Is Chanel's new ￡45 hand cream worth the price tag?

As a beauty writer, there is seldom a reason to talk about hand cream. I mean, it’s just a cream. For your hands. Everyone has a favourite, not everyone uses one every day, but it quietly gets on with the job when it’s needed. Confession: I fall into the take-it-or-leave-it camp where hand creams are concerned. But of course, when a certain brand called Chanel launches one in a pebble-shaped pot housed in a beautiful black-and-white box and call it something fancy like La Crème Main, I sit up and pay attention. Trust Chanel to turn something decidedly boring into a handbag must-have.

And it’s not all fancy packaging – this hand cream sinks in beautifully and doesn’t leave a greasy film that you feel you have to wipe away (this is usually my biggest problem with them). For an everyday luxury cream, it really hits the mark.

If you are after something more intensive, and suffer from very dry hands and hard cuticles, let me point you to the new Intensive Hand Treatment by the British brand Ameliorate. It initially developed a body cream for people who get keratosis pilaris (or ‘chicken skin’) on the back of their arms, which is the most effective over-the-counter treatment for it. Like the body cream, this hand cream contains alpha-hydroxy acids that gently smooth the skin on the hands, soften cuticles and deeply moisturise.

Interestingly, it also contains a barley extract; the developers found that people in the brewing industry had incredibly soft hands, from working elbow-deep in barley every day. It’s ￡15, so good value, and gets our Smart Ager stamp of approval.

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Dr Hauschka has also just launched its new Regenerating Hand Cream. A combination of rich olive and avocado oil, with cocoa butter, it’s a good cream for this time of the year. You can pick it up from John Lewis for ￡19. The brand suggests you try the cream as a ‘hand mask’, which is probably very good for parched, cracked skin. Spread a thick layer over your hands and wrap in a warm towel for five minutes. A lovely treat when you’re sitting down, catching up on the week’s television.