Your Three-Free Nail Polish Probably Isn’t
Oh, bother. We can’t say we’re terribly surprised about this, and we know that even when nail polish is free of toluene, DBP and formaldehyde, it’s still usually as far as you can get from natural, but yup:
A new report from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control found levels of these harmful chemicals in 10 of the 12 “nontoxic” nail polishes it tested.
From the Washington Post:
Investigators found that 10 of 12 products that claimed to be free of toluene actually contained it, with four of the products having dangerously high levels.
The report also found that five of seven products that claimed to be “free of the toxic three” actually included one or more of the agents in significant levels.
As I type this, gazing at my chipped coral manicure (OPI, don’t hate—it was for an important occasion), I’m sort of faced with that “I knew it but I didn’t want to know it” feeling. It’s similar to how we felt when we were writing the book and had to part with some of our favorite products. Like my “all-natural” defrizzer that was aloe-based, but also contained no fewer than three parabens—as well as fragrance.
But back to polish. Among those tested and mislabeled were: Sation 99 basecoat, Sation 53 red-pink nail color, Dare to Wear nail lacquer, Chelsea 650 Baby’s Breath Nail Lacquer, New York Summer Nail Color, Paris Spicy 298 nail lacquer, Sunshine nail lacquer, Cacie Light Free Gel Basecoat, Cacie Sun Protection Topcoat, Golden Girl Topcoat, Nail Art Top-N-Seal and High Gloss Topcoat.
Glad that none of the brands I use are on the list, but there’s little comfort in that, obviously, since the Tox department only tested a random sample.
Show’s to go ya you never can be too sure you’re getting what you’re buying, no matter how careful you are. That’s why we try to only shop from brands we know very well, whose transparency and authenticity we trust. But blah all the same. Are you going to stop getting your nails done?
Image via
I think what bothers me most about this sort of thing is the lack of responsibility and ethics involved in making claims that are false. We do what we can to eliminate or minimise our exposure to toxins and make decisions based upon what information we have. Do I have an absolutely clean beauty routine? No. Do I take care to make the effort where I feel I can? Yes! I don’t check ingredients labels with the level of scrutiny I possibly should, but then, I don’t expect to be told lies about what is or isn’t in a product of they blatantly market a product with “3-free” claims: I expect to be able to believe these statements. *sigh* I find more and more that while I still opt for a lazier approach, I rely heavily on this site to make it easy for me to compile a list of “allowed” products and brands, and the awesome, thorough reviews and suggestions the NMDL team and the faithful readers put forth. (Thanks to you all!)
I won’t stop getting my nails done – it’s an area of vanity I find too difficult to discard. I’ve always been self-conscious about my hands as they are “strong” rather than elegant and living in Manhattan I have access to regular, affordable manicures which do wonders for my self-confidence in this area. (I am quite expressive with my hands and have no worries about my “man hands” these days as they are neat, tidy and buffed or polished to an acceptable level.)
Some say, your nails show how much you take care of yourself. They show how clean you are and I believe in that too so nail polish or a manicure is very important and should be part of our daily routine. I and my sisters trust the NMDL team. Your suggestions and reviews have worked for many people :) Thank you.
Ugh! Well that’s just utterly crap, isn’t it? That said, I have never heard of any of these brands (and I actually read polish blogs, albeit not religiously). It sounds to me like these might be random discount brands?
I hate to say it, but I think just like with skincare, you get what you pay for, especially with clean (or sort-of-clean) products. I mostly use Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes and Ji Baek was a passionation early adopter of the non-tox trend. Her polishes were amongst the first to be 3-free and they are now 4-free. I think so much of her reputation rides on being upfront and honest with her customers that there is almost no chance the products are not what the company claims they are. Same with my other fave brand – Butter London (plus, it’s a European brand and the EU is far more stringent both about safety in cosmetics and false claims for products). And a huge company like Chanel (whose polishes I also use occasionalyl) is not likely to risk damage to its reputation by making false product claims.
