The Polish: Non Toxic Brands

As kermit the frog so wisely stated, it's not easy being green! No more so than in the nail polish department. Nail polishes can be the most toxic of our beauty staples

Many containing  formaldehyde, phthalates, acetone, toluene and benzophenone which can damage your eyes, brain, lungs, endocrine system & respiratory system by absorbing into your blood stream via your nail beds and cuticles.

The three nail polish ingredients that not only unnecessary but harmful are;

Formaldehyde a gas used in household products, glue, paint and also used to embalm dead bodies (delightful!)

Dibutyl phthalate ( DBP) helps nail polish to harden oh and it's also been linked to fertility problems

Lastly Toluene is used so that nail polishes don't separate, but beware it can effect your central nervous system and cause dizziness and fatigue

Ok so this is all sounding quite extreme, but I believe that being someone that paints my nails weekly and is not willing to forgo the luxury it's time to weed out the nasties from my talons and introduce a less toxic option.

On close inspection of my nail polish collection, I'm actually not doing to bad, I have a selection of Mavala polishes that don't contain the top 3 polish baddies and Butter London polishes which pride themselves on being a non toxic option

Other not so toxic brands include Zoya, Scotch Naturals, Priti NYC  and Nars

Though you'd be hard pressed to find a completely natural polish option avoiding ones that contain the ingredients above is a good compromise.