Is this you?: Not massively oily, but prone to being shiny. Skin feels fine later in the day but just after washing, feels tight and desperate for moisture. Prone to breakouts and blocked pores.

What is a Soft Cream?

If this is you, then let me welcome you to the world of Soft Creams. There are many brands that do them in one form or another, but they all share the principle of deeply hydrating and moisturising ingredients formulated in a much lighter base, in-between a cream and a gel.

Soft creams hydrate, balance the moisture barrier, maintain/restore healthy skin function all whilst giving just the right amount of moisture and without leaving residue on normal/combination skin. If you’re prone to dryness, they won’t be enough and on the flip-side, if you’re oily they’ll be far too much so stick to your gels.

The Aveda Botanical Kinetics Intense Hydrating Soft Creme is an excellent example of this kind of product. It goes on rich, sinks into the skin without a trace and gives all day moisture; there’s very little more you could want from a moisturiser!

Ingredients

The base is water, heptyl undecylenate and Propanediol, two plant-based and lightweight emollients. The active ingredients are Salicornia herbacea which helps the skin to absorb and retain moisture; Cupuaçu butter to help seal everything in (without being remotely comedogenic/congesting); finally Chlorella and salicornia herbacea also help the skin retain moisture whilst helping to condition.

Fragrance blend

The fragrance is natural and apropitiatory blend of essential oils (but not in great whopping amounts) that Aveda uses throughout many of its products. If you’re familiar with Shampure; it’s that, which includes lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot, rosemary, peppermint, and orange. It’s really quite gorgeous and makes putting it on very therapeutic!

Aveda Botanical Kinetics Intense Hydrating Soft Creme is available here from John Lewis for £35 + £3.50 delivery.