We may dedicate untold spools of time and money on skincare for our faces, but when it comes to our extremities, most of us are caught red-handed of overlooking our hands – yet they need just as much TLC.
Our hands are the body part we use most; they’re in constant play from hitting snooze on your morning alarm to brushing your teeth before bedtime.
The delicate skin on the back of your hands is where you usually find the first signs of ageing, turning veiny, wrinkly and papery as the years go on. They really go through the wringer, especially in between seasons when the weather is particularly unsettled.
Frequent daily washing, while essential in the name of hygiene, also strips natural oils from hands leaving them feeling cracked and dry.
What you need is to put the hydration back into your paws in the form of a nourishing hand cream which not only feels great but really packs in the moisture to make the skin oh-so soft again.
Best hand creams at a glance
- Best for everyone, everywhere, anytime: Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream Fast Absorbing 75ml - £2.83, Boots
- Best for deep hand and nail conditioning: Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream 100ml - £24.50, Amazon
- Best for helping heroes: Nursem Ultra-Caring Hand Cream - £9.99, Nursem
- Best for speedy sinking in, zero residue: L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream 150ml - £23, Amazon
- Best for giving tired mitts a helping hand: Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm 75ml - £27, Cult Beauty
- Best for indulgent luxury: Laura Mercier Ambre Vanille Hand Cream - £27, John Lewis
- Best for a little splurge: Byredo Rose of No Man’s Land Hand Cream 30ml - £35, Liberty
- Best for repairing weary mitts: O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Jar 96g - £9, Boots
- Best for dependable classic: Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Moisturizing Hand Treatment 8-Hour - £13.97, Amazon
- Best for reviving extra dry hands: Eucerin Urea Repair Plus 5 per cent Hand Cream 75ml - £9, Boots
- Best for smooth healthy skin: Aveeno Daily Moisturising Hand Cream 75ml - £4.72, Amazon
- Best for moisturising cloak: Antipodes Joyful Hand and Body Cream - £20.95, Amazon
- Best for sensationally nourishing: Lanolips Rose Hand Cream Intense - £8.99, Cult Beauty
- Best for transportive effects: Acqua di Parma Colonia Hand Cream - £63, Sephora
- Best for igniting the senses: Diptyque Fleur de Peau Hand Cream - £34, Space NK
- Best for science-led hand care: 111SKIN Black Diamond Hand Cream - £65, 111SKIN
- Best for treating your BFF: Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Hand Cream 50ml - £13, Neal's Yard Remedies
From pocket-sized fragrance-free heroes to lightly scented Insta-worthy beauties, give dry hands a helping hand with the best hand creams and lotions to buy now.
See our favourites below
Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream Fast Absorbing 75ml
Best for: everyone, everywhere, anytime
Norwegian Formula is specifically designed to soothe hands, knuckles and fingers in conditions that make the British weather feel positively tropical.
A rich yet light cream, this sinks in instantly locking moisture with no greasy residue afterwards. Just goes to show you don’t need to travel to the ends of the Earth to find a hand moisturiser that just works.
Buy now£2.83, Boots
Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream 100ml
Best for: deep hand and nail conditioning
Prized by beauty editors everywhere, Clarins has nailed hand care in this formula. It’s rich but spreads easily, pulling its £20+ price tag weight – a little of this goes a long, long way.
The formula feels dense when first squeezed out of the tube, but a quick rub between the hands breaks it down into an almost watery like solution. Packed with active ingredients like Shea butter and sesame oil, it offers fast relief to dry hands while the Condurango Bark extract ensures there’s no greasy residue left behind.
If you need this in a hurry it’s available for Same Day Delivery for Amazon Prime members.
Nursem Ultra-Caring Hand Cream
Nursem
Best for: helping heroes
Never before have we appreciated the NHS’s wonderful nurses and midwives who kept working through the pandemic quite so much. Now, it’s time to put our hands in our pockets and support them by buying Nursem hand cream, which gives back through The Nursem Promise.
Buy now£9.99, Nursem
L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream 150ml
Best for: speedy sinking in, zero residue
Formulated more than 15 years ago, this is one of L’Occitane en Provence’s most popular products – and it has a clutch of awards to prove it. The non-oily formula is made up of 20 per cent Shea butter, alongside ultra-hydrating almond, honey and coconut oils.
No one wants to spend ages rubbing lotion into their hands – looking like an evil mastermind in the process – so one of our favourite things about L’Occitane’s hand cream is how quickly it sinks in.
Gone in way less than 60 seconds, all that’s left behind is supple, healthy skin gently fragranced with notes of jasmine and ylang-ylang. This is quite a large size ideal for keeping on your bathroom shelf or on your desk at work but if you’re looking for something to care for your hands on the go, check out the 30ml travel size.
Buy now£23, Amazon
Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm 75ml
Best for: giving tired mitts a helping hand
Frequent hand washing and anti-bac gel use can all take their toll on your hands. Give them the protection they deserve with Aesop’s aptly named Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm.
It contains a blend of natural oils to keep your hands looking tip top without feeling slippery and greasy. Simply squeeze a pea-sized amount into palms and gently massage across your hands to keep them looking as good as new.
