Around 1500, weavers in the Southern Netherlands finished the seven hangings known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, now at The Met Cloisters in New York. In the best known panel the unicorn sits chained to a pomegranate tree inside a little flowery fence, calm and a bit smug, the most prized creature in the story and a captive of its own charm. Nobody has ever been able to look away from it. Five centuries later, a body butter called Unicorn Fruit is doing the same job on a bathroom shelf.

That is the trick I admire about Truly Beauty. Founder Maxx Appelman and CEO Freddy Wolfe say the brand has grown since 2015 by giving a Gen Z audience prestige-quality formulas, packaging and positioning, and on 1 September 2026 a shave-focused company announced it is acquiring the brand, its first acquisition. The names are dessert and fantasy: Glazed Donut, Coco Cloud, Unicorn Fruit. The labels are more sober, with actives like niacinamide and peptides. The brand says its formulas are vegan and clean and developed with physicians, microbiologists and chemists. One honest note: in 2019 the FTC settled with the company over earlier organic and vegan claims, so I would always read the label and shop by ingredient, not by the name.

The trick is to treat the first grid as a small routine. Start with the Unicorn Fruit Whipped Body Butter for after the shower, and the Vanilla Baby Luxury Shimmer Body Butter for nights out when you want a soft glow on collarbones and legs. The Diamond Baby Firm & Illuminate Treatment Body Serum and The Brightening Body Serum are the two lighter layers, better under a butter than instead of one. The Strawberry Blossoms Smoothing Body Scrub is the weekly reset, and the brand points that line at rough, uneven texture. Coco Cloud Luxury Shave Butter, Glazed Donut Whipped Shave Butter and the Unicorn Fruit After Shave Serum complete the shave side.

Start with the rule I give everyone about body scrubs: use them on damp skin, on the legs, arms and back, twice a week at most, and never on a fresh shave. The scrub is a smoothing step, not a scrubbing contest.

Sol de Janeiro's Bum Bum Body Scrub is the crowd pleaser, the one that makes a shower smell like a holiday. Nonfiction's Exfoliating Body Scrub & Wash does two jobs in one bottle, which suits a shelf that is already crowded. Kate Somerville's ExfoliKate Resurfacing Body Scrub is the more clinical choice, for skin that feels bumpy at the tops of the arms.

Josie Maran's Whipped Argan Oil Body Scrub in Vanilla Vibezzz is the sweet, dessert-like one, and it is the one I would keep for winter. CYKLAR makes two here: the Lactic Acid Foaming Body Polish and Wash, which pairs lactic acid with a wash, so it does two jobs in one quick shower, and Sacred Santal, a semi-solid scrub with shea butter that feels more like a balm that grips. PATTERN by Tracee Ellis Ross makes a dry scrub with Dead Sea salt in Midnite Amber, which is what I would use before a bath, not in a shower. AKT London's Foaming Body Scrub in After Thunder is the one that lathers like a cleanser.

A pairing I like: any of these on Sunday, then a Truly body butter straight after. Fresh skin takes moisture better.

What I would skip: a coarse salt scrub on skin that is sunburned or freshly waxed.

Try this order for smoother legs: exfoliate the day before, shave on warm damp skin with a thick layer of something slippery, then put a treatment on straight out of the shower. Most razor bumps are a routine problem, not a razor problem.

For the slippery step, Hanni's Shave Pillow is a moisturizing body gel, and eos makes a Cashmere Shave Butter as well as the Cashmere Shave Oil. Tree Hut's Ocean Glow and Tropic Glow Bare shave oils are the beachy ones, easy to keep in the shower caddy. Luna Daily's The Everywhere Oil is the one I would call the multi-tasker, since it goes on the legs, the elbows and the ends of your hair.

For after, First Aid Beauty's Ingrown Hair Pads with AHA and BHA work on body and face, and Topicals' High Roller Ingrown Hair Tonic with AHA and BHA is the roll-on you can keep in a gym bag. Use one or the other, not both on the same night.

A pairing I like: eos shave butter in the shower, then the FAB pads three nights later, once the skin has calmed.

What I would skip: acid pads on skin that stings when you step out of the shower. Wait a day.

One habit worth borrowing: put your body cream on within three minutes of stepping out of the shower, while skin is still a little damp. It is a small thing, and it does more than switching products.

Youth To The People's Superberry Firm + Glow Dream Body Butter is the rich one, good for a dry winter. Ortigia's Zagara Body Cream is the quiet, grown-up jar, a nice thing to keep by the bed. amika's Big Embrace Smoothing Whipped Body Butter is the light whipped one for anyone who hates feeling greasy.

Sangre De Fruta's Lavender by the Sea Botanical Body Cream is the calming evening one. Rare Beauty's Find Comfort Bouncy Body Cream with Hyaluronic Acid sits closer to a lotion, quick to sink in before a dress. Nonfiction's Enriching Body Cream is the plain sensible option, and 54 Thrones' Barrier Repair Cloud Body Cream with Peptides + Hyaluronic Acid is the one for skin that has been over-exfoliated. By Rosie Jane's DULCE body milk with vanilla is the lightest, a milk for summer.

A pairing I like: a Truly serum first, then any of these on top to seal it in.

What I would skip: a heavy butter in a hot, humid week. Pick a milk and leave the butters for winter.

I think Truly Beauty works best when you enjoy the fantasy and read the label anyway. The names will make you smile, the textures are fun, and the actives are real enough to shop by. Nobody buys a bathroom shelf for the paperwork, but a minute with the ingredient list tells you what you are really getting.

So I would start with the Unicorn Fruit Whipped Body Butter, add one shave butter and a scrub, and let everything else wait until you know your skin likes it. The unicorn was captive in its garden, calm and lovely. Yours can live next to the tub. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Westmore Beauty Body Coverage Perfector, From a Hollywood Makeup Dynasty and AmLactin Lotion and the Acid Body Care That Followed.