Are Traditional Nail Polishes Eco
First things first lets talk about your current nail polish collection. Many traditional brands contain toxic, disease-causing substances. If you see any of the following ingredients in your bottle of nail polish, chances are they do significant harm to the environment.
- Dibutyl phthalate
Prolonged use of toxic nail polish can potentially cause health conditions such as:
- Reproductive loss
Not to mention, your typical trip to the nail salon will likely involve false plastic nails, files, nail polish bottles, and other materials that are not biodegradable. When not disposed of properly, these materials can be incredibly damaging to nature and wildlife.
Sienna Byron Bays Water Based Nail Polish Remover
Sustainability is at the core of Siennas philosophy. Their head office and warehouse is powered with renewable energy, all their packaging is recyclable, and they run an in-house recycling program. Their range of vegan and cruelty-free products includes nail polish bottles with timber caps, as well as a water-based remover made with soy and vitamin E that comes in a recyclable glass bottle.
Zero Waste Nail File Glass File
My mom gifted me a glass nail file 8 years ago and Ive been using it ever since. Its still holding up wonderfully and I havent had to use or repurchase anymore nail filers since.
Glass files, also known as crystal files, are chemically-treated, tempered pieces of glass that gently buffs your nails down and seals the keratin layers at the edge of the nail, preventing breakage and chipping.
And unlike super-gritty nail files that can be too rough and end up tearing the edge of your nails, glass files are more gentle with its smooth but sturdy surface.
Theyre also super easy to clean with just soap and water so you can easily reuse your glass file over and over again.
Where to buy a crystal file? Amazon sells a bunch of glass files but note some come in excessive and/or plastic packaging.
If youre shopping on Amazon, try and find one with minimal packaging. Although it is glass, its very sturdy and wont break so you dont need a plastic case.
I keep my glass file in a velvet-like pouch that it came with, similar to .
Sienna Byron Bay also offers a zero-waste glass nail file.
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Piggy Paint Kids Nail Polish Review
Published: by Ali ·This post may contain affiliate links. See our full disclosure here
Ever since I started doing my nails at home with Olive and June, my toddler’s also become interested in doing her nails. While I was at Target I noticed a kids’ nail polish, Piggy Paint, and decided to pick it up.
We’ve been using Piggy Paint for a few months now and I wanted to share a review!
Vegan Nail Polish Brands With Recycling Programs
In addition to Sienna offering a recycling program for their customers, I found some more cruelty-free & vegan nail polish brands that also offer their own recycling programs.
tenoverten is a female-owned, non-toxic nail salon with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Austin. tenoverten also offers a range of 8-free, cruelty-free, and vegan nail polish.
In addition, tenoverten has partnered with Chemwise to recycle old nail polish bottles including plastic caps and brushes. Bring any old polish bottles from any brand to their salon and theyll recycle them for you.
Based in LA, Côte also offers its customers 10% off their next purchase when they bring in their used and old polish to be recycled.
During Earth Month, Zoya lets customers ship any brands nail polish bottles to them and exchange it for a new Zoya nail polish with a $5 credit for every bottle exchanged.
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Twinkle Apothecarys Soy Nail Polish Remover
Twinkle Apothecary offers a range of handcrafted natural products, including shampoo, makeup, perfume, and of course nail products. Like everything else in this shop, the polishes and removers are vegan, made from natural ingredients, and come in reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable packaging. The Base Coat polish remover is soy-based and does not contain acetone or harsh acetates. It includes vitamins A, C, and E, as well as lavender oil. Twinkle Apothecary also offers plant-based, reusable remover pads, made of a bamboo rayon blend.
Piggy Paint Nail Polish Review
When I opened the package I was at first skeptical of the nail polish. The package says that the nail polish is water based, so I assumed it would be super watered down and not be very bright.
Little A was so excited when she saw the nail polish! She decided she wanted to do blue first, but then decided to do one hand blue and the other pink. I did one layer on each finger and was impressed with how vibrant the colors actually ended up being. The layer wasn’t very thick but was plenty enough!
The box said the nail polish would dry after about 5 minutes but that wasn’t the case. I tried to keep Little A still and hands flat while they dried, but 5 minutes it she was ready to show off her manicure to Dad. This ended up with her smudging most of the paint and the manicure ended up lasting about a day. Thankfully it does wash out easy so her clothes weren’t ruined by any of the smudges.
The next manicure we decided to do purple, and this time I grabbed my blow dryer to use. I dried her fingers for about 2 minutes with the blow dryer and the nail polish was completely dry! The majority of the manicure ended up lasting about 5 days, and we ended up having to remove the nail polish when A wanted to change colors.
