A few times… Alright, alright, alright, more than a few times, I’ve stared at the shelf in my bathroom where I keep all of ‘ze body lotions and thought to myself, “K, there’s only so much skin real estate on your person, so you don’t really need another bottle of lotion.” Then I come to my senses and realize that I totally do. Ha ha ha!
I’ve had dry shins for 43 years (had to stop there for a second to remember my age, OY VEY), so it’s not like I’m never NOT going to need to moisturize… It’s exactly like my glam granny always says, “Boys come and go, but dry skin is forever.” (OK, she really didn’t say that, but I bet she would!)
Anyway, Neutrogena launched a new line of pretty good gel cream body lotions, but first…what the heck is a gel cream?
Gel creams are water-based moisturizers with a formula sort of halfway between a watery lotion and a thick cream. Most of the time, they’re slippery, jiggly and translucent, and their main selling point is how quickly they absorb into your skin. You won’t have to spend forever and day working them in. They’re also usually packed with humectants, which are capable of holding many times their own weight in water, like hyaluronic acid in the case of the Hydro Boost line, and silicone, for that signature slippery feeling.
Hydro Boost Body Gel Cream ($8.99)
Hydro Boost Body Gel Cream comes with a pump in a scented and a fragrance-free version that both quench thirsty heels and shins equally well (I swear, my legs go “Ahhh!” when I put it on), but I’m all about the scented one, which smells like lemons and freshly folded warm laundry to me. If you’ve worn any of the CLEAN fragrances, you’ll love it, as will anyone who smells you, and I have proof!
The other night after I showered and lotion-ed, I walked downstairs and plopped next to El Hub on the couch to watch the season finale of American Ninja Warrior. As he was falling asleep (at 8 p.m., ha ha ha! He works for a finance company and gets up before the chickens, so it’s a miracle whenever he stays up past 7:30), he sleep-mumbled, “You smell really good.”
This is a moisturizing CHAMP! My skin is dry, dry, dry, and it feels happy, happy, happy when I use it. It should be sufficient for fall and winters here in the Bay Area, and I bet it would even handle more extreme weather. #TeamLizard
❤️❤️❤️❤️ 4 out of 5 hearts.
Ingredients, original scent:
Water, Glycerin, Isopropyl Palmitate, Petrolatum, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Polyacrylate, Cetearyl Olivate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sorbitan Olivate, Carbomer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium HydroxideIngredients, fragrance-free version:
Water, Glycerin, Isopropyl Palmitate, Petrolatum, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Polyacrylate, Cetearyl Olivate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sorbitan Olivate, Fragrance, Carbomer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Blue 1
Hydro Boost Whipped Body Balm ($5.99)
Body balms are usually the big guns of the moisturizing world, but this one doesn’t work anyway near as well as the Body Gel Cream does for me.
Weird, I know!
It’s sightly thicker and heavier than the Gel Cream, which I thought would mean more moisture, but the Body Balm never completely sinks into my skin… It just sits on top like a layer of frosting. I’m not the biggest fan, but if you like a thick, silicone-y layer (and I know some people do), it’s worth a try.
❤️❤️ 2 out of 5 hearts.
Ingredients:
Water, Glycerin, Isopropyl Palmitate, Petrolatum, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol, Sodium Acrylates Crosspolymer-2, Phenoxyethanol, Cetearyl Olivate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sorbitan Olivate, Carbomer, Fragrance, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Hyaluronate, Blue 1
Hydro Boost Hand Gel Cream ($5)
Trader Joe’s Rose Hand Cream will forever and always set the bar for hand cream nirvana to me (prove me otherwise, yo!), but this is a contender. Like the Body Gel Cream, it absorbs almost immediately to leave my paws moisturized and soft. Not slippery or greasy. And it has the same clean, oh-so-fresh scent as the Body Gel Cream.
❤️❤️❤️ 3 out of 5 hearts.
Ingredients:
Water, Glycerin, Isopropyl Palmitate, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Petrolatum, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Polyacrylate, Cetearyl Olivate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sorbitan Olivate, Fragrance, Carbomer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Blue 1
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Sold, because I’m also #TeamLizard. (Which is weird, since I live in just about the most humid part of the country.) And I conveniently have to go to the drug store today, so I’ll have to check this out.
I get dry skin too no matter how humid it is. Totally feel your pain! I think you’ll like the scented version… I’m wearing it right now!
