Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil Review

A few months back, Essie was offering customers a sample of its new Apricot Cuticle Oil. Sign me up, right?! I thought maybe they would send out mini sample bottles…nope. I shouldn’t have been surprised but was a smidge disappointed when I got a postcard with a sample pod on it instead. Hmph!

Womp, womp

Essie instructs users to start your mani with its cuticle oil. Or, according to the back of the above postcard:

I can follow directions pretty well, so I started with bare, plain jane nails. Here are my naked nails before using Essie’s Apricot Cuticle Oil –

Up close & personal

Next, I wrestled with that little pod for about ten minutes. It has a perforated tear off top – handy, right? You’d think, but no. I folded the flyer at the perforations, tore, andddd…nothing. It didn’t open. I pulled. I tugged. I bit. Finally, I cut. Then I had to squeeze and squeeze to get a dribble of the oil out. Man did Essie make me work for it!

I dabbed the oil on my fingertips, then massaged it into my nails and the surrounding nail beds.

Immediately after applying

After massaging the oil in

After letting the oil sit

The Apricot Oil does have quite a few pros. It’s quick to absorb and doesn’t leave your fingers feeling greasy after it is massaged in and given time to sink into skin and nails. It left my cuticles and nails looking both smoother and healthier. The best thing about this oil? It smells light and fruity  🙂  The con is that this oil was hard for me to control. I think the majority of this problem was due to packaging though – using a brush and bottle will probably make applying this oil a breeze. Darn you and your pod samples, Essie!

You can purchase Essie’s Apricot Cuticle Oil for $8 at mass beauty product stores like Target, major beauty retailers like Ulta, or online.

Have you tried this cuticle oil yet? What’s your holy grail cuticle treatment?

 

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Lush Love – Lush Lemony Flutter Review & Swatches

My brother and I have this issue with dry skin; we both get really dry skin that sometimes gets rough looking or cracks…and then bleeds…and then looks disgusting. And, for some reason, neither of us are the type of people who tend to reach for lotion. My mom sometimes spots our thirsty-looking hands and will talk about how when my brother was little, his hands would get so dry that his knuckles would bleed. He refused to let her put lotion on though because “lotion is for girls,” so she’d sneak into his room while he was asleep and rub it into his hands.

Maybe this explains my mother’s peer pressure when it came to my purchasing Lush’s Lemony Flutter. I had heard more than a few glowing reviews of Lush’s cuticle butter and responded with “Pffffffff,” to all of them because…well…I’m me. I guess something that people were saying burrowed into my mind though because I was vaguely curious. Then one day last month I was out shopping with my mom and spotted Lush (a fresh, eco-friendly handmade cosmetics company, for those of you unfamiliar with it).

I decided to duck inside – why not? My mother got instantly whisked off by a worker to get a hand wash/scrub/massage/treatment and left me to roam alone. I went to sniff the bath bombs; a worker instantly popped up and started tossing them in tubs of water so I could see them in action and feel the bubbles. I went to sniff a soap smoothie; next thing I knew, a different worker was pushing up my sleeve and rubbing my arm down with the smoothie while she described ancient Egyptian bathing practices. Holy customer service, Lush! I tip my hat to you and your obliging salespeople. By the time my mom got back to me from her impromptu spa session, I was poking at a container of Lemony Flutter. “Just get it. You’ll use it. You probably need it.”  “No, Mom. It’s freakin 17 bucks for cuticle butter. I don’t need it. Do you know how many headbands I could get at Forever 21 for that?”  “Probably 16 if we’re thinking about tax. You don’t need those though. Quit poking the butter and just get it.” “We’re leaving without the butter!”  And we did…except we were still at the mall. And I kept poking at my cuticles and knuckles. Of course my mom noticed and would randomly be like, “Just get it. You could use it. It’s good stuff. Feel my hands again” or “Jay, I see that look on your face. Should we just go back now? Just get it and get it over with.” I now own it, so obviously I went back (the salespeople just gave me a knowing smile when I walked back in…they knew I’d get it all along).

For those of you unfamiliar with Lemony Flutter, it’s a very thick, lemony cream made of goodies like fresh organic lemon infusion (I feel fancy even typing that), shea butter, beeswax, and all kinds of oils…soya, avocado, flaxseed, coconut, you name it.  It comes in a sturdy 1.5 oz. container made from recycled plastic (which you are encouraged to get refilled or bring back to the store once your Flutter is empty).

