I didn't know where to put this, since it's a post relevant to card users (and maybe collectors) but has nothing to do with actual cards. I took a little bit of ribbing for buying this stuff and announcing it here (I believe it was in the forum for Fantastique cards, which, by the way, are pretty fantastic.) Anyway, here’s what you’ve been cracking wise about.
The lotion arrived in a plain brown box, inside of which was an miniature burlap drawstring pouch, inside of which was the bottle and lots of shreds of crinkle-cut paper. The fancy-looking pump comes in two parts, a straw and the pump itself. Unscrew the bottle, remove the safety seal, add the pump and you’re in business.
The lotion itself is a creamy, almost fluffy concoction, with a consistency somewhere between whipped cream and whipped butter. When I sniffed the opened bottle before inserting the pump, I couldn’t pick up any fragrance (though I am nearly the olfactory equivalent of needing Coke-bottle glasses). When spread on the skin, however, you can’t help but pick it up – a strong, rich scent of roasted coffee beans; enticing but not overpowering or overbearing. The fragrance fades fairly quickly, so you needn’t worry about it clashing with your favorite colognes or perfumes.
On the hands, it spreads softly with a moist, utterly non-greasy feeling to it. I found it absorbed into the skin very quickly and that a small portion (say, maybe a half-squirt of the pump) is enough for thoroughly covering your hands. My girlfriend liked both the scent and the texture of my skin afterwards; she stated that using this twice a day would probably reduce some of the cuticle damage my hands are prone to.
Now, how about when I grabbed that deck of Karnival Hornets about ten seconds after application? No problem. There was no residue feel and it left no trace at all on the cards. My hands felt moist but not abnormally so; not greasy, not oily, not messy. Card control was utterly unaffected.
Is this stuff expensive. Oh, hell yeah. But is it outrageously so? No, honestly, it isn't. Is it worth what you pay for it? I'd have to say in my opinion, yes, it is.
"But Don," you're thinking to yourself, "there are so many cheaper brands on the market that would do just fine - I think you got ripped off!" Well, there are moisturizers and there are moisturizers, just like there are playing cards and there are playing cards. These would be closer to something like Jerry's Nuggets than, oh, a cheap-stock smooth-finish deck made in China with pictures of the last tourist trap you visited. (No offense to the Chinese, but most of the Chinese decks that make it to American shores leave many somethings to be desired, quality-wise.)
Decent moisturizers do exist at the Bikes and Bees level, but many of them smell like my girlfriend, none of them smell as nice as the D&D lotion, and some leave the hands feeling too greasy to handle playing cards until several minutes after they've been applied (or maybe after you wipe your hands on a towel). I was able to hit the cards seconds after putting this stuff on, it soaked in so quickly. The coffee oils are an antioxidant, the jojoba and shea butter absorbs into the skin quickly with no residue and the vitamin E oil is the all-around good-for-the-skin vitamin.
While the bottle is only eight ounces, you use it in only small doses, so I imagine it would last a little while - perhaps you'd only just be finishing it before the expiration date. Yes, they have an expiration date of something like six to eight months - this is an all-organic lotion, without the funky preservative chemicals you'll find in most every brand from the corner chain-store pharmacy. And the bottle itself, with the handwritten label, numbered stamp and steel pump sitting on top of ye olde school caramel-colored glass, is something you'll want to display rather than hide behind the medicine cabinet mirror or in the back of a shelf in the closet.
Magicians and cardists use their hands to perform all the time, with a few dozen or so eyes focused on your every move. I actually get my hands manicured because I see my hands as my main tools of the trade, more important than playing cards, coins (and coin shells!), foam balls or a close-up pad. Moist, clean, attractive hands get positive attention from your audience, period. If you can afford the luxury, Dan and Dave's Hand Lotion is worth purchasing.
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