Eco-friendly and DIY beauty is only getting more popular, and although you can’t make DIY nail polish in your kitchen, you might want to consider some non-toxic alternatives instead of simply turning to popular drugstore brands.

What’s wrong with your usual nail polish collection, and why would you want to go the extra mile to find a non-toxic brand instead? Well, there are quite a few chemicals in normal nail polish that aren’t so good for our health. There are three major chemicals used in most nail polishes that can have harmful effects.

Toulene is the ingredient that makes you feel a bit lightheaded and dizzy when you walk into a nail salon or do your nails in a room without opening a window. Formaldehyde is also a very common ingredient in nail polish. You might remember learning about it in your high school chemistry class, but this chemical isn’t just used in labs—it’s used in some beauty products too. You’re not supposed to inhale it, and getting too much on your skin can warrant medical attention. And lastly, dibutyl phthalate, or DBP, is banned in Europe, but this chemical can also be found in most nail polishes sold in other places. However, “clean beauty” brands and eco-friendly companies do not include it in their products because of its negative impact on the environment. Nail polish remover can also be detrimental to your health if it is breathed in.

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The US Environmental Protection Agency actually lists nail polish as a “household hazardous waste” product, which means you’re not even supposed to throw it away with your other trash—it’s actually supposed to be dropped off at a hazardous waste disposal site! That’s definitely a major red flag for any product.

The good news? While salons generally do not stock non-toxic nail polish, there are plenty of brands out there with non-toxic options. Brands like Acquarella, Suncoat, and Ella + Mila all have plenty of cute shades—and most can be removed with rubbing alcohol instead of nail polish remover. As the eco-beauty movement grows, more and more brands will probably start offering non-toxic nail polish.

Are you ready to swap some of your old favorite nail polishes for new non-toxic shades? Let us know in the comments!

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