Soft Services Just Made a Daytime Version of its Ultra-Chic Theraplush Hand Cream

Some people collect souvenirs. Bella Cacciatore collects beautiful objects. She has done it for as long as she can remember — anything with a bit of charm ends up on a shelf, a table, or her desk. The result, she admits, is a home that sometimes looks closer to a hoarder’s den than a showroom, and a work desk that makes people stop and stare. Her verdict on all of it: so be it. She calls it “Girl Mess.”

There is a practical streak underneath it, though. Cacciatore describes herself as an Earth sign and a woman always on the move, and the objects she loves most are the ones that do two jobs at once: they look good and they work hard. Her best example is Soft Services’ Theraplush Hand Cream. The packaging is beautiful enough to sit on her nightstand like a small piece of art, she says, and the cream inside is genuinely inventive and does what it promises. It has been one of her favourites since it launched four years ago — and now, she writes, the brand is growing the hand-cream family.

The new arrival is Deskside, launched on October 30: a daytime hand cream with a lighter feel and packaging just as collectible as its older sister. Below is everything Cacciatore says you need to know about the launch, plus her honest review of it.

The Inspiration

The idea came from the brand’s own customers. “We’d been thinking about a daytime counterpart to Theraplush for a long time, and our customers kept asking for one,” founder and CEO Rebeca Zhou told Byrdie. As the team started developing it, she said, the question was what they could improve about using hand cream during the day.

Theraplush had taught them one thing: when a product sits within reach, a routine forms around it. So Deskside was designed to fit a deskscape — a place on the desk, not in a drawer. The packaging is translucent and square, where Theraplush is rounded and pastel, and the references were vintage glass paperweights, Dieter Rams’ designs, and the translucent iMacs of the late ’90s. The formula had a matching brief, Zhou said: hydration and barrier support that felt “almost invisible once it absorbed, something that fit into the day rather than asking the day to stop for it.”

The brief came from Zhou’s own frustration. “Personally, I’ve always had a hard time with how most hand creams feel after you apply them,” she said. Wash your hands, apply cream, and immediately want to wash your hands again — which, she pointed out, defeats the whole point. Hands are constantly in use: washing, sanitising, touching a keyboard and a phone. And in an office, she added, you cannot choose the hand soap or switch off the central air.

The Formula

Theraplush is the treatment of the pair: 0.05% retinol, 1% colloidal oatmeal and 0.5% panthenol, aimed at repair and visible signs of ageing. Deskside is the daily driver — built for instant and lasting hydration in a weightless water-gel that leaves no greasy residue on a screen or a keyboard.

Three actives power it: 1% ectoin, 3% betaine and 0.5% beta-glucan, chosen, Zhou said, “for what hands actually go through.” In the ingredient supplier’s clinical study, she reported, 1% ectoin cut redness by 38% and water loss through the skin by 28% after seven days. The betaine result stood out to her most, she said, because hand-washing is unavoidable: in the supplier’s testing, 3% betaine reduced irritation from SLES — a cleansing ingredient found in some hand soaps — by 44%.

The hardest part, Zhou said, was landing the hydration level she wanted without a greasy or sticky finish. They got there: “The gel turns into what feels like water as you massage it in, and one pump absorbs fully within a minute. I’ve been describing it as almost feeling like you ‘misted’ your hands. They feel hydrated, but you don’t really feel like you’ve put anything on.”

The Fragrance

A new formula needed a new fragrance. Every Soft Services formula has its own personality, use and texture, Zhou said, and the scent is developed to match. For Deskside, the feeling they wanted was a reset — and the moment in Zhou’s mind was specific: getting up from the desk when the afternoon slump hits, pulling a seltzer from the office fridge, the cold can, the crack, the fizz, the first sip. That became Lumelo: juicy pomelo, orange blossom, fig leaf, fresh-cut grass and white musk. The name joins “pomelo,” the lead note, with “lumen,” a measure of light, to reflect the scent’s brightness — and the colour of the refill pod glowing through the translucent case.

“We made it to stay close to you, with a lift when you apply it that softens over about 15 minutes. Office-friendly, in other words,” the founder added. And as with every Soft Services product, a fragrance-free version exists for anyone sensitive to fragrance or who simply prefers none — “that option will always be there,” Zhou said.

My Review

Cacciatore’s verdict starts with the older sister: she genuinely thinks Theraplush is one of the best beauty launches of the past decade — innovative from its waxy, wrapping formula to its packaging, which is both gorgeous and functional. So her expectations for a daytime version were high. Deskside, she says, is not quite as groundbreaking overall — but it is still a fabulous product.

The packaging first. Where Theraplush took its cue from ancient jade carvings, Deskside looked to ’80s offices for its sculptural shape — very different vibes, she writes, but equally beautiful. Like its sister, it dispenses a perfectly sized “plop” of product, and the magnetic lid closes with a satisfying clunk. Most of all, it makes her smile every time she looks at it, even on her most stressful work days.

The lotion is a lightweight gel that soaks in straight away with no sticky residue — much lighter than Theraplush, though both dry down matte with no greasy feel at all. Where Theraplush leaves almost a waxy coating, Deskside leaves more of a silicone-like smoothness. It feels, she writes, like a gel face cream: her dry hands feel quenched instantly, then the cream absorbs with no heavy or greasy residue. As someone on Accutane, she has never minded a heavier lotion — but if you hate that feeling, she says, you will love this one.

The Lumelo scent, she writes, suits the lightweight formula perfectly: a bright, sophisticated citrus with soft florals coming through, and she loves that it fades within 15 minutes, keeping it office-friendly. In the middle of her desk chaos — the amount of product on it, she says, is truly overwhelming — Deskside’s beautiful design and lovely feel is a much-needed respite.