I'd tried everything for the 'chicken skin' on my arms - but this £9.99 cream is a game-changer

Chicken skin is really annoying, isn’t it? Thankfully, my keratosis pilaris is not uncomfortable or itchy like eczema or psoriasis, but it does knock my confidence in a strappy dress.

Over the years, I’ve found that the only thing that really makes the pesky little bumps on the tops of my arms disappear is exfoliating with a scrub every other day and then slathering on the best body creams for dry skin at night. It’s high maintenance, and if I’m honest, the only time I’ve ever truly committed was the month before my wedding.

However, I happened upon a cream that changed everything this year - and the best part is, it costs less than £10.

I tested the Mixa Urea Cica Repair Renewing Cream for our 2026 woman&home Skin Awards, and slathered it on before bed (turns out that’s the best time to moisturise your body) without much thought or expectation.

The first thing I really liked was the texture. It’s silky and silicone-ey rather than heavy and buttery like most body creams. Chicken skin or not, I don’t always like the feeling of being coated in product and basted like a chicken – lovely during the winter, not so much in the summer. Texture aside, it feels relatively no-frills – it’s not the best-smelling body moisturiser, just pleasantly unscented.

My skin was so incredibly soft and smooth when I woke up – it was like someone had buffed away the top layer of scaliness overnight. A bit like a snake shedding their skin - but with none of the grossness of one of those peeling foot masks. The more I’ve used it, the softer my skin has become. After about a week, I absent-mindedly brushed the back of my usually keratosis pilaris-covered upper arms and double-took when they didn’t feel bumpy any more. It isn't completely gone, but it's much less noticeable than it was before.

The key ingredient in Mixa Urea Cica Repair Renewing Cream is urea. It’s technically a compound from urine, but before you panic, it’s always a synthetic version that is used in cosmetics rather than the real deal. Urea is often used in foot creams as it is both really good at exfoliating dry, rough skin and really good at intensely moisturising.

In Mixa Urea Cica Repair Renewing Cream, urea is combined with cica, also known as centella asiatica, which works wonders to soothe red, dry or sensitive skin. I think it’s the combination of the two ingredients that makes it such a hardworking product, softening the new skin after sloshing off the old, dry and scaly.

The more advanced bodycare becomes, the more expensive it becomes too, so I was thrilled to see that this is just £9.99 for a really generously sized tub. If you were just going to use it on your arms, it would last for a very long time.

If you’re looking for a lazy, low-effort way to transform dry, bumpy skin into soft, silky skin, this is the moisturiser you need.