How’s your day going so far? Any plans for the weekend yet?
We’ve got a thing to go to on Saturday, so I’ll have a rare chance to go all out on my makeup. Sunday will be low-key, thank goodness.
How is Connor doing with pre-school? Are you all getting into a new normal?
Have fun at your event! And if you can rock some glitter. 🙂
So Connor is loving preschool, although she did go through a spell whene she was having separation anxiety during morning drop-off. We are still all adjusting to catching “all the things,” because all of us are now on our third cold in the last six weeks. Seriously been this sick in a long time, but I knew it was going to happen, and if it doesn’t happen now, it would happen later in kindergarten. Better that it happens now, I figure.
It’s amazing how much she’s grown mentally and socially in just the short amount of time she’s been there, though! All her teachers say she’s so outgoing and sweet.
How are your girls doing in school?
That’s so great that she’s loving it! If she’s like my girls, she might go through short periods of the separation anxiety again all the way through school; my 10th grader had a little bout of it a while ago. You know, they just go through stuff and want their safe person sometimes.
I so know about the cycle of sickness. We did that several months ago when the two littles started pre-K. Now the youngest has pinkeye yet again.
Yeah, don’t we all want a safe person sometimes? I know I still do at my age. lol
I hope your littlest recovers from pinkeye soon! (And that nobody else catches it.)
First of all, great work on keeping your bathroom shelves looking clean and organized. Everything in our bathroom gets coated with a layer of TP dust daily. And it’s not like we use super dusty Charmin! Sorry, that was quite a tangent. But I do support your search for moisturizers. I’m not quite #TeamLizard yet since it’s not winter, but it’s imminent!! I like the sound of the gel. 🙂
I mean, there may or may not have been some quick dusting and prepping for the photos, LOL!
OK, I need to know… When your hubs buys Charmin, does he buy, like the smallest pack available?! Because El Hub does and it DRIVES ME NUTS. I’m like, DUDE! It’s no like we’re never NOT going to need toilet paper. Get the industrial size package!
HAHA! No, but here is why. He does all the shopping but uses a list that I prep for him, in store aisle order, with specific instructions as to brand and size. Like “2 Angel Soft TP, 12 = 24 roll packs – 2/$6”. 🙂 Many years ago, before I did this, he came home with store brand ketchup and I was like “I can’t eat that – it has to be Heinz” (I’m not like that with everything, but I am fussy about my condiments). I was so horrified that he went back to the store to get Heinz. From that point on, I put the brands where it was important and he never got an “alternative”. I still, after 20 years, write Coffeemate SUGAR FREE because of the one time he accidentally got Fat Free. I know, I’m a bit of psycho and he’s very patient.
Hi Karen ,
All I can say for today is thank god for Netflix !
Dry skin forever !
I shower in Dove Foam and use Gold Bond Ultimate Radiance Renewal cream . Amazon has it for about $8
It comes in an oil form too .
I’ve heard Gold Bond makes some good stuff, Michele! I’m interested in that oil formula.
Too many chemicals to my taste.
Thank you! I love gel cream formulas and they feel so nice going on when it’s hot and humid in the Texas summers. I will definitely check out the gel cream for body and hands.
You’re welcome, ChynnaBlue. I think you’ll like how this one sinks in so quickly. 🙂
Ooooo! I love gel creams for my face (Eucerin Redness Relief night cream is ❤️) I’ll check out the fragrance free version. I also don’t like heavy moisturizers on my hands because they interfere with aerial.
Oh, that sounds like a lovely cream because my face is super sore and dry right now! Anywho, I’ve always wondered… Do you have to put powder on your hands (like gymnasts) before doing aerial work? Inquiring minds want to know.
Depends on the apparatus! For hard apparatuses (Trapeze for me, aerial hoop for others), I use chalk. For fabric (aerial hammock or silks), I use rosin, which is a sticky substance.
When I moisturizes my hands I avoid my palms so that I can keep callouses if I have them, and I don’t want them too smooth.
I have callouses, too (from weight lifting). And weirdly enough I’m kinda attached to them?! LOL They make me feel like I’ve done the work, ya know?
TY for answering my question! Gotta load up on my fun facts, ya know.
I used to only use Josie Maran Whipped Body Butter user (the Vanilla Bean is delicious!) but ever since I tried Kopari Coconut Body Milk, that has been my go-to in order to keep the lizard-skin at bay.