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Nail Polish Recycling Programs
In addition to supporting nail polish brands that use sustainable materials for their bottles or lids, I recommend buying from brands that offer a recycling program where you can send old bottles to be responsibly recycled. Here are some brands I suggest checking out:
Tenoverten have their own salon in New York, Austin, and LA. But Tenoverten also offers its own line of 8-free, cruelty-free, and vegan nail polish. What I love most about tenoverten is their recycling program where you can drop off any used bottles of nail polish at their store and theyll responsibly recycle them for you! Note: Ive reached out to tenoverten to ask about their ethical sourcing of mica but never heard back.
Elle Polish also offers a recycling program where you can send in 5 empty elle polish bottles to be recycled and in return, youll get a special edition polish. All of Elle Polish are Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free, vegan, and 10-free. They have also confirmed that their mica is ethically-sourced without the use of child labor and the miners are paid fairly and treated well.
Côte is another vegan and eco-friendly nail polish brand offering a recycling program where for any used bottle of polish you bring into their LA shop, youll receive 10% off your next côte polish purchase. All of côte nail polishes are vegan, 10-free, and they have confirmed their mica suppliers are required to obtain a government-issued statement guaranteeing that no children were used in the production.
Ella + Mila Nailpolish And Makeup Review
I received the following products to review on this post:
- Just Right Liquid Lipstick
The ME Collection nail polishes include 9 bright rainbow colors and 1 glitter coat.
The colors included in this set are: No Place Like Home | Pretty Princess | Ellas Pic | Islas View | Twinkle, Twinkle | Tropical Jungle | My Pool Party | Milas Fave | Mango Pop | Wheels on the Bus
The Nail Care set is a perfect complement for all their polishes. The set is also a great deal compared to buying the products individually. Youll save over 50% off the full price.
The Nail Care set includes the following products:
We applied the nail colors as soon as we received our ella + mila package. We applied the All About the Base coat first, then followed with nail polish, In a Rush top coat and finished with the quick dry drops. My nails were dry within 22 minutes and had a gel-like texture when fully dried.
The paint comes out thick and spreads easily across the nail bed. We found that I only needed at most 2 coats for lighter colors.
When compared to other brands like Essie or OPI, we definitely prefer ella + mila.
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Rooted Womans Organic Nail Polish Remover
Born from a self-care blog, Rooted Woman founder India D. Williams expanded into a nail care business championing self-love and care. Rooteds collection includes gluten-free, vegan, and non-toxic nail polishes, as well as a remover formulated without parabens, phthalates, triclosan, or other toxic ingredients. Made from a blend of soybeans, herbs, and essential oils, the remover is readily biodegradable and also works with conventional nail polishes. You can purchase Rooted Womans plant. based nail polish remover at BLK+GRN. Use HONEST10 for 10% off your purchase.
How Does Nail Polish Affect The Environment
Nail treatment has some health benefits. For instance, using organic nail polish removers is excellent because they dont contain harsh chemicals, and have vitamins and minerals in them that help condition and strengthen your nails.
Also, the cuticle oil used to clean up and prep the cuticles and remove dead skin cells helps make the skin surrounding the nails soft and conditioned. This helps prevent the growth of fungus and bacteria and prevents infection when the nails fall off.
If you wonder how nail polish affects the environment, we must first analyze what manufacturers use. Afterward, well determine its effects on the environment.
Theres no formula for manufacturing nail polish. However, several ingredient types are commonly used. These essential components include film-forming agents, resins and plasticizers, solvents, and coloring agents.
The exact formulation of polish depends significantly on the choices made by chemists and chemical engineers in the research and development phase of manufacturing.
The primary ingredient in nail polish is nitrocellulose cotton. This is what acts as a film-forming agent for the polish.
Manufacturers also add synthetic resins, toluene, dibutyl phthalates, butyl acetate, and plasticizers to improve flexibility, resistance to soap and water, and other qualities. Finally, they use soluble dyes or pigments to give it color.
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Is Nail Polish Remover Sustainable
Its not just people who are affected by the toxic ingredients in nail polish removers. The planet is affected too, which of course ends up impacting us as well. The EPA classifies nail polish and its removers as household hazardous waste because this product is toxic and flammable. Nail polish remover bottles are also difficult to recycle. Consumers must clean out the bottles which can mean hazardous waste going down the drain and entering waterways. Consider taking your empties to a hazardous waste facility or find an appropriate recycling program or ask your nail salon whether they have partnered with any such facilities.