Buy now£27, Cult Beauty
Laura Mercier Ambre Vanille Hand Cream
Laura Mercier
Best for: indulgent luxury
If you fancy giving your paws a real treat, try this luxurious cream from Laura Mercier. The soufflé-like texture counts Shea butter and Macadamia Oil as part of its ingredients, ensuring your skin stays well-watered and comfortable long after application.
Just be prepared for a few funny looks on account of your newfound obsession with smelling your hands.
Buy now£27, John Lewis
Byredo Rose of No Man's Land Hand Cream 30ml
Byredo
Best for: a little splurge
Inspired by the nurses of WWI, this luxurious scent is a bouquet of fruity notes, from Turkish Rise to raspberry and white amber in the drydown. As well as the fragrance, there's the formula to enjoy. The lightweight balm envelopes skin, leaving hands and knuckles feeling healed and well-cared for.
Buy now£35, Liberty
O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Jar 96g
Best for: repairing worn-out mitts
Fragrance-free and with an almost medical-like concentrated formula, you’ll be in good hands with this ointment from O’Keeffe’s. It’s designed for the hardest worked hands making it particularly helpful for anyone who works outdoors, exposed to the elements all day.
Buy now£9, Boots
Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Moisturizing Hand Treatment 8-Hour
Best for: dependable classic
Made almost 90 years ago, Elizabeth Arden’s 8 hour cream is cherished by fans far and wide. Initially formulated as a balm the young Miss Arden would use on her horses, it’s now a staple for thousands. It’s a deep moisturising treatment, so best to use before bed to allow everything to really sink in.
Buy now£13.97, Amazon
Eucerin Urea Repair Plus 5 per cent Hand Cream 75ml
Best for: reviving extra dry hands
Let dry hands luxuriate in the moisturising milk of Eucerin’s hand cream, which offers up to 48 hours relief from chapped skin. Packed with Urea, Ceramide and other Natural Moisturising Factors (NMFs), it’s clinically proven to offer superb hydration, even after repeated hand-washing.
Buy now£9, Boots
Aveeno Daily Moisturising Hand Cream 75ml
Best for: smooth healthy skin
Acting as a hydrating, protective barrier, the formula in this 75ml will keep your hands moisture levels stable for up to 24 hours. It’s made with hand-milled oats and absorbs quickly, leaving behind nothing but smooth and supple skin.
Buy now£4.72, Amazon
Antipodes Joyful Hand and Body Cream
Best for: moisturising cloak
A creamy formula, this doesn’t sink in quite as quickly as some of the others on our list but we’ve included it because it cloaks skin in moisture for hours after application. If you wash your hands often or have dry, chapped skin, this could work wonders for you.
There are three hand and body creams in Antipodes range, and this one is made with avocado oil, wild blackcurrant berry and Hibiscus flowers.
It comes in one size – a pleasingly generous 120ml – and can double up as a body cream too. Use sparingly on hands for long-lasting moisture or apply a generous layer onto excessively dry areas to see healing results fast. Vegetarian society approved.
Buy now£20.95, Amazon
Lanolips Rose Hand Cream Intense
Best for: sensationally nourishing
With chic packaging and a lanolin-rich solution, this tube of rose scented hand cream is a must-have to stash in your makeup kit. The texture is light, yet it penetrates skin deeply, leaving hands and fingers feeling fully nourished.
If you’d like a different scent, try Lemon or the Coconutter Intense.
Buy now£8.99, Cult Beauty
Acqua di Parma Colonia Hand Cream
Acqua di Parma
Best for: transportive effects
With each pump of this zesty Colonia hand cream from Italian fragrance house Acqua Di Parma, you will be plunged into a Sicilian citrus grove thanks to the floral aroma. It was first created in 1916 and has stood the test of time as a fresh and contemporary scent – and in this product, it is combined with skin-loving ingredients shea butter and apricot kernel oil for a cream that feels as good as it smells.
Buy now£63, Sephora
Diptyque Fleur de Peau Hand Cream
Diptyque
Best for: igniting the senses
The aromas of luxury French fragrance house Diptyque may already fill your home but the brand is coming for your skincare too with its beautifully scented range of body products. Infused with the notes of the original Fleur de Peau fragrance, it is made of floral components with musk, woody, earthy iris and ambrette seed.
This will send your senses into overdrive, while the creamy texture has a moisture boost with the soothing combination of hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, macadamia oil and nourishing vitamin E.
Buy now£34, Space NK
111SKIN Black Diamond Hand Cream
111SKIN
Best for: science-led hand care
Call in for reinforcements for the overexposed skin on your hands with 111SKIN. This hand cream is part of the Harley Street-based label’s Black Diamond collection, a range devoted to anti-ageing with diamond peptides included in the formulation.
This high-performance product uses this component for potency and sets it alongside a vegan elastin peptide, where the two work in tandem to encourage elasticity. Flower extract offers a hit of hydration, while vitamin C is rich in antioxidants to shield against external aggressors.
Buy now£65, 111SKIN
Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Hand Cream 50ml
Neal’s Yard
Best for: treating your BFF
A heavenly-scented hand cream makes a wonderful gift, but coming from Neal’s Yard makes it even more special. This creamy formula offers extra nourishment thanks to the addition of wild rosehip oil, geranium and patchouli essential oils - all organic, natch. The delicate bouquet left on your paws will make them feel extra cared for.
Buy now£13, Neal’s Yard