Nail polish falls in my “guilty pleasure” category, along side burgers and zip lock baggies. I go in spurts and fits of painting my nails, since it’s fun, expressive and manicures look good! But…as many people know, nail polish can be very toxic. Thankfully there are several brands that make safer (note I’m not saying non-toxic), beautiful nail polish.
Here’s the skinny: Many harmful ingredients are allowed in beauty products, due to our laws that date back to the WWII era. It’s common to find many harmful ingredients in beauty products and as we have found out, it’s actually incredibly hard to make safer products that actually work.
Last year the New York Times ran an expose called “Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers” and the world seemed to wake up to the toxic nature of the industry. Here are some harmful ingredients commonly found in conventional nail polish, often referred to as the “toxic trio”. You’ll note that all three of these ingredients are ranked 10 in the EWG Skin Deep Database.
In recent years there has been an influx of safer and “greener” brands of nail polish. Some of the safest brands are water based, which I would only recommend for children as they don’t stay on very long and can easily chip.
Safer Nail Polish Brands:
Based in Los Angeles, Cote Salon not only provides a beautiful place to have your nails done, they also sell their safer nail polish. Want to be “on trend”? Cote always has the best colors, and they last!
I know and love the Founders of tenoverten, Nadine and Adair, and they are the kind of ladies you want to support. Dedicated to bringing a non-toxic salon experience to their guests (and more important, the women who work for them), they have stunning colors that last just as long as conventional polish. Shop their great colors and if you’re in NYC, LA or Austin, swing by one of their salons for an all star manicure.
Pictured above on the right is the Red Head Cactus, which is one of the prettiest reds I’ve ever seen (pun intended). I love this brand’s performance, easy to apply and they last a long time!
Piggy Paint (for the kids)
As I mentioned above, water-based nail polish is the safer option, but chips easily. For that reason I recommend Piggy Paint for kids, who may not care as much about the polish staying fresh.
For more recommendations from my health/green blogger friends:
- Safer Nail Polish Roundup from Mindful Momma
- Ditch the Nail Polish Nasties from Nature Moms
- Five Safer Nail Polish Brands from Groovy Green Livin
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What about Julep?
They are safer as well :)
People likes to use nail polish that is chemical free and harmless to nails. There are many brands that are working on harmless nail polish.