little white truths

I bought a few Cetaphil products a while ago when the brand was on special because some of our friends were pregnant or had newborns at the time, and Cetaphil is one of the two brands that doctors have recommended for young skin (the other one is Dermaveen).

So we've given out a few Cetaphil baby packs this year and I did hang on to this body cream so I could test it. It's designed for dry skin and that's me, and Cetaphil isn't a badly priced brand so I wanted to see how I went with it.

Unfortunately it's not for me because I have some trouble getting it to rub in and I don't have time for all that, but I don't think it's a bad product and I would be willing to try more from the range down the track. More on that below.

Cetaphil claims/product details:

• With a rapid, long-lasting formula to help relieve itchy, dry, sensitive skin
• The light, creamy texture has a non-greasy finish, providing intense hydration to help restore the skin's natural barrier
• Patented ceramide technology replenishes lipids and increases the skin's ability to retain moisture
• Lanolin, paraben and fragrance free
• Hypo-allergenic
• For eczema-prone skin and baby skin
• RRP $25.99 AUD for 295ml, but do shop around (I bought mine at half-price)

I like that the bottle comes with a pump: I wish all body care products did. It makes things a lot easier.

Do note that this moisturiser is more expensive than the body creams I typically buy, but if you wait for one of Priceline's big sales, then you can get it at half-price. I certainly wouldn't pay full-price for this: body care is something that I prefer to buy cheaply.

Verdict

This product is ok but I've used better body creams (and also cheaper ones) so I wouldn't buy it again. If you're interested in a good, cheap body cream with a pump, I really don't think you can go past Nivea and that's where I would start.

It's a white cream that's reasonably thin in texture and it doesn't have a scent. The first thing I noticed about this product is that it's super hydrating and rather greasy, so I would steer clear of this unless you have dry skin because it might be too much for you.

My biggest issue with this product is that it takes some work to rub in. I'm always left with white streaks everywhere when I use this, and I have to work at the product for a while in order to get it to absorb.

Once I've finally massaged it in, I'm left with a slightly sticky, nourishing film on my skin - so if you don't like products that leave a residue, this mightn't be for you. I don't mind that too much with my body products, though - perhaps in part because I have my shower in the evening and apply this afterwards - so it's not as though I'm walking around all day and feeling this on my skin.

On the claims: yes this does relieve dry skin and yes it's reasonably long-lasting; yes it has a light and creamy texture, but I don't agree that it has a non-greasy finish: there's definitely some grease in there; yes it helps my skin retain moisture and yes I agree that it's good for sensitive skin and obviously doesn't contain nasties.

Overall I think this product is decent and it does work so it's great for my dry skin, but I don't like how hard it is to get it to absorb and I could also do without the heavy, tacky residue. Plus it's more expensive than what I would normally pay for a body cream so that's worth mentioning too.

Yes it works, but it's not perfect.