‘This cult US hand sanitiser is so good I got friends there to bulk buy it for me. Now it’s arrived here’
Our beauty director is ridiculously obsessed with Touchland hand sanitiser, which has just launched in the UK. But why exactly?
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For the last few years, I’ve had to rely on my friends who travel regularly to the US to bulk buy Touchland hand sanitiser for me, or Touchland Power Mist as it’s officially known.
They’re basically my Touchland dealers. But now, I can finally make them all redundant (I don’t think they’ll be too sad about it), because the cult brand has just launched in Space NK stores and online.
Touchland hand sanitiser – what’s the big deal?
None of my friends could ever quite understand why they were being asked to traipse round Target or Sephora to buy me sanitiser of all things. It’s not like there’s a shortage of the stuff here in the UK. But Touchland Power Mist is different.
Not only does it come in gorgeous scents that don’t smell heavily of alcohol, but the 30ml bottles look genuinely chic and the formula feels properly nourishing on the skin. Remember the pandemic when our hands all turned red and raw from super-astringent hand sanitiser? Touchland is totally different to that. While it does contain alcohol to kill bacteria and germs, it also has moisturising ingredients, such as aloe vera leaf juice and radish root extract. And then there’s the super silky smooth texture: it’s not sticky in the slightest. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it can replace a hand cream but it does leave hands feeling smooth. A bottle costs £16 – more than your average hand sanitiser, yes, but so worth it.
Beauty director SJ with her Touchland stash. Look at her happy face!
In the US, the brand has been going strong since 2018 and has built up a stellar celebrity fan base, with Kylie Jenner and Naomi Campbell among them. But that’s not how it caught my eye. I became obsessed with it while mindlessly scrolling videos of American moms packing for a day at the beach or a football game, colour-coordinating their coolers and Stanley water bottles, with the finishing touch always being a matching Touchland hand sanitiser clipped somewhere. You can buy handy clip-on cases for your Touchland so it’s always close to hand. I always have one clipped onto my dog-walking bag.
As the brand’s star has risen, so have the collaborations. There’s currently one with Disney, one with Peanuts from Snoopy, and one with Crocs (the case is designed with holes, like the shoes, so you can attach charms), which I sent my sister-in-law driving all around California to try to find. It was sold out everywhere… she claimed.
Touchland – what’s available in the UK?
Sadly, we don’t have the entire Touchland Power Mist range here but there is a good selection, plus some of the hair and body mists. These look very similar to the Touchland hand sanitiser, just in a slightly taller bottle, and are a natural extension of the brand, given how considered the scents are. I can’t think of many other hand sanitiser brands that could do the same.
You can get eight sanitiser scents here: Wild Watermelon, Berry Bliss, Beach Coco, Pure Lavender, Blue Sandalwood, Mango Passion, Rainwater, and Vanilla Blossom, all £16 for a 30ml bottle. I can highly recommend Rainwater, which smells (as you’d probably guessed) like rainwater on grass. Wonderful.
As well as the core Power Mist range, there are two “special” Touchland sanitisers. The Touchland Glow Mist Revitalising Hand Sanitiser, £16, is my absolute favourite. It stands out because it comes in a dusky rose bottle and it contains collagen to further nourish, and has the most amazing, expensive-smelling rosewater-meets-oud scent. Whenever I spray it, people around me ask what perfume I’m wearing.
And then there’s the Gentle Mist Ultra-Soothing Hand Sanitiser, £16, in a pastel green coloured bottle. Formulated for those with ultra-sensitive skin who can’t normally tolerate hand sanitiser at all, it contains added niacinamide and centella asiatica to help calm as it cleanses.
Not forgetting five scents of the Touchland Power Essence Hydrating Body and Hair Fragrance Mist, £20.
So now my US-bound friends and family can travel in peace, while I head to Space NK to blissfully hang round the Touchland display, hoping they don’t call security. See you there?
