I LOVE this cream. I love Neal's Yard and everything they stand for. I love that they give you green tea when you go to their shop. I love their lovely blue glass bottles and jars so you can pretend your dressing table is an alchemist's laboratory. I love their range of products, oils, teas and therapies. All you need to look and feel fabulous can be found at Neal's Yard.
So about this particular cream. It's a daily moisturiser. I say 'daily' because I use it every day, morning and night, it's not 'everyday' and therefore not special. It's very special. Here's why.
Chapter 1
In my first post I made mention to a little skin rash I had when I was doing my make up training. It wasn't so much little. It was all over my face, both cheeks, around my hairline, and spreading onto my neck. It itched. It looked horrendous. And it lasted for two solid weeks!
It was the result of extremely stressed skin and what would have probably been, in normal circumstances, a mild reaction to a glue we use to stick on facial hair and wigs. In this case this reaction sent my already stressed-out skin into allergy overdrive. (For those wondering, I look very good in a pair of false side burns)
I had a sample of this cream free from a magazine and it turned out to be my knight in shining blue glass. (Except the tube was plastic!) It soothed, rehydrated and calmed my skin where nothing else felt good.
But once the tube ran out and the rash had packed its bags I forgot about this cream and went on to pick and choose my way through other various moisturisers... Until now.
Chapter 2
I was working on a film which took about 6 months to shoot. That's 6 months of getting up at 5am, getting home about 8 or 9pm for SIX days a week. Its was tough. I looked terrible. Towards the end of the shoot, as winter really took hold, I started getting little dry patches on my face... mmm lovely. I was using this rather pricey moisturiser thinking it was all natural and doing me good. Except these patches of dryness kept getting drier. I had a question mark over the moisturiser I was using. It contains dimethicone and I have suspicions on this particular ingredient. (More on this another time) Now it's a month after I finished the film. I don't look quite so tired because I've been working very hard at sleeping... but these pesky dry patches remained. So I switched moisturiser and after an emergency trip to my most local stockist Lo! and Behold! Frankincense Hydrating Cream to the rescue, they have gone. Love it.
The cream is quite thick, though Neals Yard do another, even thicker one called Frankincense Nourishing Cream which is very heavy and probably better for a more mature skin. But although it is thick it applies very well and doesn't hang around too long either, sinking in nicely. Also it doesn't leave me oil slicked in the morning like a rich cream can when used at night.
There are some top skin care players in this cream. Frankincense is very well known for its rejuvenating properties and helps promote healthy skin cell growth. Wow. It also contains Myrrh (this is shaping up to be a promotional tool for the Three Wise Men) which helps to balance hydration, remove toxins from the skin and encourages skin repair. Bonus. And there is Borage oil in there too, rich in gamma-linolenic acid and with strong anti-imflammatory action for soothing and clearing eczema and other dry skin conditions. Cashback.
So there it is. My favourite moisturiser to date. I dare say I may stray away and try out some others. But this one is reliably good and a little investment in the anti-ageing bank too.
Neal's Yard Frankincense Hydrating Cream RRP £23.50 50g
Love this post! Very detailed, and this sounds like a great product. I've ordered some off eBay, so fingers crossed it works for my sensitive skin!
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