With winter in full swing, I've been delving into my collection of hand creams more and more often to help my hands survive the constant assault of the cold, dry, windy weather. An almost daily staple this season has been Santa Maria Novella's Crema Per Le Mani, an amazing hand cream that protects my hands practically all day and manages to smell delicious while doing so.
Watkin's Lemon Crème Body Butter is one of my favorite lemon-vanilla scented lotions, and its probably superior for all over body use, but the Santa Maria Novella cream, with a similar lemon-meringue pie scent, is far better for hands. Here the lemon is far more prominent, fresh, and zesty, so that one less likely to feel like a walking dessert. The thick, frosting-like texture of the Watkin's makes it impractible for use on the hands; the Crema is thin and light, but forms a very effective, emollient but non-greasy barrier against dryness that lasts even through hand washings for at least six to seven hours.
My only quibble with the product is that it comes in a jar, which makes for a messy application as some cream will always annoyingly get caught under one's nails. Nevertheless, I've grown fond of the quaint ceramic packaging, with its pleasant heft, old-world style decoration and hand-numbering. The other flaw is of course, its price: though it is much cheaper in Italy, it retails for a hefty $45 here in the US. It is a lot for a hand cream, but one can rest assured that the cream is of the highest quality, and it is at least more economical than Santa Maria Novella's other hand care offering, Pasta di Mandorle (whose smell is not quite so appealing, although it does make one's hands feel like pure velvet), which contains less than half the amount at the same price.
The Crema Per Le Mani is $45 for 100 ml. For buying information, see the listing for Santa Maria Novella under Perfume Houses.
I sniffed and sampled this lovely cream at Lafco, but the pricetag held me back from purchasing it. (Although Lafco does offer a discount to Makeup Alley members with a certain code) Instead, I opted for the $4.25 Watkins Lemon Cream Shea Butter at Wal-Mart. It's nice and thick, but it has a foody/cakey lemon scent, as opposed to the pure lemon scent of the SMN. But at 1/10th the price, I'll live with it.
I just would like to know if the SMN hand cream works as well as my HG (but annoyingly scented) L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand cream.
I know, the price is indeed prohibitive! But somehow I can't hold myself back from buying all these good smelling things 🙂 The Watkins is definitely a great and affordable substitute, though like I said, too thick and desserty for me to use as an every day cream.
I have a sample of the L'Occitaine Cream, though I've never used it. I'll test it out and let you know!
Thanks, Anjali. I look forward to your thoughts on the L'Occitane compared to the SMN. The Watkins is thick, but it makes a great cuticle moisturizer! Just rubbed some in now at work before typing.
Anjali, thanks for your great review on one of my favorite scented products of all time. I can't think of a better way to chase away winter blues (and dryness) than with this zesty, yummy, lemon cream with bright sunshine in its scent. Worth the money right down to the last bit in the jar. Bell'Occhio in San Francisco and on the web is another wonderful source for SMN.