Skincare Saturday: Jack Black Industrial Strength Hand Healer

Jack Black, makers of my HG lip balm (Grapefruit and Ginger is the best!), also have a variety of other skincare products aimed at men. I got a sample of their hand cream with my most recent Sephora order, and though I am not a dude, that hasn't stopped me from using the lip balm and it sure as heck wasn't about to stop me from using the hand cream.

image via Sephora

It absorbs pretty quickly, though I can still feel a bit of a film for awhile after application, so I find it works best before bed rather than when I'm working on the computer. On the upside, it is super moisturizing. While it has a sorta funky smell, that fades quickly, unlike the hand cream itself, which wears like a champ, surviving multiple hand washings and a full night's sleep. If you're looking for heavy hand cream that, like the Energizer Bunny, keeps on going, Jack Black is well worth checking out.
$15 for 3 oz, available from Sephora

Sort of Skincare Saturday: Bliss Fabulips and High Intensity Hand Cream Reviews and Pictures

This Bliss Santa's Little Helpers set came out for this past holiday season; Neiman Marcus still had it in stock online when I ordered my Deborah Lippmann polish, and I figured it was worth getting to check out, since I'd heard good things about the balm, and I'm always happy to try new hand cream! The set was $11 and had 1 oz of the hand cream and a full size Fabulips. The hand cream is $8 for 1 oz ($18 for 2.5 oz), and the Fabulips balm is $16, so I got a big discount, which makes me feel somewhat better about my mixed results with the products.

Skincare Saturday: Aveda Hand Relief

This isn't really a skincare post, but it's a product I use on my hands, and I'm too busy (or lazy?) to write up another that's actually facial skincare, so I'm posting this today anyways. I hope you will forgive me!

While my face is ridiculously oily, my hands tend towards being very dry, so I always have some kind of hand cream within reach.

A friend gave me a tube of Aveda Hand Relief for Christmas, and I keep it in my travel cosmetic pouch that goes with me around town. I really like it; it smells like slightly sweet lemon tea (yummy!), and it's very creamy and moisturizing; it's thicker than Nivea Soft, but not as thick as MOR body butter. It takes a few minutes to fully absorb, which is why I don't keep it by my computer (slick fingers aren't great for typing!), but once it does it leaves my skin feeling soft, hydrated, and happy for hours at a time. It doesn't completely survive hand washing, but I don't find I need to reapply it right after, either. All in all, I like it a lot, and I'm always glad to have it in my bag!
$8 for 1.4 oz, $20 for 4.2 oz, available from Aveda salons

What's your favorite hand cream?

An Introduction to Bloom.com

Bloom.com occasionally has $20 for $40 worth of beauty on LivingSocial/Groupon, and I bought one last month to try out. Bloom is a relatively new beauty etailer that offers some brands that aren't available from Sephora and markets themselves as being a "social network" kind of beauty provider, where you can fill in your preferences and get "matched" to various products. With their extensive skincare collection, this is a handy feature, though it's less so for beauty products. One particularly great thing about the site is their rewards program; you get at least 10% of your purchase back in Bloom points, which can be used on future orders, and they often have codes for more than that (in fact, with code 30BACK, you get 30% back on your first order). Shipping is free over $49, and they have 3 levels of bonus gifts that you can choose with your order; below $50, you get 3 free trial-size samples (like Sephora); between $50 and $100, you get 3 trial-size and 2 deluxe samples, and over $100, you get 5 trial, 4 deluxe, and 1 full size product. Their options for sample products change really frequently (like, daily, rather than the Sephora-usual weekly), so I definitely recommend timing your order so you get products you're actually interested in. If you buy the LivingSocial deal, keep in mind that the $40 does not go towards rewards or purchase amount, though you do still get free shipping. So, I purchased $55 worth of product, paying $35, but only $15 of that counted towards my Bloom account (as in, I now have $1.50 in Bloom Bonus and received 3 trial-size samples).

CARGO Blush in Tonga, Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum

I used my $20 discount to pick up a couple of things I wouldn't normally buy, one skincare, Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum, and one beauty, Tonga CARGO blush. I'll have reviews of both those up in the next week or two, but I figured I could do a quick run-down of the samples I tried.

The adorable little bag the samples came in––such lovely presentation!