Tried and Tested: Gel moisturisers, conditioners and hand creams
Gel moisturisers, conditioners and hand creams – has the low-down on the best.
Gel moisturisers
Gel moisturisers are semi-solid, water-based creams that spread easily and absorb quickly.
Done well, they are a light and refreshing means of hydrating skin, while delivering reparative actives.
This product category best suits normal and oily combination types, as it will not fortify dry-skin’s depleted moisture barrier. Simple is full of great bargain buys.
Most are cleansers but Water Boost is also one to look out for if you have combination skin. The refreshing mix of anti-inflammatory extracts and lightweight water-binders leaves skinned calm, soft, and free of greasy residue.
This moisturiser debuted on the Academy Awards red carpet, where Emma Stone’s artist used it as makeup preparation.
It is particularly fit for that purpose, as the ‘glow’ of the title refers to reflective pigment in the formula. This ingredient is not skincare.
There’s nothing wrong with a little makeup in your skincare, per se, but the amount is far greater than that of pomegranate extract, which the brand touts as its star ingredient, colouring the bottle to match.
There’s lots of willow bark extract and squalane, which are very soothing and moisturising, respectively, but ultimately there’s more bottle-space on makeup and scent than not.
This is an eye treatment with a gel-cream texture.
Like the Kiehl’s Hydrator above it contains makeup ingredients in which you may not wish to sleep (Clarins recommends wearing it overnight or for 10 minutes in the morning).
It also contains fragrance that can irritate skin, especially around the eyes. The three reparative and soothing extracts the brand highlights in the product info — horse chestnut, carrageenan and leaf of life — are present in meagre amounts; none make it even halfway up the ingredients list (written in descending order of content).
This pink gel-cream is sold as a supercharged version of Clinique’s original Moisture Surge.
The promise of 72-hour wear is silly, as no woman is going to go three days without washing, but it does have a richer, more protective texture than the look suggests.
The formula has a lot of reparative green tea and lady’s thistle, plenty of soothing aloe extract and a moderate amount of hyaluronic acid.
A tube or bottle package would do a better job of keeping all these great ingredients stable. It is fragrance- and alcohol-free and best suits normal to dry skin.
Leave-in conditioner
This treatment is named for its ability to smooth split-ends (physically remaking them is impossible) using silicones, argan oil and several plants.
The infusion is superfood-based— quinoa and baobab seed extracts and the plant collagen galactoarabinan— and helps fortify lengths.
Camellia oil enhances softness and shine. Like most of this brand’s conditioners, Mending Infusion is lavender-scented.
It is a lovely conditioner for medium-to-thick hair, but don’t count on repaired ends.
Grow Gorgeous was seeded by Deciem, the no-frills Canadian beauty company that started The Ordinary, but unlike their skincare sister, do not seem to prioritise real benefits over scent.
The conditioner is packed with wheat protein. This does indeed leave hair full-bodied, but also starts to feel like build-up if you don’t use clarifying shampoo sometimes.
The third most prevalent ingredient is perfume. This doesn’t improve condition and in fact there is little here in great enough amount to hydrate hair or create great shine.
Briogeo is one for natural beauty-lovers. This conditioning milk is 98% naturally derived and free from silicones, parabens, phthalates and sulfates.
Infused with rosehip, argan, and coconut oils, the formula remains light and creates no gunky buildup.
It leaves hair soft and manageable and smells of citrus fruits. This is not a styling tool, per se, but it certainly helps make the most of your natural texture.
This brand has a couple of products available at Boots, but this spray is currently online only. It is definitely worth the wait.
Bleach is, as the name suggests, a colour-focused company and this formula contains film-forming polyquaternium compounds thought to extend your shade’s vibrancy, even if you wash daily.
It also has wheat and silk amino acids to boost and strengthen strands, respectively, and plenty of softening coconut extract.
SPF hand creams
UV rays cause some 90% of non-DNA related skin-ageing. Hands, like the neck and décolletage, are areas we think of less than the face, so keeping a tube of this in your glove compartment is a good idea.
The formula is a bargain, packed with shea butter and reparative soy, as well as broad-spectrum sun protection.
The emollient base forms a rich moisture barrier and is sensitive-skin friendly.
Swiss suncare brand Ultrasun offers lots of lovely ways to keep your skin safe, and this one comes with side-benefits.
UV protection is itself anti-pigmentation but combined with the fruit-based antioxidants in this formula also works to repair existent damage.
Plant waxed form a comforting moisture barrier that won’t bother sensitive types. Unlike most hand creams, this formula is water-resistant, which prolongs the efficacy of the UV filters.
There is a lot to like about this cream. Sweet almond oil is indeed helpful in keeping hands velvety, as are the glycerin and sunflower, Vitamin E oils in the mix.
The brand is generous with these ingredients, which also function as antioxidants that can help protect against free radical damage when paired with daily, broad spectrum sun protection.
The formula is mildly fragranced enough to be sensitive-skin friendly.
My only issue is the weak sun protection. Factor 15 is pretty flimsy, even in a product one applies as frequently as hand cream.
This one has the same weak protection, as well as very little content that serves to “de-age” skin.
The fragrant ingredients far outnumber the lone antioxidant, sea daffodil, which falls near the bottom of the ingredients list.
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