I’ve got my hands full right now. I’m rushing around buying presents and making some homemade ones too.  With all the mixing, dough rolling, dish washing and drying, my hands are really taking a beating. Add in the Purell rubdowns and excessive hand washing to ward away any H1N1 germs, and let’s just say, it’s been a rough couple of weeks (Thanksgiving clean up didn’t help). I expect the next few to be no better, and as I look down at the skin on my hands, I’m noticing a dry and crepe-y look of someone 10 years older than me.  But I’m vowing no more from this day forward: Hand cream is my new best friend.

So here are my go-to skin savers: Clinique’s Deep Comfort Hand and Cuticle Cream is an oil-free, super-rich formula that’s easily absorbed and conditions nails and dry, flaky cuticles too. The clincher is you only need a pea-size amount on each hand to ensure continuous, 12-hour moisturizing.  It also boasts a ton of antioxidants to counteract and protect your skin from the damaging free-radicals that speed up the aging process.

Jurlique’s Hand Cream Trio,  in three luscious scents–citrus, rose and lavendar–is a bedtime favorite. The nourishing  ingredients of honey, calendula and sweet almond oils, deliver enough hydration that one coating leaves my hands looking plump and moisturized by morning. And while these hand helpers are pretty handy for me, I’m thinking they make great gifts too, especially for anyone cooking up a storm this holiday season.

A cool limited edition trio, for $48 ($75 value).