中文版點這裡！
＊Products marked with “＊” are gifted or paid for content creation. All opinions are my own.＊
Hey everyone! Long time! For the first post of the year, I’d like to write something different. During the past few month, I feel that my nails have never been healthier! So I’ve decided to put together everything I’ve been using and share them with you. Let’s get some cuticles oiled, shall we?
Let’s start with my favorite type of nail care item, cuticle oils. Oil is the most efficient form of nail care, as it contains the simplest ingredients, and can provide the skin and the nails with instant moisturization.
Wildflower Nectar – Royla Lee Lacquer
Formerly known as Wildflower Lacquer, Royla Lee Lacquer kept the name of their nail oil as Wildflower Nectar. It was crafted as a multi-purpose oil; you can use it on the hands, body, and hair. It comes in a 30ml dropper bottle, which you can easily fill them into your favorite portable roller bottles or cuticle oil pens. I usually oil at night before bed, so a dropper bottle works perfect for my habit. What I love about this oil is how quickly it absorbs. The base oil is jojoba oil, with a mix of avocado oil, argan oil and different fragrance oils for different scents. Jojoba oil is the oil that’s most similar to our natural bodily oil, the texture is on a runnier side. That’s why the skin can absorb nicely. I’ve been using 10 drops every night for a couple of months now; the second bottle is running low. It saved my cuticles from being crusty during the dry winter. I’ve also been applying the excess on this huge scar I got from a surgery some time last year, and have noticed that it helps brightening the scar tissue. The scar is on the side of my chest so unfortunately I can’t show you a picture. You’ll have to take my word for it!
They came out every other month (odd months) during launch week. Aside from their signature scent (Confectionary Berry), they will offer several different scent options. The scents I got all smells soothing and not overpowering. My mom and my sister also enjoy them a lot. My mom is very sensitive to smells, so I’m surprised how much she loves the nectar. She uses it on her hair before blowing dry. I’ve bought 6 different scents, but will definitely repurchase when I run out.
Wildflower Nectar｜US$14.00｜30ml｜Find it on roylalee.com (available in odd months, worldwide shipping)
Cuticle Buddy® – NBM
Another one of my favorite cuticle oil is the Cuticle Buddy® from NBM. It’s actually the oil that makes me start oiling my nails regularly through out the day! I’ve written a blog about it a long time ago, but back then I only write in Traditional Chinese. If you’re interested, you can find the article here. The base of the Cuticle Buddy® is also Jojoba oil, mixed with a variety of different organic oils from natural nuts and some natural essential oils for fragrance. What I love the most about the Cuticle Buddy® is definitely the scents, especially the fruity ones. They all smells very natural and refreshing. A few of my favorites are lemongrass & ylang ylang, cashmere sweater (winter exclusive), sweet orange & tangerine, ocean drive, and caramel iced coffee.
They come in 8ml roller bottle or 30ml refill dropper bottle. The roller bottle is perfect to carry around in your purse and oil on the go; I have one in almost every bag I use and one in my office. A very minor issue I have about the roller bottle is that the bamboo part of the cap will pop off after a while. The customer service did mail me a few replacements, but I ended up just throw the bamboo part away. Besides that, I really enjoy the Cuticle Buddies® I have. I have a referral link to the shop if you’d like to try them. You can get 10% off your order of $10+ if you choose to shop my link here.
Cuticle Buddy®｜US$12.00/8ml or US$25.00/30ml｜Find it on shopnbm.com (referral link, worldwide shipping)
Konnyaku Face Oil – Snow Corp. (Konnyaku Soap)
This oil is from a Japanese brand specialized in making jelly (konnyaku) face soap. This is supposed to be a face oil, but I like to use it on my hands. It contains Squalane (for nourishing the skin), jojoba seed oil, camellia seed oil, argania spinosa kernel oil, olive fruit oil, and macadamia seed oil; all of them are great natural nut oils that are easy to absorb. It comes in a 30ml pump bottle that is perfect to use in car. I put it in my car and use 1 pump every time before driving. It also kept my leather steering wheel cover nice and nourished. You can tell by the picture that the texture is on the runnier side.
My bottle is almost empty, but when it’s full, the oil has a peachy/rosey color. It is supposed to be rose scented, but I can barely smell anything. The downside is that it is not as easy to get if you’re not in Japan. My sister bought it as a gift for me there; you can get it from goodsofjapan.com (non-affiliated).
Konnyaku Face Oil｜US$43.00｜30ml｜Find it on goodsofjapan.com (worldwide shipping)
Besides cuticle oil, I also use some other nail care items including hand creams and balms.
Hand & Nail Cream – Didier Lab＊
Everyday after shower, I like to use hand cream to seal the moisture into my skin. For the past few month I’ve been using this Hand & Nail Cream that was gifted to be in a paid collaboration with Didier Lab. I like how it kind of forms a protective film on my skin, making my hand feel smooth and moisturized. A little bit goes a long way since the cream spreads out very easily. The main ingredient that helps nourishing the skin is shea butter, which is also a pretty popular oil used in skincare products.
The only thing I don’t like about this cream is the smell. It smells too fragrant and artificial to me. That’s why I probably won’t repurchase when I finish the bottle. But besides the smell, I’ve been happy with its performance.
