Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion

My love of cocoa butter started when I was a kid. My mother used to always keep a jar of the stuff under the bathroom sink and I loved how the butter not only felt amazing on my skin but also smelled and looked like something magical (remember, I was a kid). I clearly recall how the butter's rich ivory colour had an iridescent tinge to it that helped to create that magic feeling.

Last week, when I opened my sample package of Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion, I was really hoping to see, and smell, a product that would take me back to the cocoa butter of my childhood. It wasn't a crazy idea since my mother's cocoa butter was some kind of reasonably priced drugstore product and that's exactly what Palmer's lotion is.

Unfortunately, while Palmer's is a good product, it's definitely not my mother's cocoa butter. The scent is too light, the texture too thin and watery and there's no iridescent shine to this lotion. In short, it's a very un-magical product.

But while it doesn't feel rich, luxurious or in any way special, it does do a decent job at moisturizing. Palmer’s claims that this product, which, in addition to “pure cocoa butter”, also contains vitamin E, “…heals and softens rough, dry skin, smoothes marks and tones skin.” While some of that language is a bit strong (“heals”) and some I can’t comment on (“smoothes marks”), overall, it does basically describe the results of using this product. It even passed my “nail test,” which means that I could lightly drag a fingernail over my recently moisturized skin and not see a trail of dead skin, something the much pricier Biotherm Lait Corporel Body Milk couldn’t do.

It also absorbed quite quickly and did leave my skin feeling moisturized, albeit by a cheap lotion.

Would I buy this product: No. When it comes to cocoa butter, I still prefer the rich-feeling Body Shop Cocoa Body Butter.

Should you buy it: I've been told that there are people out there who hate the feeling of lotions/creams/butters but, because they have dry skin, do need to use those products. If you're one of these strange people, then this lotion is for you.