Lush Helping Hands Hand Cream

I have been using this for more than half a year now, and I never really know what to say about this until one day, I used it on my dry patch of skin near my elbow. Then, I finally understand what they mean by "helping hands" and felt the urge to blog about it.

LUSH Helping Hands

Available: Lush store at Wisma Atria.

Volume: 45 g.

Star Properties: Fresh handmade cosmetics. Healing, soothing hand cream. Make light work of dry, sore or rough hands. With skin softening linseed oil, almond oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter.

Ingredients: As below.

I am really very happy with the ingredients.  There is nothing much I can pick on, except maybe Cetearyl Alcohol in the middle, and some preservatives in the form of parabens at the end. But that's fine by me since I am still using many other products with so much chemicals.

Lush Special
The special thing about Lush is that they claim every product to be handmade, and they will paste stickers like this one on every item. That's part of the reason you pay a little premium for Lush products for.

Packaging
It comes in a pump bottle that fits nicely into my hand. The size is one of the biggest reasons I bought it. I think it's just nice to throw into your bag as well as stand on the table.

Dispense
This is the second reason I bought this. I think the pump is a very clean way to store hand creams. And it's great for travel too, with that transparent cap on.

However, because the pump is not the strong kind, the cream a little thick, you'll find that a teeny bit of cream always sticks on the mouth after dispense. But I simply nip it off on the back of my hand every single time, so you still see a pretty much clean dispenser. I left that bit on for the photo.

Texture
It's thick. Thicker than something like Crabtree and Evelyn La Source Hand Therapy, and thicker than L'occitane Rose hand cream. But it's not as thick as something like Kiehl's Hand Salve Hand Cream.

For better reference, Crabtree and Evelyn La Source is actually very close to water consistency, super thin.

So that's exactly one full pump from the dispenser.

One full pump is not quite enough for both my hands. I normally need one and a half.

Finish
Below is how it looks like after spreading out. Basically looks like nothing on camera. LOL.

But in terms of feel, it has that layer of cream feel, which I actually am not fond of. I hate the Kiehl's Hand Salve because of this. However, this is because I live in a very humid natural environment.

This feel is really nice when you have drier hands than I have now, in other words, if you live in drier climates than me. I don't use this everyday. I only use when I turn on the air-conditioner in my study (where I type all my blog posts). When it's cold and dry, this is simply perfect, because it will melt into my hands in no time at all!

Same goes for Kiehl's Salve actually. I brought that to Beijing, China, at -10 degree Celsius, and it was a dream. It melted right into my skin.

Healing
The best proof of how good this is came when I tried applying it on a dry patch near my elbows. The almost peeling dead skin went back to normal the next day!! It's just magical.

Sensitive Skin
It's so far so good for me. I am not sure if those with even more sensitive and irritable skin than me can use it. But if your case is mild enough for you to use 80-90% of mass market chemical-laden products, then this shouldn't be a problem! Unless you know you are allergic to some natural ingredients, then do check out the ingredients list above.

Cost
Like all Lush products, this cannot be considered cheap. You do pay a little premium for handmade and natural products. But this is nowhere near Chanel and Dior, so I'd say if you have dry hands and you're seriously looking for a solution, not just to play-play, then the price is worth it.

Lush is more of a mid-tier brand but really providing bang-for-your-buck quality in terms of ingredients.

I think it works! 4.5/5.
I deducted marks because it's not that kind of hand cream that everyone all over the world can use. I do believe LUSH originally made this for the cooler, drier Western countries. If you're living in places with winters, or are permanently below 10 degree Celsius, or for some reason have dry, peeling skin on the hands (like I do near my elbow and knees), then I'd highly recommend this.

But if you're living in a country like mine, Singapore, where the weather is permanently Spring and Summer only, raining every few days, and incredibly humid, then skip this altogether. In this climate, I still swear by Crabtree and Evelyn La Source Hand Therapy because that one is more watery gel-like, and sinks instantly into my skin.