What You Need to Know About Nécessaire, the Body Care Brand You're Seeing All Over Instagram

Updated on 3/29/2019 at 9:02 AM

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Welcome to Off the Grid, our column that investigates the beauty products you're seeing slip into the Explore pages of your Instagram with their beautiful packaging and styling. We're spotlighting those (not-so) hidden gems of the beauty world to see if those growing brands on social media are really worth the hype.

There is one thing nearly every shelfie has in common these days: a tube of Nécessaire's The Body Cream.

The masterminds behind that particular lotion — Nick Axelrod, a cofounder of Into the Gloss, and Randi Christiansen, who spent over a decade at Estée Lauder — came together to start a wellness-focused bodycare line (which, by the way, includes a Sex Gel ($20)). Even though some of the IG mentions are #spon, the brand is taking over the feeds of beauty enthusiasts with its body-centric sexy imagery, minimalist packaging, and placement in curated product collections. It has even secured a slot in this year's Nordstrom's Fresh Faces, a pop-up of crowd-favorite beauty and wellness brands carefully curated by the retailer's vice president of creative.

With the help of cosmetic chemist Ni'Kita Wilson, and season-long testing, we've tried and looked into how efficacious these products are.

Sex Gel

From

$20

Nécessaire The Body Lotion

Throughout this Winter — which had its bursts of biting cold weather — I made the decision to keep a bottle of the unscented version of the Nécessaire The Body Lotion ($25) with me at all times. I kept one nestled in the black tote I brought with me everywhere and sitting on the corner of my desk. I noticed that it was a conversation piece among beauty editors (when my friends saw me whip out the bottle, I'd often get comments on it). "I saw so-and-so friend using it," some would say, and they would also follow up with the question, "Is it good?"

Nécessaire The Body Lotion

From

$25

Nécessaire The Body Lotion

It did the trick: Its thick and creamy texture left no fragrance lingering as it softened my skin. It would feel moisturized for hours, offering the relief I was seeking for the dry (sometimes cracked) skin on my hands, waist, and arms.

Its magic is in its comprehensive ingredients list, which Wilson described as having "everything in it but the kitchen sink." She explained that the lotion contains — get ready for this — "emollients that help lotion glide easily onto the skin, exfoliating fruit acids that lift up dead skin cells that make it feel rough, essential fatty acids to strengthen skin's lipid barrier, humectants to hold moisture, and peptides to increase elasticity to firm up the skin."

Nécessaire The Body Lotion ($25)

Nécessaire The Body Lotion

From

$25

Nécessaire The Body Lotion

"This body lotion is formulated like a facial moisturizing treatment," Wilson said. Maybe that's why I haven't been unable to quit my habit of pulling it out in random places.

Nécessaire The Body Lotion ($25)

Nécessaire The Body Lotion

From

$25

Nécessaire The Body Wash

It's a cycle — when I scratch my skin, it experiences mild dermatographism, i.e., puffy, red welts where my fingernails had run. That cycle ends with constant moisturizing, which I consciously begin when I'm in the shower. I only ever pick body washes with emollient formulas, and The Body Wash ($25) contains three skin-softening oils, one of which is marula.

The Body Wash

From

$25

The Body Wash

I twisted open the cap and squeezed the runny, amber liquid into my hands, and it slipped across my skin with ease, sudsing minimally. When I patted my skin dry with my towel, it felt silky and clean with no scent (though you can opt for a formula that will leave your skin smelling like sandalwood or eucalyptus). This wash preps it for the next steps of my bodycare routine.

Nécessaire The Body Wash ($25)