seems to do the job and smells like strong lavender soap [SEP] smells good with no garlic odor creamy and a good consistency i am using it for pain from arthritis in the knee then i apply my msm lotion on top of it for good measure the two together seem to go in deeper into the joint than using each cream alone they relieve the pain for hours but of course can t cure it for smaller joints like knuckles i can use either cream but generally i think the msm works fine by itself