My review on Instagram of Nécessaire’s The Hand Cream, The Hand Retinol & The Body Retinol:

Moving to New England one year, and turning 50 the next, required some serious adjustments to my skincare. Enter Nécessaire! I feel like they’ve almost saved me.

My gateway drug was “The Hand Cream” with Marula butter and Marula oil plus ceramides, peptides, and niacinamide. Or in layman’s terms – the white tube has the good stuff that makes your hands and cuticles all soft while reversing loss of volume. When I used up my first tube and went to repurchase it, I discovered they sold it in “The Hand Duo” which also includes “The Hand Retinol” – buying both together knocks $5 off the price. (And this stuff is not cheap!) The black tube also has the same ceramides, peptides, niacinamide, and Marula butter/oil as its counterpart, and also throws in .25% retinol, AHA, vitamins and glycerin for good measure. It’s more of a hand serum than cream and is designed to “prevent crepiness, lines, wrinkles, spots and marks”. I just know that after repeated use at night I’m much less likely to look down and shriek “I’m olllllllld!” like Jamie Lee Curtis in “Freaky Friday”.

During the Sephora spring sale I also grabbed a bottle of “The Body Retinol” for my arms, legs and feet. It has a similar formula to “The Hand Retinol” but drops the retinol content to .1%. It’s $55 to replace it so I’m not quite as generous using it at the moment, especially with fall and winter up next at bat. But my skin looks and feels fabulous when I do.

Nécessaire notes that their retinol formulas (black packaging) do have a slight smell due to their ingredients so they add Rosewater to help balance the scent. I will say that every time I apply it, my husband asks, “What’s that?” (And not in a good way.) But thankfully the scent quickly dissipates which makes it worth it to me. “The Hand Cream” (white tube) is unscented. [link: Instagram]