Launch List: The Best Body Products Launching in February

Beautycounter Reflect Effect Overnight Resurfacing Body Peel ($59)

If you haven’t already stepped up your body-care routine, now is the time to start (especially before summertime). The new crop of chemical exfoliants are more elegant than ever on the skin, including this one, which smooths and softens as you sleep. Glycolic, lactic and mandelic acids help stimulate cell turnover to banish rough, bumpy patches, and hibiscus extract, avocado oil and macadamia oil flood the skin with moisture.

In a consumer perception study, 97 percent of participants said their skin felt smoother and softer after one week of use, and 90 percent said it reduced the appearance of bumpy skin. After four weeks, 90 percent said their skin looked more radiant and luminous.

Good Time Exfoliating Body Bar ($14)

This soap-based, three-in-one exfoliating bar cleanses, polishes and hydrates with a creamy, rich foam for super smooth, soft skin. It’s meant to be used once or twice a week, and because it also cleanses, there’s no need to also use soap on those days.

“It’s made with coconut shell powder and pumice that will give you an amazing exfoliation—it’s great for elbows, knees and feet, but also all over,” says Allison Moss, general manager of Good Time. “Be gentle with it though, and just remember to adjust your pressure. It’s also great to use before shaving your legs or underarms. The scent is called High Tide and it smells amazing. It’s oceany, refreshing and invigorating, and it’s my favorite scent in the collection.”

I also love that the brand is vegan, plastic-free and donates 50 percent of its profits to clean water initiatives. For an indie brand (or any brand), this is major!

Lemme Purr ($30)

Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s vitamin and supplement brand Lemme has a new addition. The pineapple-flavored Lemme Purr gummies support vaginal health using a clinically studied dose of SNZ 1969 probiotics, which are proven to support a healthy vaginal microbiome and healthy pH levels. In testing, this probiotic strain also survived the harsh gut environment, allowing it to do what it’s meant to do.

Naturium The Softener Creamy Clay Body Wash ($16)

A French pink kaolin clay–based cleanser that applies like a cream, this body wash not only looks pretty in the shower, but leaves skin feeling squeaky-clean without any actual squeaking (aka stripping). The clay helps draw gunk out of the pores to clarify, and the squalane and glycerin hydrate the skin to leave it feeling baby-soft. Plus, it’s fragrance-free, gluten-free and vegan.

hanni Splash Salve ($34)

If you’re the kind of person who hates to or forgets to apply body lotion when you get out of the shower, try this in-shower moisturizer instead. Dubbed “a deep-conditioning treatment mask for your body,” it’s meant to be applied in the shower or bath on wet skin after you’re doing cleansing and/or shaving, right before you’re going to hop out. Rinse quickly (just enough to let the water bead), and then pat your skin dry with a towel.

Somehow it manages to moisturize like a body lotion applied post-shower would, and I don’t have to get my hands messy. It’s full of moisturizing ingredients like jojoba oil, shea butter and coconut oil, as well as hydrating glycerin. Another plus: The jar is made of 100-percent recyclable aluminum!

UNI Restoring Hand Wash ($31)

We’re big fans of the body wash, and we’d been hoping sustainability-focused UNI would create a hand soap. Well now, the time has come. The gel-to-foam formula not only cleanses the skin of bad germs and grime, but also hydrates and moisturizes the skin with aloe vera and avocado oil. And it even takes the skin-care benefits an extra step by including Australian kakadu plum, which is loaded with antioxidants to help brighten and fight dark spots on the hands over time.

And like the rest of the brand’s products, it comes in a sleek aluminum bottle, for which customers can purchase refills for $28 each (and send back their empties to be recycled).

Everist The Exfoliating Body Wash Concentrate ($24)

We are big fans of Everist’s plant-based concentrates that help rid the world of petrochemicals and unnecessary plastic. Adding to the brand’s lineup (the Shampoo Concentrate won our 2022 Beauty Award) is The Exfoliating Body Wash Concentrate, which is three-times concentrated, so it’s essentially a full bottle of exfoliating body wash condensed into a 3.4-ounce aluminum tube.

The creamy, citrus-scented (made from essential oils, not synthetic fragrance) formula buffs away dead, dull skin using biodegradable bamboo charcoal particles, which are mixed with hydrating glycerin and aloe vera. To use it, mix about 1-inch of the waterless concentrate (it comes out like a paste) with water to create a nice lather. It won’t strip the skin, so skin feels soft afterward, and not dry. You also get the zero-waste tube key with the product, so you can squeeze every last bit out. 

Welly Daily Hydration Body Lotion ($17)

I’m a big fan of the brand’s pimple patches and bandages, so I was excited when I heard Welly was launching a body-care collection this month. Fragrance-free, dye-free and dermatologist-tested, this everyday moisturizer is everything you want in a daily body lotion. It’s lightweight and nongreasy, and good for all skin types, even sensitive, so everyone in the family can use it.

Key ingredients include hyaluronic acid, coconut oil and sunflower seed oil, which team up to keep skin’s moisture barrier healthy year-round. The bottle is recyclable too!

PURA D’OR Awakening Body Wash ($13)

For those who have sensitive skin or commonly experience allergic reactions to body wash, try this one. The blend of tea tree, lavender and chamomile oils with aloe vera is gentle enough for all skin types, but powerful enough to remove grime and hydrate dry skin.

Though it’s free of synthetic fragrance, it has a strong medicinal-herbal fragrance made from organic essential oils, which may take a little getting to used to. It definitely jumpstarts the senses, so for that reason, I’d suggest pairing this with a morning shower rather than an evening one.