It’s that time of year – no I’m not referring to the holidays that just passed or are approaching, but instead I am talking about the time of year when my hands dry out, my cuticles crack and peel, and it’s just a plain out ugly situation. This is the time of year when I miss having that extra cash for weekly manicures, but maybe I’ve found a way to turn things around (and much cheaper than the cost of that weekly manicure) – by using a shielding lotion called Skin MD Natural. Thanks to the generous people at Skin MD, I was sent a bottle of the Skin MD Natural and a bottle of Skin MD Natural +SPF15.

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Before using it though, I wanted to educate myself, what was Skin MD? What made it different? This is when I learned that difference in the typical lotions we buy and a shielding lotion, such as Skin MD Natural. You see our skin is actually made to protect itself, but thanks to the many chemicals we encounter on a daily basis, it is becoming harder and harder for most of us to maintain the soft moist skin we’d like to have – for me this is my hands. For my mom, it’s her elbows and knees. This is where using a shielding lotion instead of a traditional lotion gives us an advantage. While traditional lotions just try to add moisture to our body, a shielding lotion puts a protective barrier on your skin that prevents the outside chemicals (everything from soaps to cleaning materials to gardening or yucky winter weather) from damaging your skin and encourages your skin to perform it’s natural abilities to maintain the correct amount of moisture in your skin.

Ok. After reading this, I felt like I understood the promises of Skin MD Natural. Now it was time to put it to the test and see if I could truly tell the difference after using it. The first thing I noticed was it was kind of thin so that first time I squirted some out of the bottle, I got way more than I was expecting – not a big deal though. Instead of just rubbing some on my hands, I went ahead and worked my way up my arms to my elbows. I couldn’t really tell the difference after that initial use though. I wasn’t sure. It felt great, but most lotions feel good right after you use them. I made using Skin MD a part of my daily routine. Since I had two bottles, I kept one at home and used it each morning as a hand lotion, and then took the other bottle to work and would put on some more after lunch (which is my normal lotion routine). Within just a few days, I noticed my hands looked so much better. There was very little dryness visible. Within a week, I didn’t see any real signs of dryness at all on my hands so I decided to try it out as a body lotion. I’ve since finished both bottles and have put it on my list of “to keep in stock.” It is definitly a two thumbs up in the skin care department.

There were only a few things I didn’t love about this product. First, as I mentioned it is a little thin so if you aren’t careful, you end up with too much. If this happens, you want to be sure to spread it over more skin as if you go overboard, you end up with a real greasy feeling. However, this just takes a little practice, and by the third or fourth time you go to use it, you’ve figured out just how much to let out of the bottle. Second, was the lack of a scent. I know that most people would probably like this, and it’s actually one of the product features to not be scented with perfume but instead to be a natural skin care product, but I’m a Bath and Body Works junkie, and I love the scents of their soaps and lotions. This is what I use instead of perfume. So when using the Skin MD as a body lotion, I would then have to grab a bottle of my B&BW sprays for my daily dose of scent. And finally, the bottles are so small. They come in two sizes 4 oz bottles and in a gallon jug. The 4 oz bottle was great for my purse or desk, but for using on a daily basis, it seems like I would have to be making regular purchases. And I thought the gallon was too large. What I would probably recommend doing is finding a bottle that was betwen the two – maybe 8 or 16 oz – and then pumping out of the gallon into that one for daily use.

And lucky for you, we have two bottles of Skin MD to give to one lucky winner – 1 bottle of Skin MD Natural (original formula) and 1 bottle of Skin MD Natural + SPF15.

CONTEST

1) 1 entry for telling us what you look for in a lotion

Additional Entries

2) 1 entry for carrying the bloggers give banner

3) 5 entries for blogging about Bloggers Give

3) 1 entry for every blogger you nominate for the Dottie Awards

Reviewer: Kimberly