An ad for these popped into Jo’s Instagram feed – and she was intrigued. We know that you’re going to be hearing a LOT more about solid formulations over the coming weeks, months and years, because it’s so hugely energy-intensive to transport water formulations around the planet.

And you know what? These are really good, from a company which began on a kitchen table in East Lothian, Scotland (‘the garden of Scotland,’ we’re told – which makes us want to visit when the days get a wee bit longer); they also have a store on Edinburgh’s Cockburn Street, selling products which include these very attractive tins of Hand Cream.

ENSC still make everything at their own dedicated Studio Lab, including cold-process soaps, solid perfumes, shampoo bars, tins of hair conditioner, and solid bodycare bars like this one. (They do also make products with other textures – you can get an idea of these from the photo below – but it was the Hand Cream Bars which caught our fancy.)

Jo bought the bar in two different fragrances, and likes them both. The Queen Bee Solid Hand Cream Bar features zesty essential oils including sweet orange, lemongrass and lime, while her other choice (above) was Luxury No.1, delivering up notes of geranium, sweet orange, lime, frankincense, myrrh and clove – a really ‘spa-like’ scent. (There’s also a Golden Rosewood option).

Ideally you warm the bar in your palms for a few seconds, which starts the melting of the skin-friendly coconut oil and cocoa butter (together with the beeswax which inspired the design on the embossed bar). Rub it over the palms and backs of hands (and it’s also good for feet, Jo’s found). Give yourself a little hand massage and perhaps lift to your nose to enjoy the fragrance. (This is wonderful last thing at night.)

And the tin? We can think of a hundred uses for that – though we think Edinburgh Natural Skincare Company might like to think about offering refill creams, because we’ll definitely be back for more and there’s a limit to the number of tins even we can upcycle…

£8.99 each (or £23 for the pack of all three mixed fragrances) – buy here

Prize Draws