The 30 mL bottle by the basin is lasting longer than expected. Anyone who has just begun using a hand serum may have noticed it. One application is one or two pearl-sized drops, and if the routine is a quick pass over the back of the hands, the bottle takes a long time to grow light.
A slow bottle is not a problem in itself. But if the serum is being thought of as something for the back of the hand alone, a good deal is being left unused. A hand has a back and a palm, fingers, and the skin around the nails. And the directions for use also mention the elbows and the knees.
This article maps out how far a hand serum can be used: the different parts of the hand, the parts of the body beyond it, and the parts about which we cannot make a claim. It closes with some thoughts on using up the 30 mL.
Within the hand: the back and the palm
The back of the hand and the palm belong to the same hand but have different skin. The back has little sebum and is thin, so dryness and the changes of age show there first. The palm is protected by a thick outer layer; it dries less readily, but takes friction every time something is gripped.
Soie starts from this difference and pursues a balance of moisture suited to each. The basic method is to take the serum on the back of one hand, bring the backs of the hands together to spread it, then work it in with the whole palm. The emphasis falls on the back, but the palm is not left out. Interlacing the fingers carries the serum to the sides of the fingers, which are easily missed.
Around the nails: press, do not rub
The final step is the skin around the nails. The base of the nail and the skin on either side dry faster than any other part of the hand, and hangnails and small splits appear there first. Gather what remains of the serum on the palm onto the fingertips and press gently around each nail.
This step takes about ten seconds and shapes the impression the hands make, because when someone lifts a glass or hands over a card, the eye rests on the fingertips rather than the broad back of the hand. Ingredients such as dimethyl sulfone and horsetail extract (skin-conditioning ingredients), chosen with the nails and fingertips in mind, are there for this last movement.
Elbows and knees
The directions for use state that, besides the hands, fingers and nails, the serum can be used on the elbows and knees. Like the back of the hand, these have little sebum, meet friction from clothing, and have skin that is pulled each time the joint bends. When dry they turn powdery and can look dull.
The method is the same as for the hands. After a bath, while the skin is soft, take one or two pearl-sized drops and spread them in small circles. Because the texture leaves no stickiness, you can dress straight away without the serum catching on a sleeve or a hem. Once the season of short sleeves and bare knees has passed, the elbows and knees go on drying under clothing through autumn and winter. The habit is easiest to keep if it is done as an extra, while the hands are already being seen to.
The knees deserve a word of their own. They spend the day folded under a desk or pressed against trouser fabric, and in a dry room the skin over them can feel tight by evening without anyone noticing until they are touched. A drop after the bath, a few seconds of spreading, and the tightness is answered before it becomes a habit of its own.
On the face and neck
If it can be used on the hands, some will wonder about the face and the neck. Here we must be plain. Enlight Hand Serum is a serum designed for the hands. The thinness and low sebum of the back of the hand, the thick outer layer of the palm, and the fact that hands are washed so often: these are the conditions around which the combination of ingredients and the texture were decided.
We do not state in this article whether it can or cannot be used on the face or neck. The areas named in the directions are the hands, fingers and nails, and the elbows and knees. Questions about any other part of the body are answered in our hand beauty Q&A. With any new area, or when the skin is sensitive, try a small amount on the inside of the arm first, and stop if you notice redness, itching or irritation.
What it means to finish 30 mL
At one or two pearl-sized drops an application, a 30 mL bottle lasts about a month and a half for someone who uses it several times a day. After washing, before going out, before bed. Used at each of the day's turning points, worked in as far as the nails, and sent now and then to the elbows and knees, the bottle lightens at a natural pace.
The time it takes to finish a bottle is also the time it takes for a habit to settle. Use the first bottle to decide where it lives: by the basin, on the desk, or in the bag. A bottle kept where the hand naturally reaches empties many times faster than one left somewhere forgotten. By the time the second bottle is chosen, there is the added pleasure of trying another fragrance.
A trigger matters as much as a place. Tie the serum to a single cue, washing the hands, and remembering is no longer required. If the hands are washed ten times a day, there are ten occasions to moisturise them, and a bottle used that way is finished before its fragrance has had time to become too familiar to notice.
About Soie's hand serum
Soie's Enlight Hand Serum is a beauty serum made only for the hands, formulated with EGF and KGF (skin-conditioning ingredients) and five ceramides and peptides (moisturising ingredients), with more than 95% of its ingredients of natural origin. It has a light texture that leaves no stickiness and comes in five fragrances composed by the brand's dedicated perfumer. From the back of the hand to the fingertips and nail contours, and on to the elbows and knees, it can be used wherever dryness is a concern.
A bottle that will not empty may be a sign that the routine has stopped at the back of the hand. Tonight, press around the nails and spare a drop for the elbows. Knowing how far a serum can go is knowing how to live with it.
