Smell (Irrelevant to effects)
The smell inside the tub of cbdMD CBD Recover Inflammation Formula Cream (750mg) hints of arnica, cinnamon, chamomile, peppermint, and citrus. That sounds like a varied — and potentially overwhelming — profile, but the different elements blend together surprisingly harmoniously. The overall aroma is clean, medicinal, and subtly spicy without being overpowering. It does last a little while on the skin after application but dissipates as the product continues to absorb.
Taste (Irrelevant to effects)
This product is meant for topical use only. Please don’t ingest!
Consistency
Within the tub (a 4-ounce white plastic jar with rounded edges, which we like), the product is a thick, opaque, white cream. It’s easy to pick up on your fingers in small or large quantities according to your needs and adheres well to fingertips on contact. Using the product creates temporary indents in the surface, but the cream settles within the jar to fill them in over time.
On the skin, the product absorbs fairly quickly but does leave a slight oily slickness to the skin for a time after application. This makes it good for dry, inflamed skin or a targeted massage, but it may leave more of a residue than desired if you’re getting dressed immediately after applying it to, say, your back and shoulders.
To eliminate this concern, we recommend using a fast-drying product like the roll-on CBD pain freeze during the day time and saving this cream for evening use or small areas where the oily consistency won’t be problematic.
Effects (Onset, Duration, Intensity)
Unlike the roll-on pain freeze, this cream doesn’t induce a strong cooling sensation upon application. While this means that it isn’t as effective at immediately dulling pain, it is much friendlier for damaged skin than its alcohol-based counterpart.
For this reason, we like it especially for things like burns, scrapes, and dry, irritated patches of the skin resulting from environmental exposure or a skin condition. We wouldn’t recommend applying it directly to a cut or other open sore, but it might be used successfully to address peripheral redness and inflammation for a skin injury — just keep it away from the open portion of the wound to play it safe.
The aloe vera juice, coconut oil, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) within the product work to soothe the skin, providing a balance of water- and oil-based hydration that moisturizes dry, irritated skin and creates a barrier to protect injured spots as they heal.
Organic CBD and arnica help alleviate pain and reduce inflammation without irritating the skin, addressing both underlying inflammation and the pain it causes, and a blend of essential oils brings a dose of terpenes and flavonoids to boost the effects of CBD while also lending aromatherapeutic benefits.
We felt symptom relief within a few minutes of applying this CBD cream — it wasn’t irritating or painful to apply on dry, flaky skin and felt soothing on body parts. The effect of the cream is hydrating and refreshing, with a gentle pain relief that sets in within a few minutes of application and continues to build over the next hour or so. When applied to injury sites or sore muscles, this cream provides lasting pain relief along with a boost of hydration and skin-loving ingredients.
We found the effects of this product to last about 4-6 hours, depending on what we were doing. It works very well for sore muscles, inflamed skin, and redness, but we also found relief from joint pain and injuries. This creamtakes down redness and reduces swelling, especially when applied regularly.
Best used for
We like this cream for athletic recovery, soreness, and chronic pain best, but it could work for just about any sore spot on your body. We found it effective for sore joints (including hands and wrists), inflammation, and redness. While it’s a little less potent than its roll-on counterpart, we like the skin-soothing benefits of this cream, especially for dry or sensitive skin. We should also note that the cream is available in a 1500 mg strength, which is closer to the potency of the 1500 mg roll-on and may provide intensive symptom relief in a gentler formulation than the roll-on.