Soothing Hand Salve: Review of Hollybeth's Natural Luxury Lemon Lime Shea Butter

Natural or not, there's one thing I have started looking for in beauty products, and that's simplicity. There's nothing more aggravating than finding what you think is going to be a great product, only to turn it over and find a list of ingredients a mile long. Not only are that many ingredients usually unnecessary, they also increase the odds of an allergic reaction, breakouts, or irritation. So in my quest to simplify my life, I've begun looking for less-involved products with minimal ingredients and additives.

I was recently lucky enough to meet the lovely Hollybeth from Hollybeth's Natural Luxury. She's a delightful person, and is very committed to her vision of creating effective products that contain only the most effective and necessary ingredients. She takes great pains to ensure that her ingredients are from ethical, organic sources (Hollybeth's is a USDA Certified Organic company) and that superfluous additives do not get into her products. I've already told you about her amazing Rose Geranium Face Moisturizer, a gorgeously scented (with organic essential oils) face balm that's perfect for my dry winter face. That product is a little more complex with 10 ingredients, including 5 moisturizing oils, beeswax, lecithin, Vitamin E, and a couple of essential oils. Again, no unnecessary additives.

The Lemon Lime Shea Butter is a great example of this. Shea butter is known for offering superior moisturizing and healing properties to the skin. Extracted from the nuts of the West African Karite tree, shea butter is packed with essential fatty acids and antioxidant benefits. Supremely moisturizing, it sinks fairly quickly into the skin and soothes on contact. I've applied Hollybeth's Lemon Lime Shea Butter at night when my hands have been so dry and chapped they were cracking, and I've woken up to soft, smooth, healed skin. I've found shea butter to be much more effective than regular moisturizers for my skin. I use it on my punished hands (destroyed by the 50+ washings in antibacterial soap they get each day while I'm at work), as well as on my heels and elbows. The results are spectacular.

Shea butter is very thick and is hard at room temperature. It's necessary to scrape it out of the jar, and then it melts when warmed by the skin. It's effects last through the occasional handwashing (though not the repeated washings I have to submit my hands to at work). I find that it does leave a bit of a residue for some time after applying, so I prefer to use it as a night treatment. I don't mind this, though, since the results are so good. I've used the Lemon Lime Shea Butter on burns and avoided the nasty red marks that are normally left behind. It also serves as a great cuticle cream. And the scent, derived from natural and organic lemon and lime oils, is fresh, clean, and invigorating.

Best of all, there are only 3 ingredients in this lovely little jar: Organic Shea Butter, Organic Lemon Peel Oil, and Organic Lime Oil.

Bottom Line: This a basic but extremely effective hand and body balm. The citrusy scent is lovely and wears off fairly quickly, so if you do choose to apply it during the day, you'll be able to follow up with a fragrance (I'd choose a citrus or floral over something deeper or more complex). It's a multi-use product that can really make a difference in your skin.

Hollybeth's Natural Luxury Lemon Lime Shea Butter can be purchased online at Hollybeth.net.