Review: The Body Shop Honey & Beeswax Hand and Foot Butter

I received this for Christmas from my cousin and thought I'd share a review for it with you guys.

What it claims to do:
Pamper your hard-working hands and feet with rich hydration from an intensive moisturizing treatment with skin softening ximenia oil from Africa that will leave skin feeling soft, supple and subtly scented with our traditional Spa Wisdom™ Africa fragrance. Particularly effective on hardworking hands and feet or any very dry areas such as elbows and knees.

First off, the smell. I wouldn't say that this really smells like honey or beeswax to me... it doesn't smell bad and it doesn't smell particularly awesome, it just smells like a light scent. I'd imagine this would be good for those of you who are sensitive to scents.

The butter does have a bit of a greasy feeling when you first apply it, but I think that comes with the "body butter" territory. Every body or hand butter I've ever used has had that sort of greasy feeling, presumably from the shea butter that they put in these products. It actually proves to be beneficial because the lasting power on this stuff is great. It keeps my hands and feet feeling moisturized until I wash my hands and need to reapply. It works so well on my cuticles that I don't need to apply any of my Burt's Bees lemon butter if I have this on.

I've only used it on my feet a few times (because I honestly just don't really lotion up my tootsies) but when I did it immediately moisturized the dry patches on my heels and the balls of my feet. Put this on with some nice warm socks and you'll have deliciously smooth feet for hours!

I have used this before doing my nails which turned out to be a mistake. I usually lotion up my hands before I do my nails (I've never had any problems with it before) but when this was on my nails it affected the way my polish applied. So I'd definitely wait until after your mani's finished to put this one on.

A few complaints I have about this product:

The price point. $22 for a 4.3 ounce jar is a little more than I'm used to spending. But at the same time, this really works wonders for moisturizing my dry hands, so it's hard to say if I'd repurchase this or not.

A less deal-breaking complaint:  the stupid freaking jar! I realize they were probably trying to make this look cool and hip and chic with the hinge on the jar, but really it's just more annoying than cool. It's hard to open and even more difficult to close when you have butter all over your hands. I wish they would've just kept it simple with a squeeze tube or a regular jar with a lid that screws off. I just don't see the point of this and it annoys me so much I'm considering just buying a cheap bottle to transfer this to. If you don't get the plastic rims of the lid perfectly lined up on the bottom of the jar, the butter will dry out. I've had the lid squish little bits of the butter outside of the jar and it turns hard and crusty and nasty. The jar does look pretty darn cute on my nightstand, though...

I would definitely recommend this if you have the money to fork over for it. It keeps my hands soft and smooth and I don't have to keep reapplying it numerous times throughout the day.  The smell is light and doesn't linger on my hands for a long time after applying it. It keeps my cuticles as moisturized as a cuticle butter which sure is handy because it eliminates an extra step in my nail care routine. :) It's especially nice now that it's started to get really cold here in Indy. It protects my hands and cuticles from the harsh winds.

This can be purchased at Body Shop stores or online at www.thebodyshop-usa.com. It retails for $22.