We Found The Best Cuticle Oils For Dry, Cracked Cuticles – With Tips From An Olive & June Expert

While French beauty brand L’Occitane is most famous for its hand creams, you won’t want to sleep on this nail and cuticle oil. Its nourishing formula features 30% shea oil as well as apricot and almond oils, all of which work together to soften cuticles. Bonus: Not only is it vegan, but it’s also paraben- and phthalate-free.

This fast-acting, non-sticky cuticle oil from beloved nail polish brand OPI is packed with botanicals to simultaneously soften, protect, and soothe. Ingredient highlights include antibacterial tea tree extract, anti-inflammatory aloe vera, fatty acid-loaded sunflower seed oil, antioxidant-rich green tea extract, moisturizing castor oil, and hydrating vitamin E.

Bid dry, cracked cuticles goodbye once and for all with this overnight cuticle oil from Cuccio. A holy-grail product for TV personality and podcast host, Stassi Schroeder, this cuticle oil saves her from having dry nail beds for the whole world to see – she swears the camera picks up on it.

Flowery’s Cuticle Butter is formulated with dry, delicate cuticles and nails in mind. That’s because it features several ingredients—including fatty acid-spiked staples like macadamia oil, candlenut, and evening primrose— to promote nail growth, strengthen, and hydrate. Plus, its mess-free pen formulation makes it ideal for on-the-go use. 

This cuticle serum from Olive & June stands out for its convenient pen format, which comes complete with a soft foam tip that allows for precise application. Van Iderstine calls it a “hydration-anytime formula designed to never slow you down.” Nail pros love Olive & June’s lightweight serum for its fast absorption and daily convenience.

The aptly named Kur Nourishing Cuticle Oil was specially formulated with dry cuticles in mind—and just a few drops of this weightless oil can make a world of a difference. It features deeply moisturizing key ingredients such as jojoba and sweet almond oils, as well as the brand’s signature Nourishing Florium Complex—a proprietary blend of rapeseed flower oil, cucumber extract, garlic extract, evening primrose oil, chamomile extract, and vitamin E.

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Developed specifically for damaged cuticles, this non-greasy elixir is chock-full of nourishing staples. Its hero ingredient, rose flower oil, is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, helping to soothe skin and banish redness. Moisturizing and hydrating staples such as moisturizing jojoba, argan, pomegranate, sweet almond, and hemp seed oils round out the formula.

This cuticle oil is a favorite for its controlled, mess-free, roll-on application. Despite how hydrating it is, it’s surprisingly fast-absorbing—read: no greasy residue—and lightweight. Its formula features 97% natural ingredients, including ultra-nourishing apricot kernel and jojoba oils.

This easy-to-apply balm formulation from Badger is made with East African shea butter to soothe and nourish dry, split cuticles. It also offers a blend of moisturizing essential oils such as geranium, mandarin, lemongrass, and ginger, which, as a bonus, provides a mild and refreshing citrus scent.

At under $10 per bottle, this conditioning cuticle cream from beloved drugstore brand Sally Hansen is a total steal. Its fast-absorbing, ultra-moisturizing formula is rich in emollients such as shea butter and apricot oil. Plus, a little goes a long way, which means the bottle will last for weeks—if not months—to come.

This cuticle cream from Dermelect stands out for its innovative formulation, which features a peptide extracted from—get this—sheep’s wool from New Zealand—to help restore delicate, dry cuticles and nails. Rounding out the formula are tried-and-true staples such as hyaluronic acid, green tea, shea butter, and several vitamins (A, C, and E).

Remove dry, overgrown cuticles within minutes—that is, sans any pain or clipping required—using butter LONDON’s aptly named Melt Away Cuticle Exfoliator.  Its star ingredient, Irish moss (aka sea moss), is rich in vitamins A and K to promote strong, healthy nails and cuticles. Carrageenan extract—derived from red seaweed—offers a hefty dose of moisturization, too.

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