I heard about a new product from Baroness X from my blogging friends Jenny from Lavish Layerings and Nichole from Bedlam Beauty a while ago and had to purchase it immediately when it became available. It's their Matte Cuticle Balm aka "swatcher's balm". It's designed to give you hydrated skin but leave a low sheen finish on your skin. Most oils, balms and lotions leave your skin looking greasy and too shiny, a problem mostly for people taking photos of their hands and nails (like me!). I have had trouble with this for a long time, because I take my photos in the sunlight, my camera picks up every bit of moisture on my skin and makes it gleam like crazy, which can be distracting and unattractive. This balm has great ingredients for moisturizing your thirsty cuticles, like jojoba oil, mango butter, and aloe, but also powders that leave your skin satiny instead of shiny.
Before they were offered for sale, I offhandedly mentioned that I wished it to be made with the scent Pink Sugar on their Facebook page, because it's my favorite, and the maker totally delivered! How cool is that? Demi from Baroness X generously threw in another scent of the balm in addition to the one I purchased and a Pink Sugar cuticle oil for review.
I've been using this balm every time I swatch now. It's a better alternative than the oil I was using before, then using lint-free wipes and water to help it soak in. It does need to be rubbed in well or it can kind of stay on the top of your skin. I would say this gives you a perfect matte finish if you take indoor photos. But since I take outdoor pics in the sun, my camera can still pick up a bit of shine after I use it. To fix this, I run a dab of nail prep (basically watered down rubbing alcohol) around the edges of my nail after applying the balm, and it works like a charm. Matte but moisturized skin! And the scents are terrific! Their Pink Sugar scent smelled a bit different than the one I am used to, but it still is lovely. The Peppermint scent is my favorite that I've tried so far.
The Royal Oil hydrating and healing cuticle oil she sent is in a pen sized container with a brush on one end and a pump on the other to push the oil up. The blend of quality oils she uses for this formula is vegan and contains such oils as jojoba, apricot kernel, avocado, kukui nut, and argan. (Full list of ingredients on the website.) I've been using this for more than a month and really like it. It sinks in easily and moisturizes my cuticles really well, which is what we all want right? I love the pen style of applicator too, it's very convenient! And I love that is refillable
You can buy these on the Baroness X website. The Matte Cuticle Balm is available in 10g for $5.50 (on sale now for $5), and 20g for $9.50 (on sale now for $9). The Royal Oil comes in a either a refillable 4ml pump brush pen for $8 (on sale now for $6), a 15ml bottle w/ brush for $11 (on sale now for $9), or a 15ml plastic dropper for $11 (on sale now for $9). They are available in a ton of different scents and also unscented. Their sale ends on 12/26. And a little bird told me they have a new polish collection up for pre-order!
What do you use to keep your cuticles moisturized and healthy? Cuticle care is essential to my routine and I am happy to have found these items!
❤ Kellie
Some of the products mentioned were provided for an honest review.
