Re-visiting a classic: the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream

If memory hasn’t betrayed me, I believe Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant was the very first skincare I had access to when I got to London more than a decade ago.

An ex-boyfriend’s mother, the lovely Sarah, told me it was a fabulous all-round product that would soothe my awfully chapped lips. She gave me her tube and guess what? She was right.

Fast forward to 2015 and I am re-trying the very same classic product, created in 1930, with a jazzier packaging (actually, just the lid, I love the red and writing on it!).

You may think I am funny, but I love the signature smell in this product, which is quite oily (if that makes any sense) – it alone makes me think of soothed, comforted, happy skin.

The balm has an apricot colour and is quite thick, melting in contact with the warmth of the skin and absorbs very well too. It contains beta-hydroxy petrolatum and vitamin E.

For me, it is at its best on my lips, but this wonder has anti-inflammatory benefits, helping with minor abrasion, weather burns and scrapes, on top of dryness. My lips feel instantly soothed and soft and I since I started using it, I find the frequency in re-application has decreased, so it is caring for them too!

In all honesty, at the moment, just this and the Nivea Lip Butter actually work for my lips.

I (stupidly) burnt my hand on the sauna bucket (yeah, genius here). It was a very superficial, minor burn and the Eight Hour Cream was the saviour; applied quickly it took the burn away and the next morning I had nothing.

My aerial hoop battered hands also love this, it is fab on cuticles. Also, I find use for it as makeup: it is great to give skin a glow – cheekbones or even eyelids, for that super dewy, almost plastic look; apply lightly to the brows to tame and shape – there is not end to its uses!

So, thirteen years on, I still love it.

You can get the Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant for £26 (50ml) from their site and also from their counter and many retailers country and worldwide.

The Eight Hour collection has grown a lot since 1930 and also has handy tinted and colourless lip sticks and a balm, night and day face moisturisers, intensive lip and hand treatment creams, sun protection. And if the smell I love is not your cup of tea, they also have a fragrance-free version of the product.