It's Skin: Cookie & Hand Cream Mint Review

So, the It's Skin Cookie & Hand Cream, perhaps my most favourite hand cream to date. Mostly because of its delicious scent. It's just so damn delicious smelling that I want to take a lick of it. But I shall hold back, because from a foolish past experience, where I took a lick of the Skin Food Black Sugar Mask, I realised that no, skincare products will never taste nice - unless you mix up your own facial mask concoction. If only...

I have nothing but praise for this product to be honest. Then again, what is there to say much about hand creams? The ideal hand cream should really just keep our hands moisturised, and this hand cream does exactly that. If you're looking for some special super hand cream that can miraculously rid your skin of wrinkles, protect it from the harmful sun rays, or even whiten it then clearly this product is not for you. This hand cream exists to just keep your hands moisturised on the daily and smelling misleadingly edible.

I bought a pack of 6 tubs back in Janurary 2014 (as pictured above) in one of the It's Skin's Hongdae branches whilst in search of Christmas gifts to send home. These really stood out to me on the shelf because they were packaged so festively and cutely for the Christmas season, and the 'Cookie & Hand Cream' title really piqued my interest. Additionally, it was the sales period for all beauty brands, so everything in store was 20-50% off. Originally priced at 7,900₩ a tub - thus 47,400₩ for 6, I managed to get it for 6,320₩ a tub (20% discount). A decent price for 80ml tub of nice smelling hand cream I guess - you get a lot of product and a little goes a long way. Purchasing it at the original price is probably too expensive for a hand cream like this - unless you are desperate for that ice cream scent!

The look and feel of this product is on point! The plastic packaging is sturdy, and its design is simple and cute like an ice cream tub. It's great that the product has yet to spill out of the tub during my train journeys back and from uni. The product itself is a pale blue minty colour with bits of oreo-like 'cookie crumbles' in it. Initially I was a bit confused about what to do about the black crumbles, but ths SA at the It's Skin store explained to me that it melts into the skin if you continue to massage it because it's made up of starch or something..? Not sure if it helps add to keeping your hands moisturised, but hey it really does melt into the skin! It's really easy to massage in this product since it feels so light and creamy, therefore making it easier to absorb into the skin.

The USP (unique selling point) for this product really has got to be its scent. If you smell it right off the tub it smells fresh, sweet, minty and cool. On the hand it smells more like a milky and creamy mint - like ice cream! After application, you're more likely to get a distinct whiff of the scent if your hands are close to your nose. The scent typically subsides after a few hours, which is a given. Some may argue that it is just then pointless, but it's not like you would want to smell this scent constantly for a few hours. Pretty sure people would prefer the ability to smell their body spray/perfume over a minty hand cream scent. Well, that is if you really want to smell like a mint ice cream, then I suggest hunting for a mint body spray/perfume.
Not sure how the other scents Original and Strawberry smell like, but I'm pretty sure they smell divine too.

It's a moisturing hand cream suitable for daily use. I typically use this in the evenings, and it does a great job at keeping my hands free from getting dry. Provided that you don't slather this stuff on like crazy, it is non-greasy if you apply a decent amount.

Perhaps one downside is that this is not the super moisturising kind that can fix your skin immediately overnight or from just one use. The back of my hands usually get dry, cracked and/or flaky if I spend a long time outdoors around Fall to Spring time - gloves annoy me too much hence why I don't wear them often, it's usually at its worst state when I'm either travelling back from home from uni or vice versa. If I apply this both morning and night it takes typically takes 2 days to fix my dry hand problem - provided that I remember to apply it in the morning. Otherwise, it will take around 3-4 days. Personally I don't mind waiting this long to rid my hands of dryness.

And maybe another downside is that the packaging is not travel-friendly, since it is a tub after all. Though, I do know some Koreans who go around shopping with a tub of The Face Shop Shiffon Cream - proven to be somewhat popular amongst the Korean crowd, which is arguably more travel-friendly with its flatter tub scape, but still a cumbersome and space-wasting packaging choice when you're out and about. Ideal travel-friendly packaging would obviously be a tube. But hey, perhaps this hand cream is not intended to be travel-friendly. I can see this product being more as home 'pampering' product, so you can relax and take in that minty scent. Besides, I already have some Nature Republic's Hand & Nature hand creams serving as my travel-friendly hand creams.

Pros

• Sturdy non-spill packaging
• Smells like mint ice cream
• Moisturising
• Great for daily use
• Non-greasy

Cons

• Inedible
• Not super moisturing to the point that it will save your cracked-skin hands overnight 
• Not travel-friendly 
• A bit expensive

Overall: 4/5 Rating

It's a novel hand cream that does the job: it moisturises and leaves your hand smelling great. Despite the pricey price tag a little can go a long way, and you do get an arguably high quality product.
I would repurchase this only if its on sale. And definitely recommend others to give it a try at least in stores before making your purchase. Additionally, it does make a great souvenier/gift!