DIY Cuticle Oil Recipe with Essential Oils | Strengthens Nails (2024)

May 3, 2022August 16, 2018 by Karla

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A nail strengthening cuticle and nail oil recipe with essential oils you can DIY at home in just a few minutes.

This homemade, natural, essential oil cuticle recipe is so good, you could sell it.

This is the very same cuticle oil recipe I used to sell when I had my own soap and body products business. I would take this nail strengthening cuticle oil to markets and craft shows and always sold out. My customer’s RAVED about this cuticle oil. They said it smelled divine (it really does), worked wonderfully and quickly on rough cuticles, and strengthened their nails.

I originally came up with this homemade cuticle oil for my mom, who called me from the store one day to ask which cuticle oil she should buy. After she read me some of the ingredients on her top choices, I told her to put them all back and that I would make her one. They were all filled with chemicals, preservatives and artificial fragrances – yuck!

Do you want to know the best part about this cuticle oil recipe? It is SO EASY to make. Plus, it’s made with completely natural and good for you ingredients (okay, that was 2 best parts, but I couldn’t pick just 1). This recipe will be ready in minutes and your cuticles (and nails!) will be thanking you.

There are lots of wonderful, skin-healthy oil choices to use in your homemade cuticle oil. I’ve chosen olive, avocado and jojoba oils as the base because they are nourishing, absorb well and are all relatively easy to purchase. If you haven’t tried jojoba oil for nails before, you are going to love it in this cuticle oil! It is a rich and nourishing oil that is so wonderful in homemade skincare products.

Fun fact: did you know jojoba oil is the closest of any oil to the oils your own skin creates?

If you don’t have all of these on hand, don’t worry! You can use pure olive oil for your cuticle oil and it will still turn out lovely. Almond oil is also a very nice substitute for either avocado or jojoba oil.

You can also leave out the jojoba if you need to (although it is SUCH a wonderful addition, I hope you don’t ;). I have made this recipe with half olive oil and half avocado before and it did the job well.

note: When choosing an olive oil for skincare products, I look for a mild or ‘pomace’ oil that is lighter in color and scent. I keep a small bottle of mild olive oil on hand specifically for making my own skincare products at home.

Looking for the perfect hand cream to pair with your homemade nail oil? Try this Wild Rose hand cream from NYR Organics. It’s so nourishing and works like a charm!

There are a number of great essential oils to choose from that are beneficial to cuticles and nails. The 3 I have selected for this recipe are lavender, rosemary and lemon. These 3 essential oils smell fabulous mixed together, they are known to strengthen nails and are all antibacterial.

Other amazing essential oils for nails and cuticles to consider are:

• Tea tree
• Carrot seed
• Grapefruit
• Cypress
• Eucalyptus

My absolute favorite essential oils are from Plant Therapy. They are high quality, reasonably priced and they have a wonderful selection. I especially love their KidSafe line, with special blends that include only kid safe essential oils.

If you’d like to purchase direct from Plant Therapy, you can get 10% off sitewide with a $60 purchase plus get free shipping. Use code 10OFF60.

This recipe fills 2 regular size (0.35 oz) roller bottles. I prefer to put cuticle oil in roller ball bottles for ease of application, but you could also use a glass dropper bottle, empty nail polish bottle, or even an old lip gloss tube.

I do like to reuse containers for projects like this whenever I can, so if you have something around the house that will work for you, please give it a try and let me know what you used!

• 3 Tsp olive oil
• 1/2 Tsp avocado oil
• 1 Tsp jojoba oil
• 10 drops Vitamin E
• 12 drops lavender essential oil
• 12 drops rosemary essential oil
• 12 drops lemon essential oil

Blend ingredients together and pour into containers. What did I tell you – this cuticle oil recipe couldn’t be any easier!

I used my favorite aromatherapy book for guidance on the essential oils to use in this cuticle oil recipe. I have had this book for 10 years and it never fails me!

Make it a Mani-Day

Pair this nourishing, DIY cuticle oil with an herbal nail soak to strengthennails and a easy, exfoliating hand scrub. You’re hands and nails will look (and feel) so good you’ll forget you skipped the salon!