Cuticle Oil Review And Comparison

Cuticles oils ready to review

I will be reviewing Essence Studio Nails Caring Nail Oil, Celestial Cosmetics Eclipse Cuticle Oil, Peita’s Polish Cuticle Oil, OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil, Fox and Owl Cuticle Oil, CND Essentials Solar Oil, Two Birds Cuticle Oil, Bliss Kiss Simply Pure Hydrating Oil and Dadi’ Oil. First, I will go through why using cuticle oil is a necessary part of nail care. If you already know this, you can skip straight to the individual oil reviews below.My holy grail cuticle oil that brings my nails back from complete dehydration is Dadi’ Oil. I wrote a review on it a while ago. This oil is labelled as a “nail treatment” but any good cuticle oil could be labelled that too. A good cuticle oil can penetrate the nail bed, hydrating the top layers of your nail therefore making the nail stronger, more flexible and less likely to peel. Rubbing cuticle oil into the nail matrix will help to stimulate nail growth and hydrate the cuticle so that it shrinks, meaning less hangnails occur. If you rub any excess oil into the polish on your nail, it can help keep the polish flexible and make it last longer. The definition of a “good” cuticle oil seems to depend on the person you are talking to. There is debate around whether or not cuticle oil can actually penetrate the nail plate. Nail Care HQ blog has two good articles. One about oil penetrating the nail plate and one about oil penetrating polish. Ana at Nail Care HQ makes Bliss Kiss Pure Oil (that I review below) so there is a lot of advertising for her product but the information can be applied to any cuticle oil with the ingredients mentioned. The majority of papers and posts I have read conclude that Jojoba Oil is the best carrier oil to use in cuticle oil, some also believe that sweet almond oil works well too. Jojoba Oil is a small molecule so it is able to penetrate the layers of the nail plate where other oils can’t. When Jojoba Oil is combined with other oils like Vitamin E, it can carry the Vitamin E Oil with it through the layers of the nail plate, hence the name carrier oil. You will see from my review below that I have personally had the best results with cuticle oils that contain Jojoba Oil.

The first time I used cuticle oil it was a bit of a shock. I didn’t realise they would be so oily – I know I know, it has oil in the name. It didn’t take me long to get used to oiling my cuticles and now I love the feeling of the oil on my cuticles and will re-oil as soon as it has soaked in. In winter I also sometimes need to use cuticle cream for extra dry bits but most of the time I just need cuticle oil to keep my nails and cuticles well hydrated and looking nice. You can always tell how much I have been using cuticle oil by the condition of my cuticles. Some cream products have aggregated my eczema but I haven’t found this to be a big problem with oils.

Ok, enough babbling, now onto the review.

Essence Cuticle Oil is the cheapest and easiest to obtain out of all these oils so if you’re new to cuticle oils, you can go get this to see if oiling your cuticles is something you want to do. This product absorbs like my favourite oils so you need to rub it into the cuticles and then wait a little while for it to absorb but it doesn’t moisturise as well as my favourite oils. It seems to be that Sunflower Seed Oil is the only oil in this product alongside a lot of long words that I don’t know, which isn’t a good sign. Ingredients can be viewed on the essence website.

Essence Studio Nails Caring Nail Oil

 

The Celestial Cosmetics Cuticle Oil is the only oil I have in a rollerball bottle. I’m not a big fan of the rollerball as it doesn’t release much product with one roll so I have to roll over my sensitive cuticles many times to get the amount of oil I like. The Eclipse Oil absorbs into the skin faster than any other oil I have tried but it doesn’t leave my cuticles moisturised enough for my liking (it could also be that I get a slight reaction to the oil as my reactions are like dry skin). If you are someone who doesn’t like the oily feeling on your cuticles then this might work for you as the oil doesn’t stay on the skin long. You will have to apply more regularly to get the moisturising benefits though. I have the apple cinnamon scent which is far too sweet for my liking but I hear the cucumber melon is really popular. The lovely Nicki who runs Celestial Cosmetics told me the oil is made from Hazelnut, Avacado and Jojoba Oils plus Vitamin E.

Celestial Cosmetics Eclipse Cuticle Oil

 

Peita’s Polish Cuticle Oil comes in a standard square polish bottle but with a thinner brush than you use for polish. I’m not sure what the scent is, it’s not overpowering but also not appealing either. The oil does moisturise the cuticles but just not as much as the oils below. I wasn’t able to find out the ingredients of this oil so you will need to email the company if you have allergies.

Peita’s Polish Cuticle Oil

I have the OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go which comes in a squeeze tube with brush head. OPI explains this product as a “thick gel consistency for easy, non-drip usage on the go lock-tight closure that enables leak proof carrying”. When I painted the oil on, it came out just as any other oil and if I used too much I would get a puddle of oil just like any other oil product so I don’t know what the “gel consistency” is about. The packaging is handy as it safe for travel and the smell is quite refreshing. It is pleasant to use but it didn’t hydrate my cuticles as well as other products have, which I think comes down to the ingredients. Avoplex Cuticle Oil contains Avocado Oil, octal palmaotatate, lecithin, capryliic triglyceride, alcohol, methylparaben, parfumerie and tocopherol.

OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go

 

Fox and Owl Polish Cuticle Oil comes in a thin twist click pen with sponge tip applicator. This product is very easy to use and is the one oil I can use without looking at my application because of the sponge tip. The main ingredient in the oil is Jojoba Oil with the scented oil of your choice. I chose the lemon scent as I love the smell of citrus on my cuticles. This could be a great product for people with sensitivities as there aren’t many ingredients in it.

Fox and Owl Polish Cuticle Oil

CND Essentials Solar Oil

 

Two Birds Lacquer Cuticle Oil comes in a thick twist click pen with brush tip applicator. I really enjoy using this pen and it’s great for travel as it doesn’t leak. Two Birds Oil contains Jojoba Oil, Sweet Almond Oil and either Lavender or Ylang Ylang Oil depending on which scent you choose. Ylang Ylang Oil has antiseptic properties and helps to maintain oil balance of the skin. Lavender Oil has antiseptic and antifungal properties. I don’t particularly like the smell of either Ylang Ylang or Lavender but I really enjoy the unscented version. I have used the unscented version on particularly dry parts of my body and it has helped a lot.

Two Birds Lacquer Cuticle Oil

Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil comes in a 2ml thin twist click brush tip pen and 15ml dropper bottle. The pens are small but the idea is to get the dropper bottle to refill the pens so that you get value for your money and create less waste. I love companies who think about the environment. I tried using the dropper bottle by itself but it releases too much product at a time. I have had a go at refilling my pen and I found it really easy to follow the basic instructions given. I have two of the pens, one which works really well but the other doesn’t seem to let out the oil properly. It seems to be that the second pen of mine is faulty and I don’t know what proportion of pens would be faulty, so just keep that in mind when purchasing. I have had this oil for over 4 months and I have had great results with it. Pure Oil is very similar to Dadi’ Oil in the sense that it takes a couple of minutes for the main bulk of oil to be absorbed and about 15 for the the last bits of oil to be absorbed. My cuticles are so soft after using this, I can really feel the moisturising effect, which I can’t with many other oils. Bliss Kiss is a product of Nail Care HQ blog which has lots of great nail information but there is also a lot of self promotion too. The information on the site is a great place to start it you’re looking into the chemistry of nails. The Crisp smell is a lovely citrus scent but you can also get unscented or choose a seasonal scent. Bliss Kiss Pure Oil contains Jojoba Wax Ester, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Grape Seed Oil, Vitamin A Oil, Vitamin E Oil, Tea Tree Oil and fragrance oils.

Bliss Kiss Simply Pure Nail Oil Pack

 

As I’ve explained previously, Dadi’ Oil is a long time favorite of mine. This oil has a deep yellow colour and has a lovely citrus smell. When my nails and cuticles are dry I know I can go back to this oil and it will fix the problems if I use it often enough. This product comes in a small and large bottle which I love but it does mean that if the bottle is knocked over, all the product is lost. Dadi’ Oil is 95% organic and contains Avocado Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Jojoba  Oil, Natural Vitamin E and 21 essential oils for fragrance. I really like that that this oil includes certified organic products. I purchase my Dadi’ Oil from Ottoman3.

Dadi’ Oil Nail Treatment

The Verdict

The three cuticle oil pens, Bliss Kiss, Two Birds and Fox and Owl are my favourite applicators. They don’t leak and are the perfect size to put in a handbag or have in multiple places around the home. My favourite oils for the moisturisation benefits are Dadi and Bliss Kiss, very closely followed by Two Birds. From my experience it seems that Jojoba makes a big difference when it comes to moisturisation and the inclusion of Vitamin E adds to the effect. Many of these oils have similar ingredients but I don’t know the percentage of each ingredient in each oil, so I think that’s what is making the difference between them. Two Birds and Fox and Owl are both small Australian online companies so their products are easily accessible here without a big shipping charge. They both have minimal ingredients so would be a good place to start for people with sensitivities but if you’re allergic to nuts, remember to stay away from sweet almond oil. I love the scents of Dadi Oil, Bliss Kiss Crisp and Fox and Owl lemon but that’s a personal preference. Bliss Kiss and Two Birds both advertise their scent free versions which are great to use on other dry parts of the body. I personally don’t like Celestial Cosmetics Eclipse Oil because it doesn’t moisturise my cuticles like the others do but I do have a friend who loves it because she doesn’t like the oily feeling on her cuticles, so you may want to take that into account.

I hope this cuticle oil review and comparison has helped you in some way. Just remember that everyone’s nail chemistry is different so these products will work differently for each person.

Which cuticle oil is your favourite to use?