Beauty: Salve yourself

An all-purpose balm or skin salve is a great product to have at hand to rub on any dry bits. Photo / Getty Images

Wintry weather, combined with drying heating, equals taut and sometimes chapped skin. Beat the climate and air conditioning by insulating with a layer of hydration. An all-purpose balm or skin salve is a great product to have at hand to rub on any dry bits.

For travel, having something that can serve on lips, cuticles, hands, dry elbows, knees, and even feet is a useful way of reducing toilet bag clutter, though at home, I prefer to have a separate hand cream and lip balm. Given how often one reapplies these, I can't see the sense of spending up large. Heavier balms work on the hands overnight, but something lighter is better for day. I'm using Vaseline Intensive Rescue Soothing Hand Cream from the supermarket and trying Innoxa's new range, both of which, like Neutrogena, won't break the budget, so you can have one on the bedside table, one in the office and one with sunscreen in the car.

For lips, there's plenty of good inexpensive balms out there, some housed in decorative little tins that make cute, little gifts (check out World Beauty stores and Glamorpuss, Newmarket and Albany, for starters) or just stock up at the chemist.

Most balms can feel a bit heavy on facial skin if you're not used to them, but try Elizabeth Arden's long-venerated Eight Hour Cream and Trilogy's Everything Balm. At night, you can coat your skin with a layer to really pump up the moisture, but generally balms are not ideal under makeup, though if you're braving the outdoors a balm and then sunblock will give great weatherproofing. Try balm on a long-haul flight to prevent dryness.

Darphin has more in the way of balms than most skincare companies and says the thick, rich texture suits all skins and is conducive to massage and muscle stimulation, a cornerstone of the firm's beauty regimes.

Balms do need more rubbing in than lotions, but look at the lineage: Cleopatra used perfumed balms made with oils and even animal fat. The Greeks used them to soothe the muscles of athletes and the Romans for massage and skincare after bathing. While they fell out of use in Europe, the Arab world remained fans and balms were reintroduced to the West after the Crusades, becoming the base of early skin unguents in Italy and France. Tiger balm from China was first marketed commercially in the 1920s and its oily formula heats and stimulates. Modern balms often use petroleum jelly as a key ingredient for its water repelling qualities, but the more enticing are naturally based, made from plant oils, butters, beeswax and the like.

As Darphin says of the one-pot wonders: "Using balm requires time out for oneself, taking things a step further than purely passive product application."

1. Huni Anytime Lip Treatment $15

The Huni skincare range is seriously into manuka honey, the healing properties of which are increasingly being recognised, including for medical use in wound management. This feels moist and leaves the lips with a shine. It mixes honey with shea butter and conditioning oils from kiwifruit seed, avocado and macadamia. Honey, like olive extract is becoming a vogue beauty ingredient. Comvita, which markets Huni internationally, was a pioneer in its use. (From selected pharmacies, department and health stores. wwwcomvitahuni.com.)

2. M.A.C Naked Honey Skin Salve $48

A limited release from M.A.C, this skin salve comes in a cute tin and smells not surprisingly of honey. Beeswax is mixed with sunflower oil to provide a heavy balm. The small Naked Honey range includes hand cream and body wash. I rubbed it into a torn calf muscle as well as dry hands. (From M.A.C Chancery and St Lukes and Smith & Caughey.)

3. Innoxa One & All Anti-Age Hand & Nail Rescue SPF15 $8

Not that many hand creams come with sunscreen and I've yet to spot an SPF one that's better value than this. With antioxidants to help tackle the signs of ageing, it's worth keeping in the glovebox to ensure you're hands don't get too much UV exposure as you drive. Other formulations are for normal, dry and very dry hands. Contains petrolatum. (From department and variety stores and pharmacies.)

