After showing you what I use to moisturize my hands daily and for rescue treatments, now it's time to care about cuticles and nails. In addition to my eczema, I'm a former "wolf-biter", so when I started to take care of my nails and hands last year, both my cuticles and nails needed some serious love.
Sephora apricot cuticle cream
Let's start with my least favourite product, Sephora's apricot nourishing nail balm. First complaint, it's the most expensive, almost 8 euros for 9 g. Secondly, I hated the smell. It's chemically sweet, quite potent and really bothering. Finally, it's really hard to rub in. I remember doing a watermarble once in pastel colours, applying the cream and taking pics, and it looked like I had not cleaned my cuticles at all...
Burt's Bees Cuticle cream
When I bought the BB's rescue treatment, I threw in the cuticle butter to compare with my favourite product, Lush Lemony Flutter. Burt's Bees' Butter is very thick, it reminded me of lipbalm. You have to rub your fingers to get some butter on your fingers, and a very small amount is enough. It penetrates quite easily and leaves your cuticles soft and nourished. The smell is clearly that of lemon, without anything else, and just like with the Hand treatment, it "feels" efficient and natural (which it is, for both). You can find it on the internet, the 17g/0.6oz pot is around 6$.
Lush Lemony Flutter
I'm not gonna be very original in saying that my favourite cuticle treatment is Lush Lemony Flutter. It is by far the most efficient, the most pleasant, the longer-lasting and the cheapest (it is a bit pricey when you buy it, but even with daily application, it lasts a year). The scent is heavenly, it smells like lemon pie. It is much sweeter and yummier than the pure lemon scent of Burt's Bees Butter, and it's softer in consistency, it melts easily on your fingers. It will leave your fingers quite greasy, so it's ideal for evening application (it's part of my "bedtime kit", together with Tiny Hands and my lipbalm).
Those three treatments are really nourishing, can be used for both nails and cuticles and are to be avoided before applying polish, they'll leave your nails greasy and the polish won't hold. I'm not recommending Sephora's balm, but the other two are quite equal in quality for me. Just with hand treatments, I use BB's products in the day and keep the LUSH ones for the night, and since I prefer LUSH's, I'll stick to them once my BB's are finished.
Now to products that are specifically for cuticles.
OPI Avoplex exfoliating cuticle treatment
This treatment stands aside from all the others since it works both as a moisturizing and a cuticle remover. Its removing action is not as pronounced as that of your usual cuticle remover, but it does contain AHA which exfoliate and "melt" the cuticles while hydrating them. It has a faint smell of watermelon with a chemical tinge. It's not unpleasant but not fantastic either. I like this cream because my cuticles grow very quickly and it damages my nails to remove them too often, so using this cream enables me to take out my Blue Cross only every two weeks.
Ecrinal cuticle oil
Now to cuticle oils. Basically, it's the same principle as creams, only in a different form, usually in a bottle with a brush, and just as with creams and butters, it must be applied after polish. Ecrinal serum is sold in drugstores only and is quite a fantastic product: low price (around 7 euros), super efficient and with a gorgeous smell, reminiscent of red berries crumble.
LM Cosmetic Almond cuticle oil
The reason why I have this oil is in the name... almond, almond, almond, I looooove almond. And sometimes, you don't feel like mixing scents and it's nice to have an oil that smells the same as your handcream... This oil is drier than the Ecrinal one, it penetrates quicker and the smell is nothing short of lovely.
I will finish this very long article by talking about two nail strengthener, so that my last "manicure" article will deal with products that are specific with nail beauty (as opposed to nail care): cuticle removers, base and topcoats. But before that, here are two products I would recommend for weak, brittle and sick nails.
Mavala Scientifique
This product is well-known to nail-addicts in France, but I don't know if it can be found easily abroad. From the Swiss brand Mavala, it's a very potent but very chemical nail hardener. A small bottle goes a long way and it can be used either in cures, two to three times a week, or once a month. You apply it on bare nails and let it sink for 30 seconds. Results appear very quickly but the ingredient list is quite frightening.
Ecrinal nail hardener
So when Ecrinal proposed a more natural equivalent, many people jumped on the occasion. I've read some mitigated reviews of that product, some bloggers have found that it made their nails drier. I haven't noticed anything wrong with it, I've taken the habit to apply once or twice a week and my nails are in very good shape, but given everything I do for them, it's quite hard to know where it comes from!!
Dikla nail cream
Finally, a special mention to the Dikla nail cream. I love this cream, first and foremost because it's a gift from my lovely Ceca. She's one of my dearest friends, but unfortunately she lives far away in Serbia so we haven't had many opportunities to see each other. I really associate this cream and its smell with Ceca's holidays in France last year, happy times... Anyway, beside this association, this cream is really nice. It works both for nails and cuticles and you can put it either on bare nails or on top of your polish. However, I cannot tell you its cost nor where to find it, I have my special furnisher!!