Hand & Nail Cream｜US$9.99｜50ml｜Find it on didierlab.com (non-affiliated, US shipping)
Da Balm-er – Red Eyed Lacquer
In between my swatch-athon, when I swatch a handful of polishes in one sitting, I usually use peel-off base coat to speed up the process and minimized acetone usage. Peeling off the polishes tend to make my nails dry as it takes away the oil on the nail plates. That’s why I use cuticle balm to serve as a barrier between my nails and the peel-off base coat. One of my favorite is Da Balm-er from Red Eyed Lacquer. It’s made of several good oil including shea butter and jojoba oil. The texture feels like solidified oil to me. Upon touching the skin, the body temperature will turn it into oil and help with absorption. It came in 1oz and 3oz bottle; the small spatula is from an empty face mask.
I actually got mine from the Schitty Valentine’s Advent a few years back. I think the scent is limited edition. But they do offer a variety of scents and unscented option. Mine feels a bit too sweet for me, but I would definitely try other scents when I finish mine because I love the texture very much.
Da Balm-er｜US$9.00/1oz or US$19.00/3oz｜15ml｜Find it on redeyedlacquer.com (US & Canada shipping)
Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream – Burt’s Bees
Next one is another cuticle balm I would use while swatching, and it’s also one that I’ve saw a lot of people’s recommendation before purchasing it myself. Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream contains sweet almond oil, vitamin E, and beeswax, providing the nourishment and reparation the skin needs, hence making your newly grown nails heathy. Comparing to Da Balm-er, this one is more solid and not as easy to spread. In winter time, when my hands are cold, it could take a good few rub to melt the balm. But this does create a barrier on the skin, keeping my hands feel moisturized for a long time. It has a natural lemon scent, which I enjoy so very much. You will certainly love it if you like citrusy fragrance. I bought mine in CVS if I remembered correctly, but it is available in a lot of retail store and on Amazon too.
Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream｜US$5.82 (approx.)｜17g｜Find it on amazon.com (affiliate link)
Liquid Nails Base Coat – ANNY
When I’m not wearing colors, I try to still wear a coat of base coat so my nails can stay protected from hitting and water. One of my favorite base coat is Liquid Nails from a German brand ANNY. It’s rich in amino acid, which is a key ingredient of protein, that can help bonding the nail plate and keep it from peeling. This is my third bottle and I’m already running low. When I use this base coat regularly, my nails feel stronger and more resistant against impact. I’ve also made a blog post for this product along with other feature products from the brand 3 years ago. My first bottle was originally gifted to me for content creation purpose, but I’ve since purchased two more. You can tell how much I love this product. However, it’s again in Traditional Chinese only. You can read it here if you like.
Since it’s a German brand, I’m sure you can easily find it in the EU countries. Unfortunately, I can’t find it online anywhere that ships to the US, not even on Amazon. If any of you know where to get it in the US, let me know in the comment and I’ll update the post.
Liquid Nails Base Coat｜15ml
Repair Mode™️ – OPI＊
Lastly, Repair Mode™️ from OPI is something I would use when I don’t have time to polish my nails. I’ve been using this for almost a year now. The instruction is to use twice a day, but I can only remember to use it before bed, and only when I’m not wearing any nail polishes. I’m not entirely sure about the mechanism behind this product, but it claims to be able to “repair” keratin (main component of nails) from within the nails. I’m skeptical with that claim, because as far as my year of research tells me, you cannot “repair” an already damaged nail. The best you can do is to stimulate healthy growth, then file/cut away the damaged part as the new nails grow out. But I suppose this product could work if it is meant to make the newborn nails bond better, hence reduce peeling and splitting. My experience with it is pretty positive. I do feel my nails getting stronger and a lot less peeling, but I’ll admit that this could be a result of multiple reasons including my health condition, and other nail care routines I’ve been implementing.
Something worth mentioning is that as I’m doing research on the ingredient of this product, I stumbled across other users’ review. Despite most of the reviews are positive, there are multiple people reporting that this product has caused Onycholysis on several of their nails. Although this did not happened to me personally, I find it alarming and would advise approaching with caution and stop using if anything abnormal happens.
Repair Mode™️｜US$24.99｜9ml｜Find it on amazon.com (affiliate link)
That’s all the nail care I’ve been using for the past few months. As briefly mentioned before, nail health can be determined by a lot of factors, the most important one being your general health condition. For the past few years, I’ve been having serious lung problem that has led to me having to surgically removed part of my lung. Since then, my health has significantly improved. I would say that’s most likely the main reason why my nails have been lookin healthier than ever. (Look below how much my nails suffer from peeling. I can’t keep them long because they would break easily) As much as I would loved to say that these products will for sure solve all of your nail problems, that is simply not true.
With that said, I still want to share these nail care items with you, because taking care of your hands and nails can definitely provide healthier looking nails. I hope you like this new theme for a blog post. I might share more items I genuinely like and have repurchased many times in the future. If you’d like to see that, or any other types of recommendation from me, let me know in the comment below. I’m always down to try new products, so I would love to hear your recommendations as well!
That’s it for today! If you want to see more post like (or not like) this in the future, feel free to subscribe to my blog or follow me on Facebook Jemima’s Nails. You can also follow me on Insta @jemima.nails for more nail art contents. To support my writing even further, consider buying me a coffee by clicking the button below! I appreciate that you’re here. See you next time!
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