Cuticle Oil Comparison
By Melanie Parker
When cold, dry weather is causing your nails to split, there is nothing like a little cuticle oil to strengthen nails and prevent peeling and hang nails. For years, Creative Nail Design's (CND) SolarOil has been the cuticle oil of choice. It's orbtastic bottle and powerful sounding name drew me in years ago. Now, China Glaze has an Orange Cuticle Oil that I had to try.
I have found SolarOil to be effective on bare nails as an all-over strengthening treatment. It seems to make my whites whiter and I feel like it preps my cuticles for removal better. But, being a nail polish collector, the times I have bare nails are few and far between. I primarily paint the SolarOil on my cuticles at the base of my nails in a horse-shoe shape. The oil doesn't hurt nail polish, but it doesn't really help it either, so concentrate the oil on your cuticles by lightly massaging it into the cuticle ridge and skin around the nails.
The new China Glaze Orange Cuticle Oil hooked me in because I love China Glaze and was excited to see them getting into the nail treatments. However, the packaging isn't very unique. It's the regular China Glaze handle and bottle shape, but the glass is frosted. It doesn't look unique compared to the polishes in my cabinet, so I have to keep it in a separate area to find it easily. It applies a little runnier than the SolarOil to me. I had trimmed off some vicious hang nails, and I used the Orange Cuticle Oil nightly for a week to get my cuticles back in shape. I had a rough, cracked knuckle on my pinkie from the winter weather, and I painted some oil on that patch nightly, too. The results were great. Just the same as I have come to expect with SolarOil.
So, it came down to smell. The SolarOil consists of sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, rice bran oil, almond fragrance, and tacopheryl acetate. The China Glaze Orange Cuticle Oil has about 2 times as many ingredients and the label is so tiny that I can't even read them. It starts out with Latin names for the sweet almond and orange oils, which is completely unnecessary. As much as I love orange and lemon scents, this oil smells exactly like OrangeGlo furniture polish to me. Whereas, SolarOil smells like delicious almond cookies. I'm sticking with the CND Solar Oil.
Some tips for working with cuticle oils are to make sure the nail is completely clean before applying a base coat. Swipe with alcohol or throughly wash and dry hands before applying a base coat and color. Also, in a pinch, warm extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) can be used as a nail and cuticle soak.
Disclosure: Products featured in this review were purchased by Melanie Parker
Labels: Melanie Parker Reviews, nail treatments, Product Purchase
posted by Annieytown @ 7:38 AM
6 Inspired Comments
6 Inspired Comments:
i love light elegance nail oils...it's intended for people with gel nails, but i use it anyways...it's hard to find, your salon has to use that brand of gel overlay to carry it, but i found this link online...and it smells better than solar oil, because it has lavender in it! try it out, you might prefer it, and it doesn't effect nailpolish.
http://www.enailsupply.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1998
Great post. I keep meaning to track down Solar Oil. At the moment I'm using generous amounts of Aesop Resurrection hand balm to keep my cuticles in shape, but I think I need something more specific.
As an aside, if you ever get a chance to try Aesop Resurrection, do it! It's a cult product here in Australia but it doesn't look like our American counterparts have cottoned on. It smells like rich hippie, is deeply moisturising and absorbs really quickly. Try it!
I love Solar Oil. I carry a bottle around in my purse! I love the way it smells, and it's extremely effective at keeping my cuticles neat and soft.
you should try Qtica Cuticle Oil Gel. It is way better than any other I have EVER tried. It's not messy and it really works.
thank you for warning me about the OrangeGlo smell.
I have the strongest, longest nails on the planet, and very neat cuticles. Over the years, I have found that there is no need for specific nail oils or creams: a good handcream is all one needs. It's the massaging that does the trick. :-)
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