We’re back with another round of trustworthy reviews in today’s Take Three column. This week we’re discussing The Body Lotion by Nécessaire. Over the past several weeks (and some for much longer than that), our editors have been treating their bodies like their faces and soaking their skin with the Instagram-famous, peptide packed, multivitamin body cream. Read on as we report our thoughts on the bottle with the sleek branding and see if it’s worthy of the hype and your regular post-shower lineup.
Twenty-something, New York Contributing Editor, Meghann Stephenson
“I’m the type of person who never put much thought into the skin anywhere other than my face. Which could be due to how much time I spend thinking about what goes on my face and actually putting things on my face. That is, until I got engaged. Now it’s a whole new game. Now every inch of my frustratingly sensitive skin had to be considered. But after trying all natural lotion after balm after oil, I didn’t love anything enough to use regularly. Until Nécessaire came along.
When the glossy Nécessaire bottles first started popping up all over my Instagram feed, I was intrigued. Everything about the company spoke to me. The branding. The perfectly knolled product shots. The tasteful nudes. The price point. Hello clean ingredients, you had me at “multivitamin for my skin”. Excuse me? What? It’s FRAGRANCE FREE? Do you even know how hard it is to find a body lotion that’s fragrance free and really works? Let alone one that doesn’t look like it was branded using Microsoft paint? Truthfully, I was bitter I didn’t think of it first, but now I’m just grateful this product exists.
This is truly the dream body lotion. The ingredients are clean and thoughtful and the product itself is a joy to use. It glides on and rubs in effortlessly, without leaving any sticky or greasy residue. The best part is that it feels like it makes a difference in my skin. It’s not the type of moisturizer that leaves you still feeling dry after you wash it off. My skin looks and feels like it’s improving with regular use. I love this product so much that I decanted as much as TSA would allow and brought it on my two-week trip to Europe for which I only packed one carry-on…10/10 would recommend to everyone.”
Thirty-something, Editor-In-Chief, James Kicinski-McCoy
“I grew up watching my mother moisturize her body after every shower. She would tell me how important is was, as she slathered her tanned skin in Lubriderm. She schooled me well on making this a daily habit, but I didn’t adopt the holy practice regularly up until the past four or five years. To me, it was a daunting task to apply thick, cold lotion right after a hot shower, and I would usually skip it all together unless I was going barelegged in a dress or pair of shorts — oh my poor, neglected, 20-year-old skin. Now, deep into my thirties (I’ll be 40 in August), I’m a believer and rarely skip a day, unless I’m in a rush, but I usually moisturize in the morning and sometimes again at night.
I have tried many body creams over the years, some pricy, some cheap, and being a half-assed and unenthused applier most of my life, I thought that all body lotion was created equally. Turns out it’s not. They absolutely differ from formula to formula. Some are thin and watery and don’t provide much, if any hydration, while others feel like a thick layer of grease that just sits on top of the skin while you’re standing there, naked and uncomfortable, waiting for it to sink in. Which brings me to the new kid in town and a good middle ground when it comes to price — The Body Lotion by Nécessaire. Warning: I am about to rave about this product. I truly, madly, deeply love it! It’s the only body lotion that I have ever used repeatedly, bottle after bottle. I actually look forward to lotion-ing up every day. Who am I? Truth be told, I have always favored a body oil over a lotion because I could just throw it on quickly while in the shower and be done with it. It was fast, easy to apply, and satisfactorily met my lazy moisturizing needs. But, now I am a changed woman. My skin craves this lotion! It absorbs quickly, spreads easily, and keeps me baby soft and hydrated. I get a warm and fuzzy feeling and give it a little smile when I walk past it in my bedroom. I’m completely obsessed and a little concerned!”
Twenty-something, Senior Managing Editor, Tiana Lewis
“I want to preface this by stating that my experience with Nécessaire’s Body Lotion is minimal, only recently having gotten my hands on it. Long before my first encounter, however, I could spot that simple, beautiful, serif branding splashed just about everywhere. And much like other brands that came before it — which grew exponentially by way of Instagram — I was convinced I needed to incorporate it into my routine long before I knew what it actually did, how much it actually cost, or if it even worked at all.
When asking my coworkers their opinions on Nécessaire, my first question out of the gate was, ‘What does it smell like?’ To which they all responded that it doesn’t have a smell. This truly baffled me. If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I love fragrance. I know it’s not always the healthy alternative, but there’s few compliments that I cherish more than someone commenting that I smell nice. And, what I thought would be the game over factor for this particular body lotion, actually turned out to be its most pleasant surprise. Although there’s no fragrance — and truly, there’s no fragrance whatsoever, so if you’re banking on a light scent like I was, you won’t find one — I still find that I can layer my favorite perfumes (like Escentric Molecules, Molecule 04) on top and it has the same effect as if I layered it with a scented lotion, if not more pleasant because of the effect the product has on my skin.
I really do find this product to be nice, and not just because some cool Instagram chick told me to. It absorbs quickly, and doesn’t leave the skin slippery or oily, just nice. When I use it, my skin has this ideal balance of moisture that’s tough to replicate or find elsewhere. And, to be completely honest, I think the price is fair. I know it’s a bit more expensive than something you’ll find on the shelves at the drugstore, but I’m big on branding, so to have a well-designed product that looks pretty in my bathroom and keeps my skin feeling soft, $25 is absolutely worth it for me. And, it could totally be placebo effect, but knowing that my skin is getting all sorts of vitamins and antioxidants makes me feel like I’m doing something responsible for my body. So, with a twist on the famous words by Mr. Randy Jackson, it’s going to be a ‘hell yes!’ from me, dawg.”
