Beauty ponders

A couple of weeks ago during the sale period, Rituals was also having a sale and part of it were their hand washes. I normally use cheap handwashes and don't pay much attention to them, but lately they have been working really drying on my hands and when I heard a few good things about these hand washes -  I didn't hesitate and bought two of them. Today I'm going to talk about the first one, which I've been using for the last couple of weeks.

The packaging is really sleek, simple and yet elegant. It's seethrough and has a little flower on it, the wash itself is green leaving the whole package with a calming feeling - almost like "one with nature". "Imagine" contains "Rice milk & cherry blossom", I do notice a sweet scent when I use it but nothing overwhelming - only pleasant. I use one pump to wash both my hands and this is already a point of negative: the pump. When using it, make sure your hand covers it totally, don't just put it underneath the pump because the wash "flies" out of it. When I first used it I ended up with liquid wash at the other side of the bathroom! It cleanses my hands easily and doesn't leave them too dry afterwards.

To sum it up: a decent nice handwash with a lovely scent. If other washes work too drying on you, give this one a shot. It's a bit more expensive at 5-9euros -depending on sale- but it does contain 300ml.

Hand creams and me go well together... I buy plenty of them and I use plenty of them! I always have one in my bag and one beside my bed. During the day I love using a hand cream that sinks in fast and doesn't leave my hands greasy. But before I go to bed I enjoy using a richer hand cream so my hands can bathe in moisture while I'm of to dreamland. I bought this cream from Rituals for the last purpose, as it states being an "extra rich repairing cream".

• This luxurious, rich hand balm is specially created to soothe and repair rough, dry hands
• Enriched with Ginseng (the symbol for immortality) and Ginkgo Biloba which is known to strengthen the blood vessels

The cream comes in a tube of 75ml with a pricetag of 10euros - which is a good midrange pricing. For hand creams I prefer tubes or good sealed pumps as they are easy for application and hygienic. The light green colour is refreshing. Ingredientwise this cream is based on glycerin as so many but it also contains shea butter and silicones too smooth out fine lines. As far as negatives go: it does contain perfume -if you're very sensitive- and parabens.


The scent of this hand balm is divine: refreshing and herballike as far as my describing skills go, it's very relaxing. The scent consist of ginseng and ginkgo, which is obviously of no help to any of you. Who on earth knows how these things smell? Just snif it next time you pop into a Rituals store, it's a really lovely scent that a lot of people will like.

As you can see underneath the cream is really thick and this becomes even more noticeable when spreading it. It's a very thick cream that at first doesn't seem to spread easily but once it has been warmed up a bit the spreading goes smooth. It's very moisturizing and leaves your skin feeling soft. I mainly used this before going to bed as it can be a bit too greasy or oily when applied. The perfume in it didn't irritate my skin whatsoever.

The goods: nice scent, thick cream, very moisturizing, tube-packaging

The bads: can be too greasy/oily, contains perfume

To sum it up, I totally love this hand cream and will definitely repurchase it - my tube is almost empty at the moment of writing - I need a new one! This is one of the thickest creamiest creams I've tried so far and my hands really enjoy the boost it gives my skin. I would recommend this to anyone who regularly suffers from dry hands. If you have more oily skin, this one probably won't be your best buddy.

The bads: heavy scent, only slightly moisturizing, price

Overall, I won't repurchase this product because the cons outweigh the pros. If you have more normal to oily skin/hands you might like this product better, but I wouldn't recommend it for dry hands. There are better alternatives, at a fraction of this price available.

Hands... are almost as important as my face when it comes to the caring part about it. People often neglect their hands in the process but remember, they have to endure quite a bit during a regular day. I like to keep mine healthy with the occasional scrub and daily hand creams... Apart from caring for your hands those creams also have a noticable impact on your nails as they moisturize your cuticles when used. All the more reasons to use hand creams. I have a lot of them and since I'm starting my Project Pan I decided to empty a few creams but not before I've written a review on them...

I'm starting with an Avon hand cream as they have a wide range at a very good price. When in promotion these creams cost about 2-3euros for 125ml, bargain and totally budget price! The cream comes in a tube packaging, which looks simple and nice. I like the purple to it.

Quickly absorbed, non-sticky hand cream with cucumber and lemon extracts help moisturise and tone skin, leaving it soft and supple and looking brighter. 125ml.


The cream itself is white and quite runny, it's more a lotion than it actually is a cream. It spreads easily but it doesn't sink in fast, it takes a few minutes (or more). That's why I only use this cream at night and don't carry it around with me - I always have a hand cream with me just to use when I'm waiting somewhere or having a drink -. Because this is a lotion, it isn't very moisturizing. I have dry hands and when I put this on they feel a bit moisturized but not as intense as I would like. Lastly, the scent, which is my favourite part of this cream. It smells so good, most present is the cucumber and it gives it such a fresh touch.

The goods: great scent, budget price

The bads: doesn't sink in fast, not moisturizing enough, alcohol denatol is at the lower part of ingredients list

Overall this is an ok hand cream, especially considering the price and is worth trying. Sadly enough it doesn't suit my hands skin type, they need a cream that provides more moisture. I wouldn't buy it again because of this and because it contains alcohol denatol. If this doesn't bother you, go ahead and try it.