Natural Beauty: Be Eco-Trendy With Green Envy Nail Lacquers

Posted by Pamela King on June 8th, 2010

Looking for ways to look your best — naturally? Look no further. Through reviews of all-natural and organic products and investigations into cosmetic ingredients, our Natural Beauty column will help you make more informed decisions about your beauty purchases.

For years and years, I experimented with nail polishes, but after reading about some of the dangers associated with chemicals in certain polishes, I took a bit of a break from wearing color on my nails.

Recently I learned about alternative polishes that do not contain toluene, formaldehyde or dibutyl phthalate. Each of these chemicals plays a role in creating durable and wearable polishes, but each ingredient poses potential health hazards.

I was thrilled to receive three polishes from lovegreenenvy.com. Their polishes are “three free,” meaning they lack the three harsh chemicals I described above. But do they stand up to the test when it comes to application and long-lasting wear?

Hot Lips

This girly pink color is really dynamic on the nail. In sunlight, it looks like a bright highlighter pink. In indoor lighting, it’s a bit more toned down. The application was great for this color, and two coats (without a top coat) lasted about five days with very minor chipping.

Venom

Based on the color swatch on the Green Envy website, I was hoping this color would be more black. It looks almost black indoors, but outside and in brighter lighting it’s more of a wine red, which to me is a lot less appealing. I had trouble getting this color to apply evenly, and after two coats, my nails were still a little streaky and uneven.

Monarch Masquerade

This purple polish has an almost metallic appearance and is incredibly fun to wear. While I had the most chipping with this color, it was probably because I was much rougher with my hands during the time I was wearing this polish. I just kept reapplying because I didn’t want to take it off!

All Green Envy nail lacquers cost $15 and are available online.