4. Palmers Olive Butter Formula with Vitamin E $6.99

Another product priced to sell, this concentrated cream uses the goodness of olives, which also feature in Auckland's own reasonably priced and more naturally based Olive and Tebe ranges which we've featured previously. The Palmers takes some rubbing in, but once absorbed it isn't slimy and can be used on elbows and knees. (Stockists as above.)

5. Antipodes Organic Lip Balm $14

With the unmistakeable smell of cocoa powder, keen bakers will fancy this lip leavener. My cupcake-crazy daughter is hooked. Cocoa butter and lime leaf mix to form a nice, light lip conditioner.(From Farmers and selected health and gift stores. wwwantipodesnature.com.)

6. Pacifica Organics Nourishing Hand and Nail Cream $23.60

This skincare range was once only available to Air New Zealand Premium passengers, but joins other Pacifica gift items on sale locally, including lovely botanical body butters. Olive and avocado oil, flax seed and manuka honey are among the ingredients in this lightly fragranced and textured cream. (From Life pharmacies and selected gift outlets. www.pacifica.co.nz.)

7. Dr Hauschka Eye Contour Day Balm $65

The German botanical brand makes balms for targeted application, and this eyecare one contains plant oils, soothing calendula and beeswax. Thankfully only a tiny amount of this balm is needed, meaning it can stretch to lips and other dry spots. (From selected department and health stores and pharmacies.)

8. Trilogy Everything Balm 95ml $36.90 (45ml $20.90)

HANDY WORK

This balm is so emollient you can use it for massage and it's gentle enough for baby, but you won't want to share. It's laden with pure plant extracts including oils from olive, evening primrose, rosehip, marula and wheatgerm to condition and heal. Honey and Vitamin E add to the goodies. Much lighter than many balms, you can build up the coverage as needed. (Selected pharmacies, health and department stores.)

At a certain age, staring at the back of the hands becomes a bit of an obsession. For a few years now, I've noticed the little lines and the darkening age spots. Ageing generally doesn't bother me much, but my hands ...

A quick look at them under a magnifier increases my resolve and Caci nurse Tania McKenzie assures me the VPL treatment won't hurt. Indeed, it doesn't, it's a pingy rather than unpleasant sensation as the laser wand works over my skin. The interesting bit comes later, watching age pigmentation, moles and freckles darken then break up over the next fortnight. I have one pea-sized mark that I stare at repeatedly as it darkens, then explodes into tiny dots before settling as a shadow of itself. It feels slightly scratchy on the surface like a little graze, but other than that I have none of the scaly feeling I'd been warned might result from the treatment working the pigmentation upward.

Tania tells me to ensure I use sunblock on the back of my hands, including when driving, or the pigmentation will quickly return. I'm diligent about this and find it's easy enough to remember to spread the face block further. I've also got an inexpensive SPF in the car in case the sun's rays are particularly strong during the day.

I have a second treatment a month or so later, but don't feel I really need it. Afterward, my benchmark spot is still visible, but it's no longer a magnet for my eyes, being light enough to overlook at a quick glance. A couple of white spots remain, because they're pigment-free zones the laser can't lock onto.

The overall tone of my hands is whiter and smoother, with lines less obvious so I'm well pleased. This regenerative effect on skin is a positive side-effect of laser treatment and while I don't think the second treatment was needed for markings, it helped skin tone and smoothness.

This is a beauty treatment I've been recommending to friends. It won't rid you of all sun damage, some of that is too deep seated and if you're fixed on trying to recapture youth, you'll need to consider the more painful and expensive option of fillers on aging skin, but for something that makes a noticeable difference hand VPL has impressed me. Winter is a good time to have it as you're less exposed to sun.

I'm expecting I may need another treatment after a summer or two, especially if I'm slack with the sunblock, but this seems a pretty good investment in something that had been bothering me for a lot longer.

• VPL hand treatment at the Caci clinic starts from $150 a session, but varies for individuals. We went to Caci Clinic, 79 Kitchener Rd, Milford. Ph 0800 438438 www.caci.co.nz