Makeup & Beauty Monday: SolarOil Nail & Cuticle Care

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This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

CND SolarOilI found out about CND Essential’s SolarOil while looking for nail strengtheners on Amazon — it had a ton of great reviews so I thought I’d give it a try. My skin gets extremely dry in the winter, and this year I noticed that my nails looked pretty bad, too. They were really weak and I couldn’t grow them as long as I usually do. SolarOil’s ingredients are sweet almond oil, jojoba seed oil, rice bran oil, and Vitamin E, and it only has a slight fragrance. After using it several times a week (but not every day, as you’re supposed to), it has made a big difference –my nails are much stronger and I can grow them again. Don’t expect to be able to use your hands for many things after painting it on your nails and cuticles (and rubbing it in), because they’ll be really oily. I usually wipe the undersides of my fingers with a tissue and then I can type until it gets absorbed. SolarOil is $8.50 for 0.25 oz. at Amazon, which sounds pretty small, but it lasts for quite a while. SolarOil Nail & Cuticle Care This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Sales of note for 2/14/25 (Happy Valentine’s Day!):

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase — and extra 60% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + 15% off (readers love their suiting as well as their silky shirts like this one)
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 300+ styles $25 and up
  • J.Crew – 40% of your purchase – prices as marked
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site and storewide + extra 50% off clearance
  • Rothy’s – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – Flash sale ending soon – markdowns starting from $15, extra 70% off all other markdowns (final sale)

And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interestworking mom questions asked by the commenters!

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For lsw in case this doesn’t thread—highly recommend physical therapy for your back. Turned out my pelvis was not aligned (carrying a baby on one hip…) and I still have work to do, but just getting it back in place helped a lot (and didn’t hurt).

Thanks for all the balance bike recs! My two year olds picked it up right away and love them!

In other news, we’ve somehow broken another baby monitor. Anyone have a rec for a no-frills cheap one? Don’t need to see a little baby up close, just where a toddler is running loose in his room.

Thx!

Another thing to do with a newborn is baby massage. Depending on where you live, there might be classes (92nd Street Y does them in NYC). And there’s an RIE hook. But mostly you rub coconut or olive oil into your baby’s skin while listening to relaxing music. It’s good for babies’ neural development and has all the benefits of cuddle time.

Repost from main site – Hive, would love your ideas! If you had four days in early April and a road trip between LA and San Francisco, where would go, what would you do, and where would you stay?

We are traveling with two under 5, would love to stay in upscale hotels/resorts, want to hit up a beach or two. Am thinking of Monterey, Big Sur, Solvang.

I don’t know CA all that well so would love any tips or recommendations from those that do! Thank you so much.

I want to start weaning my 2nd off bottles over the next month. With my first, I used the Take and Toss sippy cups and they worked fine. Wanted to check if other moms found other cups they loved or whether I should just use hte T&T cups. FWIW, the Munchkin 360 cups work fine for water but he dribbles a lot over his shirt so I’m not a huge fan.

Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question a few weeks ago on nursing tops. I wanted to circle back and make my own recommendation in case anyone else is looking—the gap striped nursing 3/4 sleeve tops are really soft and comfortable. And I also just got a pair of the madewell (high-waisted) roadtripper jeans and they are SO comfortable on my 7-week PP body. I also think they look pretty great, and I’m tossing the maternity jeans I’ve been wearing in the meantime. :)

We had good luck with using Head N Shoulders (per pedi’s recommendation) every three days during bath time. Scrub his scalp but don’t let it sit long. Brush his hair/head every day. Good luck! Ours was pretty severe but it went away eventually.

Cradle cap. Ew. Does anything actually work to get rid of it or should I just buy some cute hats and wait it out? It’s mostly on his head but a bit around his eyes also (he’s six weeks).

Philadelphia with kids

Any advice on where to stay in Philadelphia for a weekend in April with 2 little kids in tow? We’ll probably opt for an airbnb for space reasons. We have an event near the museum of art on Saturday morning, and friends in the Rittenhouse and Wharton areas. My inclination is to stay near the museum for kid entertainment purposes and make our friends come to us. I hear transportation/parking in Philadelphia is not easy. Other thoughts on where to stay? We know nothing about Philadelphia, so if there is an obvious must-see for kids, please mention it!

