Watson’s H. Bella protect and nourish hand cream in ‘Strawberry and Cinnamon’: A Review

This was an impulse purchase. I have had no prior experience with any lotion products offered exclusively at Watson’s, but I was in the mood to try out a new scent, so into the basket this went.

Looks like it's made of aluminum (like the paint tube ones) but it's really plastic. 

 The term ‘strawberry’, to me, is unanimous to a sweet almost candy-like scent. In the early years of the new millennium (GAD! I’m showing my age here!), fruity scents were all the rage, especially the berry ones. That forever cemented in my olfactory memory that berry scents are ‘sweetish’ in nature.

Cinnamon on the other hand is something I associate with sweet, delicious, decadent, and calorie-laden bread rolls (Cinabonn anyone?). But in its raw form, this spice has an earthy, sweet, and dusty scent. This is typically combined with apples or bananas, so the strawberry pairing was a bit of a surprise.

Apparently, Watson’s is onto something here. This lotion has a luscious scent. When I first applied it, I immediately caught a whiff of strawberries. But it isn’t the sickly sweet scent of candied strawberries. Rather, what I got was the scent of freshly picked, fully ripened, juicy strawberries. It is sweet, yes, but it has enough tanginess to balance out the sweetness. I barely get the cinnamon scent, but I seem to notice it in the tail-end of the scent. A certain earthiness as the scent fades, rounding out the smell before it fully dissipates. I could still smell this on my hands after 2 hours before it finally fades. Every time I use this I’m reminded of the summer months when strawberries are in season and I eat a HUGE bowl of these generously topped with heavy whipped cream. 

You can click on this picture to see a bigger one, then zoom in on the ingredients. The product claims to  have Vitamin C (through the strawberry), antioxidant (through the cinnamon), and Sodium Hyaluronate. But if you look at the listing, it comes after the preservatives, so I suggest not counting on getting much of these stuff.

Although I purchased this more for the scent, this is a very good hand cream. My body skin is dry, my hands most of all. Applying this alleviates any dryness and tightness that I feel. The texture is lightweight and non-sticky, and is absorbed in a few minutes. I don’t feel like I coated my hands in something greasy, which is good because I work with computers (greasy hands + keyboard = not good). However, if you are searching for a heavy duty hand cream, this isn’t it. You may have to look elsewhere.

I've peeled off the sticker price, but I think this is around P120.00. You get 80 mL for this. It comes in an aluminum-like tube made of squeezable plastic. There is another variant, 'Blueberry and Black Tea' I believe. Sounds intriguing also, and I hope it's as good as this one. If anyone out there has tried this version, kindly let me know your thoughts on it. J