In cold weather, it’s good to go big on balms …
The whole idea of a balm is to comfort and soothe skin that’s being blasted by winter winds and dried out by central heating – or skin that just has a tendency to be on the dry and flaky side. Multipurpose and all-round useful, the best balms make an invaluable addition to your everyday make-up bag, as well as your travel bag – they seal a great deal.
Here are five great options – they’re all deeply hydrating, and gently scented (though you can choose the unscented version of Eight Hour Cream if you dislike its distinctive medicinal scent). They all have numerous uses, from soothing dry lips to helping heal rough or scaly skin, with comforting ingredients from soothing oat extract to glycerin.
1. Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream is always on our list – it’s the 1920s cult favourite that works for everything, from dry lips to elbows. From €17.95 at www.magees.ie and at pharmacies nationwide. We like the tinted lip balms, too.
2. Aveeno’s Calm+Restore Oat Rich Balm is a good-value, lightly restorative light and non-sticky balm with ceramides and Aveeno’s naturally effective triple oat complex, helping to restore the skin’s barrier and reduce any tightness or flakiness in the skin, and deliver long-lasting hydration. €16 at McCabes Pharmacy and pharmacies nationwide.
3. We love a natural balm, and the quiet gem Pommade Divine has long been one of our top choices. Made in the UK, it features a delicious blend of essential oils that just happen to be rather wintery, such as cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, and it’s 97 per cent natural, with no added silicones or fragrance. It has a medicinal feel and contains natural anti-inflammatory and antiseptic ingredients so it’s good for irritated skin, burns and damaged skin, and people swear by it for bruises, too. It can be tricky to track down, but I spotted it here for €35.95.
4. Easier to get hold of is Trilogy Everything Balm (€20.45 at www.hollandandbarrett.ie); a luxurious natural blend of fruit, flower and seed oils, from sweet almond and jojoba to rosehip.
5. Lanolips 101 Ointment is a bit of a classic – a rich and nourishing option based on pure grade Australian lanolin (a deeply moisturising oil found in sheep’s wool), glycerin, castor seed oil and apricot kernel oil; it’s free from petroleum, mineral oil and sulphates. You can now get flavoured versions too, from vanilla to peach, which sound really delicious. Their Golden Dry Skin Miracle Salve (€14) has an added dash of Manuka honey (antibacterial, healing). Take it on flights – in fact, take it everywhere. €14.
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