BzzAgent Review: Curel Intensive Healing Cream

As you know, I am a member of BzzAgent, a site that gives you samples and points in return for your opinion. I was chosen to participate in the Curel Intensive Healing Cream campaign, so I received 6 or so travel size pots of cream to try for free and share with friends.

I had high-ish expectations of this cream as it comes from such a well known, quality brand Curel (yeah, I have no idea how to get the fancy little ` above the e, sorry!). The timing was perfect as fall was coming and my skin basically decides it wants to be like the Sahara desert; dry, dry, dry! So I was excited for this opportunity to try this cream.

According to my campaign homepage this cream:

Spreads easily, non-greasy and absorbs quickly

Provides immediate healing relief and revitalizes ceramide levels for long-lasting hydration

Clinically-proven to help chapping and chafing caused by dryness

Fragrance-free and hypo-allergenic

9 out of 10 dermatologists recommend using it

Pediatrician tested: suitable for children 6 months and older

Excellent for dry skin associated with diabetes — Curél^® is a proud partner of the American Diabetes Association

(source: BzzAgent.com)

I had mixed feelings about the results of using this cream nightly for a week. The cream does absorb fast and is not greasy, which is impressive for such a thick cream. It is definately fragrance free...it's actually a bit odd as it really smells like nothing. I would have preferred a very light fragrance myself, but I understand the hypoallergenic reasons. It does give an immediate effect of softer skin, however by morning, my hands are just as dry as they always are. I tried to remember to use the lotion again, but I am just not one of those lotion addicts. I forget. I think a "lotion addict" would experience good results with this lotion on their hands.

For an experiment, last night I put some of the cream on my very dry, disgusting elbows. Sorry in advance for the visual, but my elbows feel like a dried out crocodile skin! Yuck! I would have posted a pic, but how do you take a pic of your own elbow? It seems about as feasible as licking it! But anyways, it's around 1pm EST and they are still soft. So it seems on tough, scaly patches, this cream works very well, as I had expected. My hands are just difficult, plus I have a slight addition to alcohol based hand sanitizer, so that makes it even harder for lotions and creams to work.

Overall, it seems to be a good cream for tough scaly skin, but not for general dry hands. This is disappointing to me as my hands are a bigger issue for me, and I was hoping to find a solution. But not having scaly elbows is a plus. ;-)

My recommendation to you depends on what sort of dry skin you have. If you have basic dry hands, then I'd say pass. But if you have scaly, rough patches on your body, give it a shot! Even in one night I saw results, which was what I had expected from Curel.