Neuraé's Harmonie The Treatment Lotion Is Reviving My Post-Winter Skin

In our series Trial Run, TZR editors and writers put the buzziest new beauty products to the test and share their honest reviews. This week, deputy beauty editor Erin Lukas is testing the buzzy Neuraé Harmonie The Treatment Lotion.

The signature trademark of French girl style that’s all over Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram is rooted in effortlessness. Think minimalist outfits consisting of timeless staples like trench coats and straight-leg jeans paired with perfectly tousled hair and a lived-in, blurred red lip. This laidback sensibility to beauty doesn’t stop at hair and makeup. Yes, the French typically follow a less-is-more approach to skin care, too. As someone who knows their way around a Parisian pharmacie, I chalk this up as to why so many of my favorite French skin care buys have multitasking formulas. However, I’m somehow late to an entire product category: the treatment lotion. I’ll admit, I’ve spotted them in Paris and ignorantly wrote them off as toners, but Neuraé’s new Harmonie The Treatment Lotion has converted me.

While treatment lotions are applied right after cleansing like a toner, the similarities end there. (A full breakdown on the differences to come.) A lotion offers instant hydration, soothes redness, and helps the rest of the products in your routine better absorb into your skin. So an unnecessary extra step? Definitely not.

Keep reading for a complete rundown on Neuraé’s Harmonie The Treatment Lotion, including my experience testing it for three weeks.

The Treatment Lotion

The milky lotion hydrates and soothes skin while simultaneously setting it up to better absorb the rest of the products in your routine.

Neuraé -

Fast Facts

• Price: $150
• Size: 5.07 fl oz/ 150 mL
• Best For: Dry skin and redness
• Ingredient Highlights: Hyaluronic acid, sugar complex, alpine skullcap, eperua, and red indigo extracts
• What We Like: Absorbs quickly, doesn’t make other skin care products pill
• What We Don’t Like: Nothing!
• Rating: 5/5

How TZR Keeps Score: 1/5: Making a return; 2/5: Keeping as a backup; 3/5: Finishing to the last drop; 4/5: Recommending to my group texts; 5/5: Already on auto-replenish

The Formula

First, a quick primer on treatment lotions. The simplest way to explain how they work is to think of them as the pregame of your skin care routine. Treatment lotions are often lightweight, milky, and provide instant hydration, which subsequently enhances the absorption of products you apply afterwards. (Yes, like essences in Asia, but lotions tend to be more viscous.) The hydrating quality of lotions is the key difference from the astringent toners traditionally found in the U.S.

I asked Neuraé Development Director Elise Létang to further break it down. “A toner is historically the final step of cleansing, used to remove residue,” she explains. “The Treatment Lotion has no cleansing action. Instead, it is the first step of care. We call it a 'routine activator.' Its role is to prime the skin.” Létang goes on to say that it hydrates the skin, making it more receptive. “By placing the skin in this state of optimal receptivity, you aren't just adding a step — you are unlocking the full potential of every product that follows,” she adds.

In Neuraé’s treatment lotion, high molecular weight hyaluronic acid plumps and locks in hydration on the skin’s surface so the rest of the actives in your routine penetrate more efficiently. There’s also a sugar complex for long-lasting moisturization, vital water to boost radiance, and squalane to strengthen the skin barrier. Like the rest of the line, it also has neuro-ingredients (eperua, alpine skullcap, and red indigo extracts). They’re shown to rebalance skin cell messengers, which in turn reduces visible signs of stress on the skin such as redness, dullness, inflammation, and fine lines. Plus, these extracts give the lotion its harmonious herbaceous scent.

My Experience & Results

My skin is pretty unproblematic for the most part, save for the odd pimple around my period or a bit of seasonal dryness. However, this winter was unlike any in recent memory. It was extra frigid and snowy in New York, and as a result, I often had flaky patches of skin around my nose and eyelids. Overall, my face was looking dull and lifeless, so my routine needed an boost of hydration. After cleansing, I added two pumps of the lotion to my palms and patted it into my face. I was struck with how quickly it absorbed into my skin, and the instant glow I was left with. I followed up with a peptide serum and moisturizer, and liked that it didn’t feel like I had an extra product layer on my face.

I continued using the lotion both morning and night for roughly three weeks. While I can’t say whether it made the vitamin C serum, exfoliating toner, or aforementioned peptide serum I use every day penetrate any better, I did notice my skin felt softer than it had all winter and my overall tone seemed a little clearer.

Is Neuraé’s Harmonie The Treatment Lotion Worth It?

For those who have never used a treatment lotion before, trying one that’s $150 probably seems like a pricey wildcard. I was right there with you. However, countless hydrating masks and serums I tried this winter only provided instant gratification, whereas my face stays soft all day with this lotion in the mix. So if you’re rehabbing seasonally dry skin, I’d say it’s worth adding this treatment lotion to your cart.