After the roaring success of Natio’s Mineral Polish in ‘Brandy’ that I reviewed last week (possibly the nicest, poshest polish in the world!) I decided to try out a few of their other products. I have to admit that I had only very fleetingly heard of the brand before, and so, with no real prior knowledge, I set off for the Natio counter in Debenhams. Now I don’t know which Debenhams do and do not have Natio counters, but I can tell you for certain that the one on Oxford Street, London does. Unless I was hallucinating, which is oft the case on a Friday afternoon after the customary glass of wine. (Did I say glass? Ha!)

Natio have quite an extensive range of beauty products; cosmetics, skincare, bodycare, men’s grooming products and a ‘spa’ range. Natio is an Australian pharmacy brand that uses some natural ingredients in the products but isn’t claiming to be 100% natural and organic. They use essential oil blends rather than synthetic fragrances and the products aim to be plant-based and gentle on the skin, but there are chemicals in the formula. Now personally, I don’t mind this all too much – some organic products are quite literally ‘a mashed avocado in a jar’ and smell foul. I can deal with a few modern, sanitising chemicals in my life!

Before I dig myself into some kind of natural vs synthetic hole, let’s get on with the hand cream. The reason that I have picked this particular product out for review is that I feel slightly mean about my last ‘hand’ post. I basically said that everyone should be using an SPF on their hands, yet the cream in question cost a whopping £55! Great if you can afford it (and it’s outstanding!) but if you’d like a more purse-friendly alternative, here it is: Natio’s Hand Cream SPF15. It contains the antioxidant pomegranate, vitamin E to help promote softer skin and sun filters to protect against both UVA and UVB rays.

The texture of the cream is quite light and it absorbs quickly, yet it’s really effective. My hands felt moisturised for hours, and I definitely noticed a difference at the end of the day. This cream smells gorgeous; fruity but with undertones of that smell that I can only describe as ‘handcream smell’. Slightly soapy, slightly ‘Nana’s Cold Cream’. I like it a lot. Price-wise, it’s on a par with l’Occitane’s Shea Butter hand cream, but it does have the added benefit of the SPF.

Natio’s Wellness Hand cream SPF15 is £9 from Debenhams.