Winter Saviours: Nails

My nails really suffer at the hands of winter; nails constantly breaking and the skin around the nail bed starts cracking - all in all, not a pretty sight. There are a few products, however, that have made my witch hands a little more age appropriate looking.

First off is your standard hand cream (not pictured) which I apply liberally morning and night, and a little periodically throughout the day if my hands feel really dry, which is often the case with the central heating blasting. At the moment I am using a Ragdale Hall one, which I believe is a spa's line of products, but is available at Marks and Spencer here at a reasonable price for the amount of product you get, £6 for 100ml. This cream is quite thick and very moisturising as it contains sweet almond oil and lanolin, however I do find it takes a while to sink in. The second hand cream I have on the go is by L'Occitane in a lovely desert rose scent (this is a limited edition) which is equally as nourishing, containing shea butter, but sinks in just that bit quicker, however does come in more expensive, £19 for 150ml.

To really target my cuticles and banish those ragged edges, I'v been reaching for two products: Flexitol Cuticle and Nail Cream and OPI Avoplex Nail and Cuticle Replenishing Oil. The Flexitol tube isn't one for your night stand to display however the product within the basic packaging does the job, and that's what really matters right? To use it I dab a tiny amount (a little goes a long way) on each finger at night, as it can be a little greasy, and massage it into my nail bed and on my nails. This cream has really improved my cuticles and any hangnails I had and although it may seem a little pricey for the small tube (£5.10 for 20g from Boots), it will last you a long time and it is definitely worth it. The OPI oil is also pretty expensive, £16.50 for 15ml from Boots, however I reckon this too will last a long time and it really nourishes my cuticles and restores them back to good condition. I simply swipe this across the nails beds of each hand and rub them together to massage it in, again I recommend doing this at night before bed as it does take a while to properly sink in.

Finally, to rescue my breaking nails I use OPI Nail Envy (£18.65 from Boots, however I'd keep a look out in the sales of John Lewis as I managed to nab this and the oil in a duo set for £18). During winter as soon as my nails reached a decent length they would just rip at the base, not only annoying but painful too. Applying a layer of this polish every day for a couple of weeks has majorly improved the strength of my nails and actually given them a chance to grow before breaking, and now I use it as a base coat before applying nail polish. This is very expensive and I maybe wouldn't use this all year round in order to make it last longer, especially as in the summer my nails are generally in a lot better condition due to the sun, however I would highly recommend using this if, like me, the winter really takes it toll.