By Tribune-Review

Published: Sunday, December 2, 2012, 8:51 p.m.
Updated: Sunday, December 2, 2012

The claim: Soap & Glory Heel Genius is better than a pedicure. It renovates rough feet in a single overnight session, doubles as a foot cream and will give even the roughest of cuticles a run for its money. It foot-softening features include allantoin, glycerin, macadamia oil, menthol, bilberry and orange and lemon fruit-acid smoothers.

Cost: $15 for 4.2 ounces

Where: Sephora or www.sephora.com

Winter feet tend to easily lapse into a scratchy and dry surface. With tootsies exposed during sandal and swim season, daily slathering of moisturizer occurs without a second thought. But when feet are wrapped up in tights, boots and fuzzy slippers, the poor things are forgotten and neglected.

Heel Genius suggests massaging a generous layer of cream onto feet at night, then slipping cotton socks overtop to allow them to soak in the moisturizers overnight. The made-in-France cream is a light minty green color that has a lovely citrus fruity scent. I tried the overnight cure to pleasant results — soft heels and moisturized cuticles.

With this type of improvement, I can see a twice a week regimen to keep them looking — and feeling — good.

— Sally Quinn

Admittedly, I am way overdue for a pedicure. I am waiting for my Christmas trip to Phoenix, where I can do it as a mother-daughter-sister outing. With cracked and hard heels, there's only so much a cream can do: The dead skin needs to be scraped off. To expect a cream to fix a case like this is unreasonable, so I was not disappointed when Heel Genius didn't turn my heels into baby bottoms. However, I did notice that my entire feet felt softer, and the cracked, hard skin on my heels didn't look as bad. I think this could work well in between pedicures to keep your feet soft, and prevent your heels from cracking and drying out so much.

— Kellie B. Gormly

The bottle says Heel Genius is better than a pedicure. But then again, the bottle resembles a cross between a 1970s mod design and an 1870s patent-medicine bottle. And Heel Genius? Is that supposed to make me think real genius? But at this season, when there's not much time for things like pampering the peds, a lotion's a low-commitment way to keep high-heel ready. So I busted out a pair of summer cotton socks and followed the directions to “massage a generous layer” on, covered with socks and waited to see what I noticed.

First thing, Heel Genius has a strong but vaguely floral scent. Second thing, menthol means tingly toes. But neither was strong enough to send me running to the shower to wash it off, and both effects were soon forgotten. But after a couple of applications and a few moments with a pumice, my feet looked ready for an application of nail polish and a night on the town.

A side note: As someone who's had a pen in hand on an almost daily basis for quite a few years, I've developed a rough patch of skin on my index finger. Heel Genius smoothed that a bit, too.

— Vaunda Bonnett

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