I know this has come up before on here recently, but does anyone have any suggestions regarding organized activities for three year olds? My child will turn three later this year, and I’d like to sign her up for some stuff. I’m wondering what is too much. I have available to her swimming, dance, soccer, tumbling (through a dance academy), and basketball. I like the idea of swimming and dance. My husband probably likes the idea of swimming and either soccer or basketball. I feel strongly about swimming, but my big issue is this: swimming is two nights a week in my town. I live in a small town and really only have one option (the YMCA). Right now, I think I’ve landed on the following: sign up for swimming but only go once per week, and rotate other activities to see what she likes. If she wants or can handle three nights a week, that’s great. But it seems like a little much since she already goes to daycare full time. I do have tons of flexibility and could look at picking her up early one or two afternoons per week but would still have to get my billable hours in at another time during the day or week. We’re already doing some baby/young toddler water classes off and on, but it’s not overly substantive. I have anxiety about water and would love for her to be good with the water to ease my anxiety about it. And so that she doesn’t end up like me. Ha. So, some swim is non-negotiable.

While she’s awake, get her some sort of chair to prop her up. We got a used MacLaren rocker, and I’d also suggest the bjorn one — something that she will eventually be able to bounce a little herself. Put her where she can see you, and either put on some music or talk to her about what you’re doing. Cooking, folding laundry, talking with visitors; she’ll probably be happy just watching. The narrating what you’re doing seemed very awkward at first, but I eventually got used to it. It also doesn’t matter what you read at this point, so read whatever you want. My kid heard lots of poetry and alumni magazines back when she’d listen to anything.

You don’t need to read to her when she’s asleep — do something for yourself in that time. Just as an fyi, somewhere around 6 or 8 weeks they’re awake a lot more, and I was completely unprepared for that. My baby was only awake for feeding until about 1 pm when she was super little, and then was only awake for 1 hour stretches the rest of the day. I assumed that would continue for longer than it did.

What are developmentally appropriate cleaning up expectations for a 4 year old, and how do I get those started? Kiddo is a lovely free spirit, but I swear she empties bins on the floor for fun….this morning she emptied every clothes bin in her closet, the bucket of blocks, the bin with toy cars and trains, and the bin with doll clothes. She spilled a cup of crayons, and there were inexplicably several sheets of stickers on the floor. Plus a bunch of books were on the floor instead of in her bookshelf (which I intentionally keep empty enough to allow for easier putting away of books). All of this in the 10 minutes it took me to get dressed….so she wasn’t playing with the stuff. She was just dumping it.

When I ask her to pick up, she explains to me that this is her house too, and I can just close the door to her bedroom if I don’t like it. Which is hilarious coming from a 4 year old but….I could use some strategies for helping her understand her role as a citizen of our household too.

Following up on the adoption questions from last week … not the OP, but we’ve just signed up with a local agency to be placed on the waitlist for an infant adoption. Average time to placement is 14 months but it could be as soon as 3 or 4 (!)

So how does one go about preparing for this at work? At what point do I tell my boss? How do I stay prepared at work for a 12-week absence when I don’t know when that might happen? Should I get on a daycare waiting list now?? Help this Type A prepare for something completely unpredictable!! Agh!

I’m 7 months post part I’m with my second and so exhausted and having a really hard time accepting my new body. With my first, I was able to bounce back fairly quickly, but that has not been the case this time around. I’m watching what I’m eating and nursing but with two kids and sleep deprivation, I have not been able to fit in much exercise. I’m dreading the warmer months, because I can at least throw on a puffy coat and layers in the cold. Advice? Commiseration?

This is possibly a silly question but what do you do all day with a newborn? I’m home on maternity leave with my 3 week old. She spends probably 3-4 hours feeding most days and we do a few minutes of supervised tummy time twice per day but otherwise she’s alone in her crib, usually sleeping. I feel like I should be doing more to interact with her but I don’t know what. We do hold her and read aloud to her after most daytime feedings but she falls asleep quickly (<5 minutes) – is there any point in reading to a baby who’s asleep?