If the soles of your feet feel dry and your heels are cracked, the best foot cream can help to heal and revitalise your skin. However, different foot issues have different needs.
I spoke to Kaser Nazir, a consultant podiatrist at the Cadogan Clinic, about the key ingredients to look for when treating different foot concerns. For hard skin, calluses and corns, Nazir recommends choosing a foot cream containing “active ingredients, such as salicylic acid and urea”.
If cracked heels are your main issue, he suggests looking for formulas with urea, glycerin and ceramides. “Urea is important to help maintain your skin’s natural moisture barrier, says Nasir. “Glycerin can also be beneficial because it’s a humectant, so it works to strengthen the skin barrier and seal in moisture, and ceramides are also good because they’re fatty acids, which help to strengthen the skin barrier and soften dry skin,” he explains.
While these ingredients are present in moisturisers and hand creams, feet often need targeted attention. If you’ve noticed inflammation and redness, this could “be caused by a number of things; however, a skin infection – either fungal or bacterial – is usually most likely”, says Nazir. To address this, he suggests looking to antifungal ingredients: “Clotrimazole, miconazole, and terbinafine are antifungal agents that work by inhibiting fungal growth or killing the fungus”.
Of course, that’s a lot to navigate if you’re not a footcare expert. So, over the past few months, I’ve tested a range of formulas to find the creams that genuinely make a difference. Thanks to its blend of hardworking ingredients, the Eucerin dry skin urearepair plus 10 per cent urea foot cream came out on top – though there are plenty of other excellent options worth considering, too.
Read more: Best hand creams to soften and protect skin, tried and tested
The best foot creams for 2026 are:
- Best overall – Eucerin dry skin urearepair plus 10 per cent urea foot cream: £9.90, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget option – O’Keeffe’s healthy feet foot cream: £5.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best scented option – Sol de Janeiro samba 2-step foot fetish care cream: £25, Harrods.com
- Best for quick results – Aveda foot relief moisturising creme: £26, Amazon.co.uk
Read more: Best body moisturisers for hydrated skin, tried and tested by a beauty writer
