The Body Products That Do More Than Just Moisturize

This hyaluronic acid body treatment from Nécessaire is everything you’d expect from a cult brand that’s all about using ingredients that truly perform. With a gel-like texture that glides on beautifully and absorbs quickly, use it as you would a hyaluronic-acid serum for your face. Apply on its own if you have oily to combination skin, under a moisturizer to really smooth away flakes and dryness, or mixed into your favorite hydrator pre-application. However you use it, the results are always consistent: softer, smoother, more luminous limbs without any leftover stickiness.

Offering much more than a skin-softening soak, Susanne Kaufmann’s alkaline salts are a mix of sea salt, natron – a natural sodium bicarbonate blend that gently cleanses – and licorice root to ease any redness or irritation. But it’s the whey (a milk protein) in the formula that really transforms the texture of your skin. It offers the same benefits as a milk bath, so is incredibly soothing and balances the skin’s natural pH, resulting in a healthier skin barrier – which is just as important for your body as it is for your face. For a more intense post-workout detox, you can dissolve a handful of these salts into a footbath, too (it’s believed that a lot of toxins are released through our feet). Alternatively, use them as an all-over, in-shower scrub to reap the benefits when you’re short on time.

Vitamin C’s ability to improve nearly every skin concern is widely recognized, so we really should be using this multitasker all over our body and not just on our face. With this body cream, Natura Bissé pairs vitamin C with vitamin E to deliver even more free-radical-fighting benefits, together with allantoin (a skin soother that helps take the edge off any irritation after a day in the sun), making this lotion an ideal pre- or post-beach hydrator. It also has a wonderfully creamy consistency, thanks to a blend of anti-aging rosa mosqueta oil, which not only hydrates but delivers a subtle sheen for a hit of instant luminosity.

U Beauty’s bestselling hydrator for the face now comes packaged for the body. Use it once a day, especially on very dry areas, concentrating on elbows, knees and shins, where skin tends to be the driest. Packed with varying weights of hyaluronic acid, multitasking antioxidants that protect, hydrate and smooth, collagen-building peptides, brightening niacinamide and even a special oat extract to help de-puff overworked limbs, this moisturizer gives you the same bouncy, plumped-up complexion you get from the original, but from the neck down.

Not just a pre-tanning prep product, this body scrub from Amanda Harrington is a brilliant addition to your weekly routine – and, although new, it’s already gained cult status. It offers the best of both worlds when it comes to skin-sloughing, featuring physical and chemical exfoliators in one tube. Fruit acids and glycolic acid speed up skin cell turnover and boost collagen production in the deeper layers of the skin, while biodegradable castor beads gently buff away dead skin cells, debris and pollutants for a more polished skin surface. Any irritation from the double hit of exfoliating ingredients is buffered by the soothing, calming and hydrating benefits of aloe vera.

Keeping skin taut can be a difficult undertaking, but this QMS firming lotion offers fantastic results. It’s loaded with a type of bovine collagen that is the most similar in structure to human collagen and so absorbs easily. You’ll see truly firmer, smoother, tighter skin with regular application. What’s more, the nourishing mix of murumuru butter, marula oil and shea butter acts as a super-plumper, so really work it into skin for best results. You’ll soon see the driest areas of your body improve – think knees, elbows, shins and even your chest.

If you’re in warm weather, on a long-haul flight or feel a bit puffy, the PORTER team swears by this cooling, lemon-scented lotion from Legology. Besides adding an extra layer of hydrating goodness, the caffeine-infused, botanical-based formula relieves achy muscles, tones and tightens skin, deflates puffy ankles, and streamlines your entire silhouette when you’re dealing with water retention. It has a lovely weightless texture that’s great for your whole body, too, so you can use it from top to toe – not just on your legs. Plus, it sinks in effortlessly so you can dress straight after application.