find it except online.
Glysomed is soooo greasy!
Overrated: I haven’t tried that many, but I’d say Aquaphor…yeah, I used to have a teacher who would slather it on because her hands were so dry they’d crack and bleed in the winter. I can’t even imagine how she could hold anything…I hate getting Aquaphor on my fingers since it’s so slippery!
Underrated: I’m using Ahava at the moment, and I feel like it could be better. I need to try more hand creams!
Overrated: L’occitane
Underrated: Weleda Skin Food and Korres Guava Body Butter!!
Overrated: Anything by Vaseline. Vaseline products are all made with mineral oil which is a barrier that keeps moisture from going into your skin and getting out. So if you keep slathering it on you’re not even absorbing any of the lotion which makes Vaseline absolutely pointless.
Underrated: Aveda Hand Relief. Sure the price is a little steep but it is packed with salicylic acid which sloughs off all the dead skin (which is why if you’re not an avid exfoliator you’ll see your skin bead up). The salicylic acid is what makes the hand creme pricier.
Personally, I feel that if you really want to know if a lotion is worth it the best thing to do is to look at the ingredient list but unfortunately most people overlook it.
“Vaseline products are all made with mineral oil which is a barrier that keeps moisture from going into your skin and getting out.”
That’s the whole point of the product.