As previously noted, Lush products are handmade. Not only do they hand-make it, the company tells you who made your product, when they made it, and when you need to use it by. And they give you a little cartoon of your product’s maker. So nifty! And a big shout-out to Reya, the guy who made my pot of Lemony Flutter.

The butter itself is a light gray-ish yellow (is that a color? now it is), and has a lemony scent with a hint of something else thrown in. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the scent. I smell it and am immediately like “Agh, that’s not lemon! What is that other thing I smell??” (the oils, maybe? the lanolin?) and then the lemon creeps in kind of like an after-scent. On the plus side, the cream is very thick and rich.

Swiped onto dry-ass knuckles, not blended

Blended out on the left

The pros:

1. As noted, it’s super rich and creamy. It feels really nice on dry, thirsty skin and nails.
2. A little goes a long way. Even though this bad boy cost me $16.95, it’ll last a long time.
3. You can feel good about your purchase knowing that you bought something handmade out of fresh ingredients and that it’s made by an ethical company. Plus if you bring back 5 clean Lush pots for them to recycle, you get a free fask mask.
4. It does soften skin!

The cons:

1. It is pretty greasy and can take awhile to absorb, even after you massage it in. I currently have it on my feet while I type and it looks like I dipped my toes in my butter container. I can’t wait to see how much carpet fuzz sticks to my greasy toes when I get up in a few minutes to start dinner, haha.
2. The lemon is supposed to brighten your skin and lighten your nails. I don’t know about all of that. So far, no. Maybe in the long run? Time will tell.
3. It’s hard to spend $16.95 on cuticle butter.

Overall, I’m happy that I splurged and got this for myself (and I guess thanks for the peer pressure, Mom). By now I have enough tubs of cuticle butter to last me for the next 5 years, but at least I’ll have super soft hands. My wallet is fearful of my next trip to Lush though…they really suck you in with all those product demos! You can snag your own pot of Lemony Flutter in Lush stores or on the company website for $16.95/1.5oz.

What’s your favorite cuticle butter or cream? If you’ve been in store or purchased products, what do you think of Lush?

 

Mmmm…Pretty and Polished Mint Chocolate Chip Super Balm Review

Holy cannoli, this product has such a long name! If you’ve read my blog before (if not, check out older posts!), you’ve seen the reviews for Pretty and Polished nail polish. I’m a fan of creator Chels’ polish, but have never strayed from polish purchases on her site. I was on her site waiting for her St. Patty’s polishes to go live and decided to poke around for a change. I came across the Bath and Body section and she’s got some pretty cool stuff there! I decided to order one of the yummiest sounding products in that section – a Mint Chocolate Chip cuticle balm. Mmmm!

According to Chels, “Our balms are designed to help you fight the dryness of your cuticles and other areas of your skin. Balms comes in white wall containers with ingredients listed on the side. Just rub your fingers into the tub and feel the balm melt like butter.” Or as I like to say, like buttah. She makes her balms with cruelty free essential oils, designed to melt onto the skin and nourish dry cuticles and hands. I currently use Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (review here), but decided why not try this one for a comparison?

I love the little ice cream drawing!

My camera got finicky on this one. That’s why it looks like it says “coffee butler” instead of “butter”…I wish this balm came with a coffee butler! I think it should also say “May make you hungry” under the Warning header.

There was a choice of two sizes for the other balms but not for this “flavor.” There is no size listing on the tub or on the website for this balm, so I decided to take a picture of it in my palm so you can see sizing. For some reason, this is also the only cuticle cream listed as “super balm” on the container. I’m not sure there is a difference between this and the other cuticle creams though?

It’s bigger than I had thought when I ordered it, which is always a great surprise! The picture of the balm itself on the site looks smooth, like Burt’s cuticle cream. I was a little surprised when I took the top off and it was actually a little gritty/chunky. It looks like gooseflesh and I’m not sure if it’s supposed to? Check it out –

After I pushed down on it to apply some

Although the smooth parts were obviously smooth, the balm picked up from the goose-bumpy looking parts did feel a little chunky until I really rubbed it in. At that point, it melted away on my fingertips. This formula definitely is a lot oilier than Burt’s, as you can see in this picture of it on and around my nails –

All that shine is balm. It took some time to sink into my skin. I could smell the chocolate better on my skin than in the tub, although it was like an afternote; mint definitely dominates the scent of this product.