The problem with all these brands? They all cost in the $20 range. Some are a bit more, others a bit less, but ultimately these are expensive polishes. So I’m afraid for someone who is unwilling to give up polish or risk using toxic products, the only choice is to spend more. It’s a shame, but I don’t see an alternative.
The ones I use are still fine, and fume free:
Honeybee Gardens
Aquarella
Scotch Naturals
Don’t assume that a company wouldn’t risk it’s reputation, Lolly. Think about Proctor and Gamble. They’re a huge company but do they care was one part of the population thinks of them? Johnson & Johnson? Monsanto? The bigger they are the farther they have to fall, and the more money they have to cover up their little white (deadly) lies.
I guess what concerns me most is that even though I, like Lolly, use brands that I feel are open and trustworthy (Rescue Beauty is one of my fav brands for so many reasons and Zoya is close to my nails at all times) is that how sure are those brands of their ingredients? Because the lies start somewhere, and they may not be starting with the polish brand.
I’ve tried giving up polish, but it’s so dang hard for me. I love the look of polish on my nails. But, this has me thinking again how much I’m willing to risk (& if ignorance can be bliss in this case).
I was off polish completely for many years but recently started using Zoya, which I love. This situation with the refuted 3-free claims is disturbing, but not surprising. I will have to pay more attention to how this all works out – I certainly hope Zoya is the company I think they are.
@ Deb H. Oh I totally agree with you and would never be so naive as to put my trust in a huge company. In fact, I try to avoid them like the plague as much as possible, especially when it comes to things that go into and on my and my family’s bodies. I guess what I meant about Chanel is that they are not likely to risk their reputation not so much because they are huge (and Chanel certainly doesn’t qualify as anywhere near huge when compared to P&G and their ilk), but because it’s a high end, luxury brand. I just figure they would be wary of appearing downmarket due to false claims. That said, their polishes are overpriced, so I don’t use them much, except for an occasional awesome and unusual color like Peridot.
Even with ostensibly 3-free polishes (I use a lot of Zoya and OPI) I always have to paint my nails outside anyway, because they still smell like death (not to mention the polish remover- I don’t use acetone but it’s still nasty.) Which pretty much means my nails suck in the winter ;-P Oh well. I’m glad that I’ve never heard of any of those brands. I’d love to see what they tested that DID come up clean, though.
why are we taking blame (i.e. “i should have known it” attitude) we can’t live on the defensive. Companies need to take responsibility for their lies and misrepresentation. I have a friend who does class actions and get’s bad acting companies like this, that knowingly make misrepresentations that we rely upon!!!
The company needs to take responsibility and clean up their acts. this is UNACCEPTABLE!
Like most , I too like my nails to have a coat of polish.Currently using Zoya which is great and I’d like to believe is true to what they claim to be.
@ Alex, you mentioned that you use Zoya nail polishes but is having difficulties with removers..have you tried Zoya Nail Polish Remover? For me, the smell is as close as pleasant as possible (and it works withour any extra effort)
@nancy, I like the Zoya remover too…the smell is pretty strong for me but okay, and because it works SO fast there’s not a lot of time smelling it.
I have been dealing with the same…. but in a reaction I just stopped painting them all together. I am definitely missing my colors and the cleanliness of freshly manicured nails, so I dig deeper and found a new company called Karma Organic Spa. Just ordered their nail polish remover and nail polish so we will hope that it is as clean as they claim it is and that it actually works!
@Lolly Nonie Creme of butterLONDON might be British, but the brand is based in the States.
Hello all! Thanks for this post. I just recently shared it on my facebook page. Okay….so please don’t laugh at me….but I’m wondering….
I have a shiny top coat that I really like. If I use a non toxic base, then use a non toxic nail polish- would those two layers protect me from absorbing toxins if I then use a bad nail polish for my top coat? Does anyone know?