November 13, 2007
Fabulous Finds: "Soleful" Purpose "Nailing" Nail Polish
by Christine Spehar
I don’t know about you, but I started painting my nails on my mother’s white carpet when I was 4 years old and I’ve been polishing ever since. What better way to spruce up an outfit, bond with your girlfriends, or even procrastinate! Unfortunately for me, as I grew older, the innocence faded away and I got educated about how disgusting my precious paints really were, in spite of their glorious colors.
Did you know that the shiny, durable and quick-drying polishes we’ve come to know and love contain everything from petro-chemicals to formaldehyde (remember those frogs we dissected in high school…)? We’re talking serious 
toxic chemicals. Makes you want to get out the old nail buffer and go “naked,” so to speak.
Well, I wasn’t about to give up and leave my nails exposed, but I was determined to find a way to go “au natural.” And, yes, my new nail polishes are pure and they shine, dry quickly and don’t chip off after a minute of using my hands. One brand I love even has funky glow-in-the-dark colors that remind me of childhood sleepovers, while another carries a version of my beloved Chanel “Vamp.” So, here are three brands to try.
No Miss Nail Care (www.nomiss.com) draws from its Florida roots for colors like Gold Coast Gold and Palm Beach Mauve. And, in keeping with its beach community aura, its nail polishes contain zinc oxide, a natural mineral that 
protects nails from the sun, the same thing our mothers used to put on our noses and lips, which completely embarrassed us at the beach. Honeybee Gardens (www.honeybeegardens.com) has a water based and odorless polish. The company’s patented resin hardens and dries as quickly as conventional, but avoids dangerous chemicals and FDC coloring agents. There are 16 colors that match its natural lipsticks, an added bonus.
Finally, Acquarella (www.aquarella.com) offers 13 different colors from “French Kiss,” a pale pink, to my favorite “Vamp,” to a bight blue, called “Mahalo,” designed for the daring. The company claims that toxicology reports on its products deem them less toxic than most of the municipal tap water in the 
United States. While I don’t suggest you make a nail polish cocktail to serve at your next dinner party, it’s nice to know you could and even better to know you won’t be harming the environment by using and disposing of them. Conventional nail polish is illegal to throw down the drain, but water-based paints like Acquarella’s can go directly into the sink without guilt.
So, take that huge drawer full of toxic polishes you know you have down to your local hazardous waste disposal center and go natural. Your nails will thank you and so will the environment!
