The winter weather is tough on our hands.
During the cold season, our digits can feel stripped of their natural protective oils and be left looking and feeling dry, chapped and worse for wear.
Whether atop your desk, next to your bed, in the kitchen, by the bathroom sink - or in all the above, it’s good practice to coat the hands in moisturising lotions at every possible opportunity. Our skin on the hands is the most hard-working on the body and needs to be safeguarded.
This can feel laborious, especially if it incorporates thick, unpleasant and medicinal-feeling creams. Applying these products may be an everyday task, but it’s one you can relish as a moment of self-care and a chance to treat your digits to a stress-relieving massage. Through sumptuous scents and intensely moisturising formulas, a luxury hand cream will transform the process and provide the nourishment that your skin has been craving.
There are rich formulations that slather the paws in the likes of shea butter, cocoa butter and vitamin E, forming a protective veil to prevent moisture loss and shield against external aggressors. But for those who want to apply their hand cream and get on with the day, there are more lightweight compositions too that are delicate and quickly absorbing but no less high performing.
While fragrance-free may be suited to those with sensitivities, others will appreciate the tingling of the olfactory with scents designed to soothe or invigorate with heady botanical, zesty or woody notes.
Brands from Chanel to Dior have unveiled hand creams that have become status symbols with pebble-sized, logo-adorned packaging, while skin-first labels like Sarah Chapman and 111SKIN have channelled their anti-ageing expertise to ensure that you prep, prime and protect your hands with every squeeze.
Best luxury hand creams at a glance:
- Best for Logomania: Dior Le Baume Revitalising Balm - £50, Dior
- Best for Celebrity approval: Augustinus Bader The Hand Treatment 44, Sephora
- Best for TLC for the hands and nails: Hermès Les Mains Hermès Hand Cream - £86, Harrods
- Best for street cred: Aesop Essential Body & Hand Care Duo - £48, Aesop
- Best for a little splurge: Byredo Rose of No Man's Land Hand Cream - £34, Liberty
- Best for a dependable classic: Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Moisturizing Hand Treatment 8-Hour - £14.97, Amazon
- Best for anti-ageing: Sarah Chapman Hand Cream - £46, Harvey Nichols
- Best for the downstairs bathroom: Le Labo Hand Lotion - £32, Harrods
- Best for compliments: CHANEL La Crème Main Hand Cream - £57, Harrods
- 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 Swiss innovation: Cellcosmet Revitalising Cellular Hand Cream - £185, Harrods
- Best for transportive effects: Acqua di Parma Colonia Hand Cream - £44, Harrods
Shop the best luxury hands creams below
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Dior Le Baume Revitalising Balm for Hands, lips and body
Best for: Logomania
Pamper your paws with Christian Dior’s Le Baume. The compact cream is housed in a pebble exterior that can slip into your bag with ease – no matter whether you’re following the trend for micro bags or are never without your ludicrously capacious shopper. Logo-adorned, it certainly ticks the style box but it’s functional too with a nourishing treatment that can be applied on the hands, lips and body with a hydrating formula that is 95 per cent of natural origin.
At the heart is Centella asiatica, an ingredient chosen for its restorative and soothing properties, especially when set alongside hyaluronic acid and shea butter as it is here.
Buy now £50.00, Dior
Augustinus Bader The Hand Treatment
Best for: Celebrity approval
Augustinus Bader has taken the skincare world by storm. Celebrities flock to the bright blue packaging, filling their bathroom cabinets with the award-winning The Cream and The Rich Cream. Jennifer Aniston is a fan, and so is Victoria Beckham. This hand cream incorporates the signature ingredient TFC8 which is front and centre across the range.
The proprietary technology, created by the eponymous founder, is lauded for its nourishment and protective function. The Hand Treatment also contains peony extract and vitamin E which are rich in antioxidants and honey for moisture.
Buy now £44.00, Sephora
Hermès Les Mains Hermès Hand Cream
Best for: TLC for the hands and nails
This reparative treatment comes from Hermès. While it is made up of 98 per cent natural ingredients, each was chosen through rigorous testing in the lab to ensure their efficacity. The balm-like texture is multitasking in its approach, nourishing while also correcting dark spots and offering anti-ageing benefits.
The hydrating hero contains a hyaluronic acid complex that is set alongside white mulberry extract, the brand’s signature ingredient to provide moisture that lasts. There is also a cocktail of natural moss, Passiflora oil and a plant-based emollient that nourish both the hands and nails. To ignite the senses, it is scented with sandalwood, arnica, rose water and woody patchouli.
Buy now £86.00, Harrods
Aesop Essential Body & Hand Care Duo
Mix and match with Aesop's lavish Essential Body & Hand Care Duo that incorporates a generously sized bar of soap and the brand’s beloved hand balm.
Ideal for improving any bathroom interior, the Aesop duo is a unisex gift designed to enrich and resurrect. Savour the woody, citrus notes as you massage the balm into your softened skin.
Buy now £48.00, Aesop
Byredo Rose of No Man's Land Hand Cream 30ml
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 £34.00, Liberty
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 £14.97, Amazon
Sarah Chapman Hand Cream
Best for: anti-ageing
This is a limited-edition hand cream from Sarah Chapman that combines the eponymous skincare authority’s expertise to bring radiance, and revitalisation and improve the appearance of ageing and dark spots on your hand-working hands.
The formula is ultra-concentrated to shield the skin from external aggressors – this includes UV rays with SPF15. Vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 are chosen to leave a youthful appearance, working in tandem with vitamin C to improve the look of age spots. For nourishment, Chapman has included shea and mango butters.
Buy now £46.00, Harvey Nichols
Le Labo Hand Lotion
Best for: the downstairs bathroom
Guests will delight to spot the Le Labo hand cream in your loo. You can be sure that, with this pump tactically placed adjacent to the skin, no person will resist coating their hands in the plant-powered formula. The brand is most famous for its fragrances and this product offers an olfactory treat, inspired by the hinoki trees that encircle Buddhist temples in Japan. The formula is enriched with sweet almond and safflower oil.
Buy now £32.00, Harrods
CHANEL La Crème Main Hand Cream
Best for: compliments
When you’re constantly on the move, you can nourish the skin on your hands with the luxury of Chanel. The pebble hand cream is instantly recognisable and hugely popular on social media but while the exterior provides bragging rights, treat thirsty skin to the contents that combine the anti-ageing powerhouse that is botanical alfalfa concentrate and brightening natural liquorice extract.
While supercharged with these ingredients, it doesn’t sacrifice in the sensorial department, leaving your digits thoroughly comforted and feeling silky soft and scented with zesty and botanical notes.
Buy now £57.00, Harrods
Diptyque Fleur de Peau Hand Cream
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 £34.00, Space NK
111SKIN Black Diamond Hand Cream
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 £65.00, 111SKIN
Cellcosmet Revitalising Cellular Hand Cream
Best for: Swiss innovation
An antidote to prudent washing or harsh sanitiser, Cellcosmet, a pioneering label that specialises in cellular technology is on hand – literally. The Swiss brand packs a powerhouse of ingredients like sweet almond oil into its silky lotion to provide intense hydration and safeguard the skin’s moisture barrier. While doing so, it works to minimise the appearance of dark spots and signs of ageing.
Buy now £185.00, Harrods
Acqua di Parma Colonia Hand Cream
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 £44.00, Harrods
