Weleda's Skin Food product with flowers behind it

Weleda Skin Food review: How to actually use it!

Last Updated: September 20, 2021

Weleda Skin Food is a spectacular addition to a healing, hydrating skincare routine that’ll give you a glow that rivals all glows. We know, because we tried it. Grove beauty writer Mackenzie Sanford took Weleda Skin Food for a test drive, and she’s here to tell you all about it.

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Weleda Skin Food is one of those cult beauty products I tend to go a little nutty over. It’s got a heavenly texture I’m absolutely gaga for, and the smell makes my eyes roll into the back of my head — that’s how yummy it is.

Skin Food is all-natural and cruelty-free, and it provides serious glow and hydration that rivals literally every $60 serum I’ve tried. I could wax poetic about this stuff for days, and I’m not the only one who feels that way — this little green bottle has quite the following, from neo-hippies at the local co-op to celebrities like Rihanna, Adele, and Victoria Beckham.

If it’s good enough for the stars, it’s good enough for me.

What is Weleda?

Image of Weleda Skin Food by grass and flowers

Weleda is a German beauty brand that was founded in 1921 by a Dutch doctor, an Austrian philosopher, and a German chemist with the intention of creating synergistic products that reconnect the body to its natural rhythm for “skincare as nature intended it.”

Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream, Weleda’s brand’s best-selling product and the subject of this article, launched in 1926 and still uses the same natural formula as it did when it first hit the market all those many moons ago.

Weleda Skin Food: Texture and scent

Skin Food has a silky-smooth texture that’s thicker and creamier than a regular lotion. If you’re worried that Skin Food feels like Vaseline or is super oily, allow me to soothe your fears. It isn’t greasy, and it absorbs well, leaving behind a healthy, dewy glow that lasts for hours.

As for the smell, it’s citrusy and cool, floral but not powdery, with a soft hint of vanilla and a subtle sweetness that reminds me of beeswax candles. It smells fresh, clean — and wholly divine.

Weleda Skin Food ingredients

All of Weleda’s beauty products are made with nontoxic, paraben-free, and ethically sourced ingredients, including minerals, essential oils, and flower, fruit, and root extracts.

Skin Food contains gentle viola tricolor extract that forms a moisturizing layer on top of your skin, plus soothing calendula and chamomile extracts — all in a thick base of sweet almond oil and beeswax. The result is an incredibly nourishing cream that hydrates and protects your skin.

Image of green Weleda Skin food bottle with sunflower and white daisy behind it

Shop Weleda Skin Food

Skin food is a universal moisturizer great for your face, elbows, hands, and feet. With extracts of gentle viola tricolor, calendula, and chamomile in a rich, thick base of oils and beeswax, Skin Food hydrates skin to give you a healthy-looking glow.

Find out for yourself why this Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream has been one of Weleda’s best-selling products since 1926.

Shop Now

Grove Tip

Is lanolin bad for you?

No! Skin Food contains lanolin, an ingredient sourced from sheep’s wool. It has a consistency similar to that of human sebum and is excellent at locking in moisture to prevent water loss from the skin.

But it’s technically not vegan and also the cause of wool allergies, so if you got itchy in that nice wool sweater your Nana knit you, you might experience irritation from Skin Food.

2 ways I tried Weleda Skin Food

Weleda Skin Food is a serious multitasker. I keep one on my vanity and one in my purse so that I never have to go without, plus it’s great for traveling because you can pack one product for face, lips, and hands.

1. Skin Food as a moisturizer

Skin Food is the be-all, end-all of moisturizers. It was formulated to nourish and hydrate dry skin and, boy, does it deliver.

It’s super easy to use — just squeeze a pea-sized amount onto your fingers (a little goes a long way!), then rub it into your face and neck for phenomenal hydration that lasts all day. Weleda also makes a lighter version of Skin Food for folks who find the original cream too heavy.

3 tips for spreading Weleda Skin Food on your skin

Experiencing technical difficulties? I’ve got you! The most common gripe I hear about Skin Food is that it’s so thick, it’s hard to spread.

I have three solutions for this:

Rub it

Before you apply Skin Food to your face, rub it between your fingers to warm up the waxes and oils and make it easier to spread.

Roll it

After you apply it to your face, use a jade roller to massage the cream deeper into your skin.

Jade rolling is also great for promoting blood circulation and de-puffing after you wake up in the morning. Wanna see jade rolling in action? I tried that too!

Spike it

Add a drop or two of your favorite serum to the Skin Food while it’s still on your fingers.

The serum not only helps with spreadability, but adds extra moisture if your skin is suffering from a gnarly hangover or winter dryness.

Watch celebrity makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes talk about how she gets fresh, dewy skin using Weleda Skin Food in her makeup routine.

@katiejanehugheswastaken
How to get flawless and dewy coverage #fyp #promua #dewymakeup #katiejanehughes #beautyhacks #fypage
♬ Pennies From Heaven - Louis Prima

2. As a hair tamer

I like my hair a little unkempt, but when I went out to dinosaur-themed mini golf last Friday, I decided to use Skin Food to style my wild mop into 1920’s-esque “spit curls” — fun name, no?

They turned out super cute, and with the help of a little hairspray, they held up through all eighteen holes — plus dinner and drinks afterwards. If fly-aways are out to ruin your sleek ponytail, or you need some gentle shaping magic, try Skin Food on your locks for a look you’ll love.

3 more ways to use Skin Food in your skincare routine

Highlight makeup

After you moisturize, but before you apply your foundation (if you use it), dab a little Skin Food on the high points of your face to make your features pop and your foundation look more natural.

The high points are the parts of your face that stick out the farthest — your cheekbones, the tip of your nose, brow bones, cupid’s bow, and the center of your chin.

Hydrate dry feet, hands, and elbows

Slap a little Skin Food onto your cracked heels and elbows and dry hands for extra moisture where you need it most. Even the largest bottle is pretty small, so you might not want to use Skin Food as your all-over body lotion — but don’t worry.

Weleda makes a heavenly body butter that’s thick, luxurious, and the perfect candidate for post-shower hydration.

Soothe eczema

If you’ve got dry, itchy skin due to eczema, Skin Food might be the soothing superhero you’ve been waiting for.

Due to its ultra-nourishing ingredients and anti-inflammatory properties, Skin Food is touted for relieving symptoms associated with eczema and other skin conditions.

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Photo of woman in bed holding mug Mackenzie Sanford Grove writer author

About the author: Mackenzie Sanford is a writer and musician working on her armpits in the Midwest.