The Best Soft Skin Essentials Will Make Your Valentine’s Day—and Night—One to Remember
Furthering the cuddle agenda.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered daily
Marie Claire Daily
Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.
Sent weekly on Saturday
Marie Claire Self Checkout
Exclusive access to expert shopping and styling advice from Nikki Ogunnaike, Marie Claire's editor-in-chief.
Once a week
Maire Claire Face Forward
Insider tips and recommendations for skin, hair, makeup, nails and more from Hannah Baxter, Marie Claire's beauty director.
Once a week
Livingetc
Your shortcut to the now and the next in contemporary home decoration, from designing a fashion-forward kitchen to decoding color schemes, and the latest interiors trends.
Delivered Daily
Homes & Gardens
The ultimate interior design resource from the world's leading experts - discover inspiring decorating ideas, color scheming know-how, garden inspiration and shopping expertise.
There’s nothing like being told you have soft skin. Without putting my marital business out there, it’s one of my husband's favorite features about me. Still, the compliment hits just as hard when it comes from a stranger that you’re meeting for the first time. When someone enjoys the way your hands feel after a greeting or a casual brush of the arm so much that they have to say something about it? The best.
There’s an inherent sensuality to the body care space, whether it's just for yourself or you and someone special. Not only does a great body care routine invite you to slow down and really enjoy the act of taking care of yourself from head to toe, but if any fun Valentine’s Day (or night) plans are in your future, your partner will absolutely reap the benefits of all the love that you have poured into your body care routine. Soft, supple skin is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
I say all of this as someone who, admittedly, didn't have a body care routine for a very long time—it’s like my skin stopped existing below my neck. In reality, what I didn’t have were products that actually met my standards. Think nourishing but not heavy. Moisturizing but not sticky—the list goes on. If you’re anything like me and are on a mission to not only have the softest skin of your life for Valentine’s Day and beyond, I’ve gone ahead and shared some of the products that make me feel ridiculously soft and add a little something extra for time with my husband. If your perfect Valentine’s Day includes engaging all of your senses, keep reading for the ultimate list that will leave you feeling delicious AF.
The Tools
Soft skin doesn’t just show up; you have to work for it. Below are the tools that I use to keep my body smooth and touchably soft.
I’m a big fan of dry brushing before you get in the shower. Not only does it provide some pre-exfoliating, but it’s also just a wonderful ritual to get you into the headspace of spending some time pampering yourself and nothing (or anyone) else.
Soft feet matter just as much as the rest of the skin on your body. To ensure that my heels stay in tip-top shape, I use a pumice stone about once per week and really go to town. The process is kind of gross, but the results are always super satisfying.
The Skincare
I’ve become a devout student at the school of skin flooding. So much so that I’ve created my own little technique to ensure that my skin gets all the hydration that it needs: Triple toning. I do it twice a day, and it’s perfect for making sure that your skin stays hydrated and therefore feels super soft all day.
Ectoin, allatonin, glycerin, and aloe vera are only a few of the key ingredients in Eadem’s Mami Wata facial mist. It’s perfect for injecting a ton of hydration into the skin, and these key ingredients are particularly well-suited for people with sensitive, dehydrated skin.
Speaking of nourishing, hydrating ingredients, Dr. Althea’s 345 Relief Cream Mist has hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid for deep hydration, madecassoside to soothe irritated skin, and even my tried and true favorite, glycerin. The K-Beauty brand has slowly but surely become one of my favorites, and this mist will continue to be repurchased for the foreseeable future.
The last part of my routine includes a healthy spritz of the Milk Shake Hyaluronic Acid & Squalene Facial Toner Mist from Beekman 1802. As the name suggests, super hydrators hyaluronic acid and squalane are two of the star ingredients in this formula, but it also boasts jojoba oil, which acts as an occlusive that creates a physical barrier on the skin to trap hydration and moisture in the skin. The result? Soft, bouncy, healthy-looking skin.
The Exfoliators
While there are pre-shower tools that you can use to start the exfoliating process, there's nothing like a good body scrub in the shower. I've been switching between a newer formula and a chemical exfoliant that I've long been a fan of for the softest skin of my dreams.
Cyklar has to be one of my favorite body product brands, hands down. When I'm not using one of their body washes (seriously, I have a bottle in my shower at all times), I am swapping them out for this lactic acid body polish. I highly recommend starting gently with this product, especially if you have sensitive skin, as it has a combination of AHA exfoliants and small pumice crystals for simultaneous physical exfoliation. In other words, prepare for the softest skin of your life.
Not only do I love the way that this vanilla body scrub smells (it's fantastic for starting to build your fragrance layering routine), but the actual scrub feels phenomenal on the skin. The formula uses raw sugar crystals, which are a bit larger and therefore offer a more gentle exfoliating experience. The entire process of using this scrub makes me feel like I'm loving on my body in every sense of the word, and what better way to get the romantic vibes going?
The Moisturizers
The key to soft, supple skin is a consistent body moisturizing routine. The products below are the holy grail items that help me do just that.
A few weeks ago, I started incorporating the Prequel Barrier Therapy Skin Protectant Cream into my skincare routine, and it’s become one of my favorite products to fight this seemingly never-ending winter in New York City. There’s little to no scent, and every time I apply it, it feels like I’m putting a blanket of moisture onto my skin. Plus, that moisture lasts all night and well into the morning until I shower again.
It continues to amaze me how quickly I go through these Josie Maran body butters, especially as someone who has easily hundreds of body care products. It's a testament to how phenomenal this formula is—it's sinks in quickly, doesn't leave behind any residue, and most importantly smells incredible. The Golden Hour scent is on constant repeat in my household.
One of my new favorite body categories is perfume milks, formulas that blur the line between a traditional eau de parfum and a hydrating body product. My new favorite body milk scent, Only Human, comes from the brand Noyz, and the formula is infused with hyaluronic acid to further infuse hydration into my body care routine, while also building the base to my fragrance layering lineup.
Why Trust Marie Claire
For more than 30 years, Marie Claire has been an internationally recognized destination for news, fashion and beauty trends, investigative packages, and more. When it comes to the products Marie Claire recommends, we take your faith in us seriously. Every product that we feature comes personally recommended by a Marie Claire writer or editor, or by an expert we’ve spoken to firsthand.
