ASTRAl Face & Body Intensive Moisturiser Cream, with glycerin and petrolatum, 500ml

Product Information

But that's not all. The clever thing about this wonder cream is that it's even more versatile than how it's marketed. Sure, your grandma might swear by it, but here are eight other uses for your Astral cream that'll take you beyond a simple 'nighttime moisturiser.' The famous or maybe rather infamous mineral oil. The clear oily liquid that is the "cheap by-product" of refining crude oil and the one that gets a lot of heat for its poor provenance. It is a very controversial ingredient with pros and cons and plenty of mythsaround it. So let us see them: Thanks to Astral's blend of hydrating and soothing ingredients, the little blue tub makes for a seriously moisturising face mask.

The rich formulation of Astral Original is a simple water in oil emulsion formula. It acts as a barrier cream, stopping the moisture already held in the skin from evaporating, while simultaneously delivering extra moisture, leaving skin feeling plumped, pliable and less dry When you consider this, it’s no wonder your skin can become tight and uncomfortable on a plane, which is why the 50ml pot of Astral – small enough to take in your hand luggage – can be your in-flight saviour. It’s gentler on the skin than other products, making it suitable for use on more sensitive areas such as the skin on your face. This lighter version of the original Astral Cream contains the key ingredients Aloe Vera and Vitamin E and is formulated to support the changing needs of skin. It even works on the most sensitive skin. The two ingredients were specially chosen to help fight moisture loss while protecting the skin from the signs of ageing. But that’s just facts and figures, what’s it like in the real world?It is a great emollient and moisturizer working mainly by occlusivity.Occlusivity is one of the basic mechanisms of how moisturizers work and it means that mineral oilsits on top of the skin and hinders so-called trans-epidermal water loss, i.e water evaporating out of your skin. When compared to heavy-duty plant oil, extra virgin coconut oil, the two of them were equally efficient and safe as moisturizers in treating xerosis, a skin condition connected to very dry skin.

As it’s super-rich yet still mild, it’s a good plan to keep a little pot of Astral in your handbag especially as, unlike many hand creams, you can also use it on your face. I was sent a tub of both the original and the light and creamy versions to try out. I decided the best idea would be to open them with my Mum. OK, so I’m outside the younger group by a few years now but my Mum still fits into the older one. While it is true that industrial grade mineral oil contains carcinogenic components (so-calledpolycyclic compounds), these are completely removed from cosmetic and food grade mineral oil and there is no scientific data showing that the pure, cosmetic grade version is carcinogenic. Even if you’ve never used it, it’s likely you could recognise a tub of Astral cream from ten paces – that small blue pot has been adorning dressing tables over the world for sixty years, plus for its ability to quench the thirst of extremely dry complexions.

Customer reviews

Astral is a great option for moisturising the entire body because of ingredients such as glycerin and lanolin, Coleman says. You're probably thinking so what other incredible ingredients are in this pot of magic to make it such a hit? Did you know that damp skin is many times more permeable than dry skin, and therefore able to absorb moisturising products better? So you’ve finally mastered applying fake tan perfectly (our advice: use a barrier cream on dry areas like knees and elbows, and blend, blend, blend with a tanning mitt). Now you’ve got that golden glow, you want it to last, don't you? Trust us, if something is used for more than 100 years in cosmeticproducts, it hasadvantages. Chemically speaking, cosmetic grade mineral oil is a complex mixture ofhighly refined saturated hydrocarbons with C15-50 chain length.It is not merely a "by-product" but rather a specifically isolated part of petroleum that is very pure and inert.

Have you ever wondered why your skin feels so dehydrated after a long flight? It’s because air in the pressurised cabin of planes is often less than 20% humidity (by way of comparison, the ideal relative humidity in a British home is around 50 to 55%).Before, during and after the trial, measures of skin hydration and transepidermal water loss (TWEL) were taken. Improvements were recorded within just six hours of the trials starting.