By Bethany Heitman, Contributing Editor

When you think about doing an at-home manicure, you probably consider trimming your nails, moisturizing your hands and picking a pretty polish color. You may even add a nail strengthener to keep your tips in top shape. But one of the most important steps in a DIY manicure actually has nothing to do with your nails — it has to do with hydrating your cuticles.

Left untreated, your cuticles can get dry and brittle, leading to hangnails or painful cracking. Thankfully, keeping them hydrated is often as simple as rubbing on some cuticle cream. So, when we recently saw that sales on Amazon for Onsen Nail and Cuticle Cream Treatment had spiked by over 7,000%, we were intrigued — could this conditioning cream be that good? We checked it out.

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Onsen Nail and Cuticle Cream Treatment

Onsen Nail & Cuticle Cream Treatment

$14.95

$16.95

What we like

Easy applicator
Hydrating formula

Something to note

May run out quickly

I started using Onsen’s Nail and Cuticle Cream Treatment in 2023, when I stopped getting manicures at salons and started doing them myself to save money. When buying supplies, I turned to Amazon and was drawn to this treatment's positive reviews — it has a 4.4-star average rating from over 9,210 reviews. Since I started using the cream two years ago, I’ve repurchased it five times — that’s how much I like it.

The formula has Shea and cocoa butter, rice bran and jojoba oils and Japanese flower enzymes to hydrate your nail bed. One of the best things about this cream is that it absorbs virtually upon contact, so you aren’t left with oily hands. The tube also has a super pointed tip, making it easy to dab a little on each cuticle before rubbing it in.

The brand recommends applying this cream two to three times a week to keep your cuticles in good shape. I follow this application rule and can’t remember the last time I had a hangnail. However, I also find that applying it so frequently means that the small tube runs out fairly quickly — one tube lasts me four or five months.

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I’m a writer at NBC Select who covers a variety of topics, including home, tech and beauty. I have been covering major shopping events like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday for over a decade.

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Bethany Heitman

Bethany Heitman is a contributing editor at NBC Select. She began her career in 2005 at a fashion magazine and has been a journalist ever since. Heitman covers fashion, wellness, skin care, home and cleaning, where she regularly writes for NBC Select's FYI series. When she’s not typing away on her computer, she can usually be found curled up with a good book, at the park with her daughter or out walking her adorably stubborn French Bulldog.