Oh and lets not even get started on glitter nail polish: not only is it a nightmare to remove, but glitter is bad for the environment. Its made up of microplastics that cannot break down or be recycled, often ending up in waterways, posing a threat to aquatic life and ultimately to humans as well.
What Can You Do With Old Nail Polish
Many women often buy numerous bottles of nail polish at a go, mainly because they want a variety of colors, and so find themselves stuck with multiple bottles of half-used nail polish when they get tired of the colors they have or see new shades of colors they like.
However, they might not want to throw the bottles out to avoid contributing to damaging the ecosystem, and so they begin to wonder what to do with half-used bottles of nail polish.
Here are some great ways to repurpose those bottles without letting them go to waste:
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What Is Piggy Paint Nail Polish
First of all – what exactly is Piggy Paint Nail Polish? Piggy Paint is an all natural nail polish made for kids. Piggy Paint is non-toxic, odorless and free of all harsh chemicals.
The nail polish comes in a variety of colors that are both regular colors and sparkles. Each individual paint is $4.99 but if you get a 4 pack it’s only $9.99. I got the 4 pack which had red, sparkly pink, blue and purple in it.
What Ingredients Should You Avoid In Nail Polish
Below, these nail polishes will say #-Free, and it refers to the number of toxic ingredients they did not use, which you would typically find in conventional nail polish. Ingredients you should most certainly avoid when purchasing a new bottle are Dibutyl Phthalate, Toluene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde resin, and Camphor. And good news for your nails – many brands are making non-toxic nail polish that doesn’t use those ingredients, along with many other ingredients you find in conventional polish.
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Is All Nail Polish Toxic
Burns says certain brands have made significant strides to decrease the toxicity of their products, but its important to do your own research and read every products label as individual shades have different formulas.
Non-toxic claims dont really mean much since they arent regulated. Three or 7-free doesnt mean they are free of all chemicals, says Burns. Its really important for consumers to do their own homework, look at the packaging, and the Skin Deep Database.
EWGs Skin Deep Database rates individual products on the hazard levels of its ingredients. You can search by brand, product, and ingredient. EWG VERIFIED products that meet EWG’s strictest standards for human health.
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Is Nail Polish Remover Toxic To Our Health
What do all these chemicals mean for you and your health, especially for those working in salons? Overexposure to acetone may lead to adverse effects like dizziness, headaches, and skin irritation. But acetone poisoning is rare and generally its regarded as safe as long as exposure is brief and infrequent. However, methyl ethyl ketone is more potent. Its a neurotoxin and may lead to headaches, memory impairment, and respiratory tract irritation. NMP, a reproductive toxin, has been reported to cause acute contact dermatitis.
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Why Glitter Nail Polish Is The New Microbeads
Not so long ago, microbeads were openly advertised on the packaging of facial exfoliators, toothpastes and body scrubs. A lot has changed since then. In 2015, microbeads were banned from some personal care products in the United States, and this year a ban on certain items containing microbeads was put into effect in the United Kingdom. The ban was due to the fact that these tiny plastic particles proved to be impossible to filter out of water, ending up in our bodies, and also ended up in the bodies of various forms of aquatic life.
While there has been a focus on reducing the environmental impact of personal care items containing microbeads, theres a new product wreaking havoc with our water and the creatures that live in it: glitter, particularly that in nail polish.
Both glitter and microbeads are forms of micro plastic . We have written about the dangers of glitter before, and indeed, some beauty brands are now using mineral glitter instead of plastic. But what we discovered in our research is that theres one product whose manufacturers even if they claim to be clean beauty companies insist on using plastic glitter: nail polish.
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So just how prevalent are microplastics in makeup? Allure did a random audit of more than 100 glittery and shimmery makeup products at a major beauty retailer, and found 32 percent contained microplastic glitters, which show up on ingredient lists as polyethylene terephthalate . So…pretty prevalent. And how problematic are they? “The area of microplastics and its impact is still a pretty nascent field,” says chemist Sherri A. Mason, director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania. “But we know the chemicals within plastics may have a variety of human health impacts, from associations with certain types of cancer to issues with regard to reproduction, like sperm motility and pregnancy viability.”
There have been some efforts by a small but growing number of brands to move to the second type of cosmetic glitters: those made with cellulose . This seems like an exciting step forward, as Allure proclaimed in spring 2020, “When glitter is 100 percent biodegradable, we’re more than hopeful we’re inspired.”
“After a single use, thousands of pieces of glitter may pass into the waters or soil. And they will remain intact for centuries.”
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