Metanail Complex^™: Stronger-Looking Nails & Healthier Feet, Drop by Drop

Witch hazel is a classic skin-care botanical, valued for centuries as a gentle astringent. On the official page it is grouped with Scots pine and horsetail as one of the formula's opening trio. Its traditional role is to help tone and tighten the look of skin and to support a clean, comfortable surface around the nail — which is why it appears in so many skin toners and after-shave products. In a nail serum, it helps keep the skin around the nail feeling fresh and well-cared-for rather than puffy or irritated.

Scots pine is the second member of the vendor's opening trio, and it brings the sharp, clean character of pine oils to the formula. Pine extracts are traditionally used in skin and foot care for their refreshing, cleansing quality — think of pine in foot soaks and balms. In Metanail Complex it is paired with witch hazel and horsetail to support the overall condition of the nails and the skin of the feet, contributing to the formula's "total wellbeing" approach rather than targeting one narrow concern.

Horsetail is one of the oldest plants on Earth, and it is also one of the richest natural sources of silica — the mineral that helps give structure to hair, skin and nails. Traditional herbal practice has used horsetail for exactly this reason, and modern interest focuses on the same thing: silica's association with strong, resilient keratin. In the formula it completes the opening trio with witch hazel and Scots pine, and it is one of the main reasons the serum is positioned as a strength-supporting product rather than a simple moisturiser.

Gotu kola — Centella asiatica — is a staple of Ayurvedic skin care, where it is valued for supporting the skin's protective function and its ability to maintain itself. The official page credits gotu kola with supporting the skin's protective barrier, which matters around the nails: the cuticle and the skin at the nail folds are the seal that keeps the nail root safe. A well-supported seal means a better-protected root, and a better-protected root is where healthier-looking nails begin.

Rosemary is far more than a kitchen herb. Its leaves are rich in antioxidant compounds — rosmarinic acid and carnosic acid among them — and rosemary extracts have a long history in skin and hair care, where they are used to support healthy circulation at the skin's surface. In Metanail Complex it is grouped with pelargonium as a nourishing pair for the cuticles, helping keep the tissue around the nail supplied and comfortable so the nail can grow out of a healthy bed.

Pelargonium graveolens — rose geranium — is the fragrant oil that gives the formula part of its character, but its role is not just scent. Geranium oil is a traditional skin-care ingredient, used to help balance the skin's oils and to keep the skin around the nails feeling nourished rather than dry or greasy. Paired with rosemary, it forms the formula's cuticle-nourishing duo, and its gentle, floral profile is one reason the serum feels like a care product rather than a medicine.

Glycerin is the workhorse moisturiser in almost every good skin product, and its job here is simple and essential: it draws water into the skin's outer layer and holds it there. The official page describes glycerin as hydrating the skin's outer layer, which is exactly what dry nails and cuticles need most. Without moisture, keratin turns rigid and brittle; with it, the nail plate stays flexible and the cuticle stays soft. Glycerin is doing the unglamorous, foundational work that makes the rest of the formula's benefits possible.

Lemon peel extract brings vitamin C and bright, citrusy cleansing compounds to the blend. The official page pairs it with aloe vera and notes that it contains a "14 kDa" active protein — a small, skin-friendly protein fraction. Traditionally, lemon has been used in nail care to help brighten the look of stained or dull nails and to keep the nail surface feeling clean. In this formula it supports the skin and nail surface, complementing aloe vera's soothing role with a light, refreshing quality.

Aloe vera needs little introduction: the gel from its leaves is one of the most widely used soothing ingredients in skin care, valued for its ability to calm and moisturise irritated or dry skin. In Metanail Complex it is paired with lemon peel extract, and together they support the skin around the nails — the cuticles, the nail folds, the sometimes rough skin of the toes. If the rest of the formula is about the nail plate, aloe is about making the whole area feel comfortable, soft and cared for.

Green tea is one of the most studied antioxidant plants in the world, rich in catechins — particularly EGCG — that help neutralise the free radicals generated by sun, friction and everyday wear. The official page groups it with hops as the formula's antioxidative pair. For skin that spends all day inside shoes, that antioxidant support is genuinely useful: it helps the tissue around the nails defend itself against the oxidative stress of daily life, supporting skin that looks and feels healthier over time.

Hops are best known for beer, but the hop flower is also a traditional skin-care botanical with a long history in European herbal practice. It contributes its own antioxidant compounds and is used in the formula alongside green tea for the same reason: to help protect the skin and nails from oxidative wear. The pairing is deliberate — two different plant sources, two different families of protective compounds — giving the formula a broader antioxidant base than either ingredient could offer alone.

Vitamin C is essential for collagen production — the protein that gives skin its structure and resilience — and the official page credits vitamins C and E together with supporting collagen in the skin around the nails. It is also a frontline antioxidant in its own right, working in the watery parts of skin tissue where many other antioxidants cannot reach. In a nail serum, its job is to support the skin's structure from the surface inward, helping the tissue that frames each nail stay firm, smooth and healthy-looking.

Vitamin E is the fat-soluble partner to vitamin C, and the two work as a team: vitamin E protects the fatty membranes of skin cells from oxidative damage, while vitamin C helps restore vitamin E after it has done its work. It is one of the most established skin-care nutrients there is, and its inclusion here is straightforward — it helps protect the skin around the nails and supports the collagen-building role the vendor attributes to the vitamin pair. For dry, weathered skin on the feet, vitamin E is one of the most useful ingredients a formula can offer.

Hyaluronic acid is famous as a skin hydrator — a single molecule can hold many times its own weight in water — but the official page gives it a more specific job in this formula: reinforcing nail integrity. Applied to the nail plate and cuticle, it helps keep the keratin hydrated from the outside, which supports flexibility and a smoother appearance. It is the ingredient that bridges the formula's two halves: it hydrates like a moisturiser and supports the nail's structure like a strength ingredient, which is why it sits at the centre of the blend.

Jojoba seed oil is unusual among plant oils because its structure closely resembles the skin's own sebum — the oil your skin makes itself. That similarity is why it absorbs so cleanly and why it is a favourite in nail and cuticle care: it softens the cuticle without leaving a greasy film, and it helps seal in the moisture that glycerin and hyaluronic acid draw into the tissue. The official page pairs it with sage leaf extract for long-term comfort, and together they give the serum its lasting, non-greasy feel after application.

Sage leaf extract rounds out the formula's skin-comfort team alongside jojoba oil. Sage has a long history in traditional skin care, where it is valued for helping keep skin feeling clean, calm and balanced. In Metanail Complex it is included for the long-term comfort of the nails and the skin around them — the slow, steady support that matters when a product is used every day for months. It is a quiet ingredient doing quiet work, and it is part of what makes the serum feel like a daily care ritual rather than a treatment.

MSM — methylsulfonylmethane — is the formula's sulphur source, and sulphur is the key to keratin's strength: it is what forms the disulphide bonds that cross-link keratin proteins and give nails their hardness. The official page praises MSM specifically for its strengthening properties, and it is the ingredient most often singled out in independent reviews of the product for the same reason. If one ingredient carries the "stronger nails" claim, it is this one — a simple, well-understood compound with a direct, logical role in the structure of the nail itself.