Is nail polish harmful?

Harmfulness of nail polish: Which ingredients are questionable?

Our noses sound the alarm as soon as we apply the polish: most nail polishes have a rather unpleasant odor, which should already make us suspicious. We often decorate our nails with quite questionable substances. How harmful is ordinary nail polish really?

These questionable ingredients are found in conventional nail polish:

• Formaldehyde can cause cancer, trigger asthma, allergies, and skin irritations. The preservative is also suspected of damaging the nervous system and impairing fetal development.
• The plasticizer triphenyl phosphate (TTP) can damage human metabolism and the hormonal system. It is said to impair fertility and cause fat and calorie metabolism to be less efficient.
• Parabens are popular preservatives in cosmetic products. However, they are known to disrupt important processes in the human hormonal balance.
• Toluene (methylbenzene) can cause inflammation and is toxic to the immune system. The solvent can also cause birth defects.
• Phthalates disrupt the interaction of hormones and organs. These plasticizers are also believed to be responsible for birth defects.
• Ethyl tosylamide is considered a highly problematic plasticizer. It can cause headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath.
• Xylene is known to trigger allergies when inhaled. The liquid solvent is also possibly carcinogenic.
• Although the plasticizer camphor is derived from a plant-based raw material, it can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and seizures when inhaled.
• Microplastics are particularly harmful to the environment and are found in almost all nail polishes.

This accumulation of harmful and toxic substances is no accident. Nail polishes are essentially made using a formula developed for car paints around a hundred years ago. Fast-curing and highly opaque paints were a true innovation for the automotive industry at the time, and the cosmetics industry readily adopted them.

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Vegan nail polish – a safe alternative

Nail styling with LIA Fashion & Beauty Today you can explore new paths. We offer high-quality nail polish free from questionable ingredients and even free from animal products. Our vegan nail polish is a healthy alternative to conventional polishes.

However, not every vegan nail polish is automatically lower in pollutants or completely free of questionable ingredients. With most polishes on the beauty shelf, it's worth taking a closer look and checking the manufacturer's information. Vegan simply means that no animal-derived ingredients are used. There may still be questionable synthetic substances present in the nail polish.

Look for labels like "20-FREE" on the nail polish bottle for more clarity. This tells you which seven harmful ingredients have been omitted. LIA's vegan nail polishes, for example, all carry this label and are free from the questionable substances mentioned earlier. Despite this, our polishes shine in a wide range of colors and boast exceptional quality. You'll experience this firsthand with their streak-free application.

Want to learn more about our vegan beauty products? Just get in touch if you have any questions. We're happy to advise you.

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