The pros:

1. It smells minty fresh, with a dash of chocolate.
2. You get a pretty big container of this! This will last me quite a long time.
3. The product is just a batch of essential oils and butters, meaning it is essentially straight nourishment for your hands.
4. To quote the maker, Chels – “Coffee butter is said to have a 4.5 pH balance – which is the same as human skin. So feel free to use this balm on your cuticles or on any other dry patches you may have!” So I also put this on my knuckles, which get pretty scratchy.
5. The price is fabulous.

The cons:

1. I put this on and then read a book a few minutes later – my book jacket now has little oil fingerprints allll over it.
2. It’s significantly oilier/greasier than Burt’s Bees; while the ingredients in this one are fewer and still all natural, you have to really let it sink into your skin so that con #1 doesn’t happen.
3. I wish it smelled a little more like chocolate  😦

My verdict? I have no idea what official size this container is but it will definitely be worth the $5 I paid for it. Yes, only $5, you read that right. It’s less than a full-sized Burt’s cuticle cream and you get more. Holla! (sorry, I had to)  You can buy this cuticle balm or another yummy-scented one from the Pretty and Polished website. Prices vary by size and scent.

Nailed it! Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

My skin is still going haywire, so today I bring you another nail/skin product – Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

Meet Burt

I had heard about this product before but never bought it because I had never needed it…until recent months. Winter weather dries my skin out like nobody’s business. Cold air comes around and just like that my hands turn red and chapped – not pleasant! I also have a polish addiction, which means I’m constantly putting polish on and taking it off. My nails can get a little brittle. Okay, a lot brittle (I broke a nail opening cereal a week or so ago – how does that even happen?). So I finally caved and bought Burt’s Cuticle Cream, although not the full-size product.

Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream is a blend of Lemon Peel Oil, Beeswax, Sweet Almond Oil, Cocoa Seed Butter, Vitamin E, Rosemary Extract, and Sunflower Oil. These ingredients work together to moisturize and soften cuticles while nourishing brittle nails. Basically, it’s a fix for fingertips that are in need of some lovin.

How do you use it? Wash your hands and then massage the cream into cuticles/nails. Easy peasy. Here is how the cream looks in the pot (after multiple uses) –

And freshly rubbed onto my nekkid nails/cuticles –

Nail nudity! The cream makes my nails look a little greasy, but not my cuticles.

The pros:

1. It’s got a nice, fresh lemon scent. I don’t really like lemons, but I like the clean scent of this cuticle cream. It’s a little like Pledge and a lemon drop mixed, which doesn’t sound good but I actually don’t mind it.
2. It absorbs fairly quickly provided you massage it in.
3. It works quickly to soften cuticles and nourish nails. The night I bought this I reapplied it every hour or so because I was loving how nice my nail area looked and felt after use.
4. My nails are no longer peeling and are not breaking as easily. I didn’t have horrible cuticles but they still feel better after using this.

The cons:

1. Lemon-scented things aren’t everyone’s jam. The scent doesn’t really linger but if you can’t stand that scent at all, you probably want to steer clear of this.
2. You end up with greasy fingers if you don’t massage it in.
3. This little tin can be a pain in the rumpus to open! I have to kind of wiggle it off half the time. Or hand it to my hubs since the tin seems to like him better.
4. It’s not actually a cream, as the name suggests. It’s like a hardened oil that melts with skin contact. I knew it contained oils because of the main ingredients, but figured they were worked into a cream. Nope. I could have probably guessed this texture though had I looked at the full ingredients list, which lists canola and vegetable oil at the end. I don’t mind the texture, but I think I would prefer a cream that I could scoop out and really rub into my nails – with this formula, you rub your finger through the pot and apply onto the nail area from that finger.

My verdict? I like this product; I can definitely see a change in my cuticles/nails after repeated use. It didn’t totally knock my socks off, but I can see myself repurchasing once this tin is empty. Lotion alone doesn’t cut it or help my nails, so I do need a product like this one. Try using it overnight so it can really work some magic on your fingers. I also rub this into my knuckles when they start to become painfully dry. I’ve heard that people have used this on/around lips and undereyes for moisture there but doubt I’ll try that for myself – I don’t want to accidentally ingest this or get lemon oils in my eye as the product is not intended for either of those areas.

You can purchase the full-size version of this product through Burt’s Bees for $6. It’s also available wherever Burt’s Bees products are sold, such as major drugstores (like CVS), mass goods stores (like Target), and beauty retailers (like Ulta). Keep an eye out for gift sets if you want to try this product but not buy it at full size – I got my small tin in a gift set with a Burt’s chapstick for about $4.00.