Body-Tale 06 : Missha Moist 24 Hand Cream Manuka Honey

Hellow!

How's your Saturday night, peeps? Ours is pleasant although relatively calm. The guys had their monthly hair cut by Mr. Ndaru, i got my bangs trimmed and #Undecided got her hair shortened. Then we (four of us + Baby Boy and the nanny) went for dinner at the new-ish restaurant, The Champion. It was pretty nice, but lots of mosquitos @___@, we'll be blogging all about it later! Anyway, i feel like i haven't been posting enough review this month and i am preparing my last of our Hong Kong trip right now so in the meantime i think it's the perfect time to slip in one review from my hoarded drafts *LOL*... Let's start!

As a body lotion junkie, it might seems weird that i don't really use their little cousin : hand cream, all that much. I don't really suffer from dry hands normally (recently i find out whenever i'm using shower gels/creams that aren't moisturizing enough for me i'd get a strange, uncomfortable feeling on my palms, but as long as i use a good shower gel *or the ones that are suitable for me, since every body has a different skin condition and reacts differently to products* then i won't feel it) and i always slather on body lotion/cream/whatever i'm currently using generously all over my limbs (yeah, i don't really like putting them on any other body parts, maybe that's weird but i just don't feel comfortable doing it. I do live in a tropical country, if it's any explanation) and i know it's not, but i feel like my hands already got their portion from this regimen.

However, i do realize that even if you treat your face with total care and you might look 10 years younger than you really are, your hands would betray you with signs of aging (one of the dead giveaway to a person's age is their mottled, dried hands right...) and i SO do not want that! That's why i made a pact to start treating my hands a little better and invest on some hand lotions. I still fare BADLY (i struggle to finish a tiny, travel sized one within half a year *sigh*) because i keep on forgetting or too lazy to use them, but i am trying!!!

This is the first time ever  i'm reviewing a hand cream (i was also quite confused on which series i should feature it and if i should start a new series for hand creams but that sounds very ambitious, i might have like... two or three reviews on them per year tops! So in the end i decided to feature it in my Body-Tale series since hands are part of your body, right!) and it's not something i purchased, i received it as a bonus from intenscorner.com when i bought some products from them.

Missha Moist 24 Hand Cream Manuka Honey

Please let me talk a bit about the brand first. I first got to know Missha many years ago when i was still studying in Singapore. It opened some stores in Singapore and what i noticed about them at the beginning (back then Korean products were still not very well-known like right now, i'm talking about more than 10 years ago okay...) was how CHEAP everything was! Later around the same year i went to Korea on a trip and saw Missha everywhere, and i learned that back then Missha was like Korean's version of Viva (one of the most affordable but and well-known Indonesian brand), they are everywhere and super cheap. If i'm not mistaken, they also started to arrive in Indonesia around this time frame and they were also very cheap here.

Fast forward to a few years later, suddenly Missha disappeared both in Singapore and Indonesia and reappeared a few years later with different concept. I was starting to like Korean brands (Etude House... You're the culprit) and was shocked when i checked out Missha's prices, they seems to evolved to a higher end kind of brand unlike last time. Their prices also became quite expensive compared to most easily accessible Korean brands (like EH, Tony Moly, The Face Shop, Skin Food, etc). This is my own experience with Missha okay so don't be annoyed if i get the facts wrong or whatever!

Anyway, i was pretty stoked when i saw this Missha hand cream (i got it in a travel size, sadly no indication about how much product it contained. It was about the size of my clenched palm, pretty decent) amongst my ordered stuffs and tried it on immediately (i have finished it by now).

The travel/sample size comes with a small, cute creme tube with simple and elegant flower (manuka!) design

With a twist off top

The texture surprised me a bit, other than this the only hand cream i used to own (the list kinda grew now, i have a few more. Not much, but definitely more than 3) was this Bath and Body Works one that my mum gave to me (i tried a few other hand creams here and there, not mine but my mum's or my sister's) and i was expecting it to have the same texture with any other hand creams i've ever tried (which were rich, very creamy and quite greasy) because this Missha one was a lot lighter, with slightly transparent white color.

Now, i heard about manuka honey all the time but never really paid any attention so i googled for a little bit and found their Wiki . Apparently they are supposed to have an anti-bacterial property so that's good for a hand cream, yeah? I am also a HUGE fan of honey (to consume and in products both)+LOVE their scent (i know not everybody's fond of honey's scent though!) so i was pretty excited to try this out. I was hoping that it'd smell like honey, but... No, it actually smelt very soft and a bit floral (maybe the manuka flower's scent? I dunno since i have no idea how manuka smells like) and not a lot of trace of honey scent. I don't hate the smell, but i am not a big fan either.

This is the description stated in Missha's website : Containing Moist 24, an extract of Imperata Cylindrical Root, this hand cream provides long lasting moisturizing effects for 24 hours.

I have no idea what imperata cylindrical root was and the wiki didn't say anything about long lasting moisturizing effects but for me personally... I don't really find it all that moisturizing at all. Now, don't get me wrong, i read some reviews on this hand cream while writing this and seems like a lot of people like this hand cream and found it very moisturizing, i just do not get the same effect as they do, maybe my skin's weird (like me. It is part of me afterall...).

Maybe it's got to do with the texture and how i am not used to this kind of lighter type (i do like rich, creamy ones that instantly sooth my palms whenever its feeling exceptionally dry BUT i recently am using L'Occitane's that has a similar texture to this with very different, BETTER, effects) that does spread out easily and absorb fast but left a weird sticky (not greasy, sticky!) feeling on my hands, but i am not a fan. I also do not feel that it's moisturizing enough for me, it never really succeeded in completely eliminating the dry feeling on my palms.

I brought this on my make up pouch in hope that i'd remember to use it whenever i'm reaching for something inside it, but i dislike the feeling they gave me so that hope was totally in vain *LOL*. I also brought this hand cream to my trips to Europe, SG and Taiwan. I was especially worried about cold weather in Europe might dry my skin out (it didn't. I notice no difference in my skin condition over there except maybe my facial skin's slightly less oily. Very slight difference though!) and kept on using it in Europe at least. Well, it does help prevent my skin from going dry but for me it's not THAT moisturizing, and it definitely didn't leave a 24 hours effect.

In short, this hand cream is not for me. I would recommend this for people who are looking for a light weight, non greasy hand cream with soft scent.

Not recommending this for those who are looking for a more dramatic result or a very moisturizing one.

Again, this was completely my own experience and in no way i am implying that this is not a good product, it's just doesn't really work on ME. If you're interested in this product, don't let this review stop you since this product actually works on others, you can read a more success story with it here for example. 

And no, i won't purchase this in full size, i will keep on trying other hand creams and look for others that works better for me :).

Toodles!

#Pink