Bella II Fiore states that this hand cream is "A luxurious healing formulation created just for the hands." It is made of "a unique blend of vitamins, shea butter and aloe vera" and it is supposed to abosrb into your hands effortlessly.

Well, I will admit that it is unique when I try to apply it. As someone who regularly uses body butter for moisturizing, I find this to be very greasy when you apply it to your hands. It takes a couple of minutes to work it into the skin and even then you might need to rub off any excess with a paper towel.

Since the company states that it is for hands and is hand cream, I will recommend that you only use it for your hands.


NOTE: Paraben-free and no animal testing is done with this product.


The ingredients are:

Aloe barbadensis leaf extract, octyl palmitate, squalane, gylcerin, sorbitol, cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, dimethicone, cyclomethicone, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, ceteareth 20, hyaluronic acid, anthemis nobilis (chamomile) flower extract, calendula officinalis flower extract, arnica montana flower extract, symphytum officinale (comfrey) rhizome/roof extract, echinacea angustifolia extract, tocopheryl acetate, retyinyl palmitate, allantoin, panthenol, stearic acid, xanthan gum, carbomer, pheoxyethanol, ethylhexyglycerin, triethanolamine, fragrance.

The hand cream is in a pump action bottle and it comes out almost in ball shape as you pump it.

I regularly use body butter for moisturizing my body, so I find this to be very VERY greasy and I hate the feeling of it on my hands. I find that it makes them itch shortly after I use it and I have to use a tissue or paper towel to wipe off the excess even if I've only used a little bit because it takes so long to absorb into my body.

I did accidentally get a bit of this near my eye and it really hurt and was stinging for at least 10 minutes afterwards. Please make sure you do not apply this to your face.

One of my favorite smells is almond and another one is coconut. I usually have at least one of those fragrances in my bath gels, shampoo or moisturizer if I can.

I can sort of smell the almond and the coconut in this, if I use my imagination. However, when I think of almond scents, I think of my rich almond butter/shea butter that I use from a discount store where you smell the almond almost as soon as you open the lid. To find the almond scent in this, I have to put my nose down to my hand and try to not be overwhelmed by a scent that reminds me a bit of alcohol or something. It is definitely a chemical scent.

This product did not last as long as other moisturizers I've used. I continually felt like I needed to reapply it even though I knew it was not going into my hands as effectively as other products do.

It does wash off easily and the excess does wipe off easily with a paper towel or tissue.

With the current price of $14.99 for an 8 ounce bottle, that figures out to approximately $1.87 per ounce. That seems high to me when you consider how often this needs to be reapplied.

The hand creme is packaged in a clear 8 ounce bottle with a hand pump. The front of the bottle simply states the product name and fragrance while the back of the bottle lists ingredients, instructions for use, and the website address.

You can lock the hand pump in place if you wish to take this with you while you are traveling, but you will not be able to store it in your carry-on luggage.

This is the section where I like to tell you about the research I've done on bath and beauty products. In this case, I'd like to share a bit of information about moisturizers and the differences between them.

The first type of moisturizer is "lotion" and it is usually in a tube or container where you can pour it out. It has the highest concentration of water of all the types of lotions. It goes into the skin fairly quickly but will need to be reapplied more often because it dissipates more quickly.

The second type of moisturizer are the "cremes" and "souffles". The souffles are usually a whipped version of the cremes which means that they are lighter in consistency and texture. These are also water-based moisturizers but they have less water in them as far as ingredient ratio goes than the lotions up above. Usually these will not pour out of a bottle but will often be found in jars where you have to dip your hand in. This product I'm reviewing is a creme and falls in this category but it uses a pump to dispense the moisturizer.

The third and thickest type of moisturizer are the "body butter" products which are made from the oils of trees and seeds. These are very VERY thick and only take a tiny bit to moisturize an area at one time. The moisturizing affects from these last the longest. You will frequently see Shea Butter as an ingredient in these products. To date, I have only seen them in jars where you have to dip your finger in to get some out.

****It is important to note that I regularly use body butters the most for moisturizing. This might be part of the reason why I find this hand lotion to be greasy and have to be reapplied often.*****

I want to explain my personal rating system to you here because you may be surprised to see that sometimes I love the smell and the product works well - but it only gets three stars. It has to do more than smell good - it has to be a good value.

First of all, if a product smells good (no chemical smell or bad after smell) and does what it should - I will automatically give it three stars.

If the product is priced reasonably well to the point that I'd give it as a gift at that price or be willing to ask for it from my husband as a gift - then I will give it four stars. If I wouldn't normally ask for it unless it was on sale or would buy it on sale but not at normal price - I'll give it four stars.

But for a product to be five stars - it better smell good, perform well AND be priced at something my budget can allow without me wanting to grimace every time I use it because of the cost.

I love bath and shower (and body) products and they are one of my major weaknesses. However, I have learned over the years of experimenting that expensive doesn't always equal better quality. Mind you - I'm not someone who is overly worried about parabens so I don't judge quality by whether something is paraben free - I judge it by how it makes me feel.

With the vast array of products that are on the market, there is a wide selection for me to choose from and still be happy without spending an arm and a leg.

So I try to do my reviews from the perspective of someone who is budget-mindful and may have kids and a house payment and is saving points for those one or two things she dreams about but can't quite afford.

I hope this helps you understand how I do my bath and body product reviews.

While I do not care for the scent or the moisturizing qualities of this product, I am including a link at the bottom of this review to the body creme that matches it. If you choose to try this product, you may want to use the matching body creme scent also.