What Harmful Nail Polish Ingredients You Need to be Careful Of 

You’re a stickler for all things natural. Whether it’s food, beauty products, or cleaning products, you've banished harmful nail polish chemical nasties from your home. But what about the nasties in your nail polish? Here are the potentially harmful nail polish ingredients you might be best off avoiding!

Harmful Nail Polish Ingredients - What to Look For

You find a gorgeous new nail colour, but how safe and natural is it? When researching your chosen hue, here’s what you should look for on the label.

You'll find nail polishes on the more ‘natural’ end of the spectrum in categories. These categories range from ‘three-free’ to ‘twelve-free'. The 'free' part refers to how many potentially harmful chemicals they are free from.

The Harmful Nail Polish Additives to Avoid

When it comes to harmful nail polish ingredients, here are the ones that it might be a good idea to avoid. Before avoiding these completely please read our statement at the bottom of the page.

Formaldehyde

Recognise the name? This chemical is used in embalming fluid. Unsurprisingly, it’s not always great for human health. It can cause skin irritation and it can affect the nervous and immune systems.

Toluene

Prolonged exposure to this nail polish ingredient has been reported to cause headaches and dizziness.

Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

This helps keep nail polishes tough enough to last, however, there’s a trade-off. There’s evidence that it can also cause early menopause in some women.

Camphor

Camphor has been shown to cause skin reactions, dizziness, nausea, and headaches. Not something you’d choose to go with your manicure.

Formaldehyde resin

This nail polish ingredient is not as damaging as actual formaldehyde. However, some studies suggest that it can give you a nasty dose of dermatitis.

Xylene

This chemical can cause dizziness, nausea, and vomiting if used incorrectly, might be a good idea to avoid if possible.

Triphenyl phosphate

This nail polish ingredient can mess with your hormones and may be toxic to the cells in your liver.

Ethyl tosylamide

Some people may be severely allergic to it, so if you don't fancy a severe allergic reaction with your manicure? Give this ingredient a wide-berth.

Parabens

Parabens act in the same way as the hormone oestrogen in the body. Research has found they have the potential to cause breast tumours.

Acetone

You’ll recognise this nail polish ingredient. It appears in some nail polish removers and it has the potential to be very drying. Not only that, inhaling it can cause a sore throat and inflammation.

Healthy happy nails start with natural ingredients. We are beyond excited to welcome OPI Nature Strong to our range. It’s OPI's first vegan natural origin nail lacquer made with plant and mineral-based ingredients. Not only that, our entire range of Inveray gel nail polish is made from a 'twelve free' formula meaning it is free from a huge amount of potentially harmful nail polish ingredients and also free of HEMA. So why not check them out now! 

We have researched and listed some harmful nail polish ingredients. We are not saying that any of these you must stay away from or are particularly harmful, however, we have found some evidence to support the opinion that these ingredients could be harmful. Before avoiding any of these ingredients, we strongly recommend that individuals do their own research and form their own opinions. For more on all things nails, check out the rest of our blog.