Best Cuticle Cream? Wish I Knew...

As I have gotten older, my nails show my age more than anything else.  They are brittle and break at the slightest provocation instead of being the flexible, healthy nails of my youth.

And don't even get me started on my cuticles. 

Actually, do get me started.  I'm looking for a cuticle cream that actually works.  Not just one that glops on thick and tries to pretend to do something useful...no, no, I have a drawer full of half-used tubes and pots of that, thank you.

No, what I really want is something that works:  softens the dry and rough spots, soaks in to really moisturize the nail beds a little more, helps take off the raggedy bits...in short, something that works.

Back in the day, Bliss spa made a fantastic cuticle cream -- Nail + Cuticle Super Groom, or something like that -- that was sold publicly and not just used internally on their spa customers.  I absolutely loved the stuff.  And so did my nails.  It had a lovely orange-y scent and I bought it two tubes at a time for several years -- one for my purse and one for my nightstand -- because it made my hands so happy.

And then, of course, they stopped selling it.

In the years since it went off the market, I have tried, sadly in vain, to find a decent replacement.  Here's what I've found lacking thus far:


--  Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream:  smells lovely, feels nice, doesn't quite do the trick.

-- L'Occitane Shea Butter:  Smells like heaven, goes on meltingly well, moisturizes for a bit and then wears off as if it had never been on my cuticles.  SIGH

-- OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil:  Same as L'Occitane for me -- smells amazing, moisturizes well for a bit, and then my skin goes right back to where it was a few hours later.  Arrrrgh.

-- Healthy Hoof Intensive Protein Treatment and Cuticle Cream:  This goes on thick and rich, and does make a little difference.  But not quite enough.  The best part of this cream is that it is relatively inexpensive and I can find it at my local CVS here in WV, as opposed to chasing it down via internet order from NYC.  But, alas, it isn't the Bliss Spa stuff.

Is there a product that works for you?  Please let me know.  My horribly brittle nails and raggy cuticles thank you in advance. 

I'll keep looking, and will post a review as I try something new. 


(Photo via shaggyhill.)