You know I’m all about safer, cleaner beauty! I’ve been working to switch all my beauty products to products that are nontoxic, but it’s certainly been a process. One product that I’ve been putting off switching out is my nail polish. And so I’ve decided it was time for me to find the best nontoxic nail polish brand out there. I do my own manicures (eternally grateful to my sweet friend Amy Beth for her DIY Mani post!) and I always use Essie’s gel line. It’s just SO. GOOD. But… I knew I’d feel better if I switched it out for something safer. And now seemed like a pretty good time to try out some new options!
Finding & Ranking the Best Nontoxic Nail Polish Brands
Lucky for you, I decided to review a handful of nontoxic nail polish brands and rank them right here! Also lucky for you, I suffered through multiple days (yes days and it was not fun!!) of chipped, cracked, streaky-looking nails to find the best nontoxic nail polish so you don’t have to. If you’re looking for the best nontoxic nail polish out there – look no further! I ordered from six different brands, most of which you can purchase via Amazon. I learned that there’s a sort of ‘scale’ nail polishes are graded on – 3-free, 5-free, and even 7-free. This just determines how many chemicals they promise not to use in their formulas, but some of the polishes I tested excluded up to 12 chemicals!
I ranked each polish in an Excel spreadsheet based on a variety of factors (level of ‘clean,’ durability, application, overall look, etc.) to average an overall rating out of 10! This was super exciting for me since I’ve become proficient in Excel recently and it was a chance to put my formula skills to the test!
Initially, I wasn’t quite as worried about parting with toxic nail polish in general as I was about not being able to find a color I love as much as Essie gel’s ‘Matter of Fiction.’ I think it’s safe to say that’s no longer a concern!
I don’t think I’ll even miss my Essie polish!
Nontoxic Nail Polish Reviews
Before I get started – I did not include photographs of each nail polish I tested in this post because I am by no means a professional nail artist. If you want to see a closer look at any of the following nail polishes actually on my nails, I have a highlight on Insta Stories that shows each of the brands I tested! Just look for “Nontoxic Nails!”
Honeybee Gardens
Shade: she said yes RATING: 2.7/10
Oh, boy. Don’t even bother with this one. As I first started applying this polish I thought, “Huh… that’s an interesting consistency.” It almost looked like actual paint. It was streaky and uneven and the brush was awful! Before I even finished I knew it was coming in last. It’s durability was also lacking, I had chips less than 24 hours later. By day three I barely had any polish left on my nails. If I wasn’t doing this blog post I probably would’ve taken it off the next day. The only redeeming qualities are its level of ‘clean’ (10/10 in that category!!) and its reasonable price ($12), but I wouldn’t buy again – which makes the name of this shade a bit ironic!
Dazzle Dry
Shade: touch of love Rating: 5.3/10
This was the only brand of nail polish I tested out that is not available on Amazon. I only ordered one nail polish from them, but they do have a whole kit available! They say you’ll see better results when using the kit rather than just the polish which is something to keep in mind. While this is a more expensive option, Dazzle Dry does offer TONS of shades. The shade I ordered, Touch of Love, is almost a perfect match for the Essie shade I love so much!
This nail polish went on pretty smooth, and felt super similar to the Essie Gel at first. It’s also pretty clean as it excludes about 10 major chemicals from its ingredients! It looked pretty good after I finished, but definitely not as good as Essie. I only did two coats, and I think it needed three to really look as good as the Essie. The problem with this polish was durability which really brought down its rating. Less than a week later, the nail polish peeled off 3/5 nails completely. It didn’t chip, it just came all the way off. Another drawback for this one is the price at $18 a bottle. I’m willing to spend that for a high quality, nontoxic nail polish, but I’m not sure this one was it. Overall, this one was good until it peeled off, but it’s not great. Maybe if you bought the entire kit you’d have more luck, but I don’t think I would purchase at this point.
Ella + Mila
Shade: Barely pink Rating: 6.7/10
This nail polish is 7-free, and looked pretty good after I finished painting with it. But… it was a messy process that required 3-4 coats, and I just don’t have the time or patience for that every time I want to paint my nails. It’s definitely a decent price, and I think a color other than light pink might go one smoother and require less coats (although I loved this shade of pink)! I’d definitely use this again if I needed too, but it wouldn’t be my first pick. I also tested out their nail polish remover, and it took forever to remove everything, but it smelled good and I felt better knowing it was safer. Overall, a bit more trouble than it’s worth, but not a terrible option in a pinch!
AILA
Shade: Make him wait a day rating: 7.4/10
I’ll be honest, this one wasn’t quite as good as I had anticipated. Still good, I just had pretty high expectations. I didn’t love how it applied. But, I really love the color, and it looked really good afterwards! This one is super clean, and gluten-free as well. This is another one I got lots of compliments via Insta Stories and in-person, so I know it looks good! The process of painting my nails wasn’t the best, but the end result was great. They also have a wide variety of shades, especially in comparison to some of the other brands I looked at. This one also wasn’t the most durable for me. I will definitely use and purchase again – I just might use a different brush in the future to get a smoother application!
ZOYA
Shade: brenna RATING: 8.5/10
This is the cheapest of them all at around $10 a bottle. I’ve known of ZOYA for a while but I’d never tested it out before now. I’ve been missing out! This one looked great, but it needed three coats to get there, and it wasn’t quite as durable as I hoped. Although, this one made it with minimal chips through unpacking my things from Texas, which was impressive. It looks great, very comparable to Essie, and I got so many messages on Insta saying this was your favorite color you saw! Definitely great quality for the cost, and I will be using/purchasing again.
Côte
Shade: No. 9 RATING: 9.7/10
Okay let’s ignore the fact I ordered the wrong color… WOMP WOMP. I ordered their shade No. 9, but I really wanted No. 10 – oops! No. 10 looks like a perfect match for Matter of Fiction, and the No. 9 shade is a sandy nude, which I will definitely still get use out of. This nail polish is THE BEST! The only reason it didn’t receive a 10/10 is it’s not as clean as some other options, but it still got high marks in that category. It got 10s in every other category and is comparable to Essie in every way! It only came away with one little chip after I unpacked from my move. I’d heard so many good things about this brand, and everyone was right. It’s a little pricey ($20 on Amazon), but for the level of quality? So. Worth. It. They were out of stock during my little nail polish experiment, but I cannot wait to purchase their base/top coat and their quick-dry coat!
Olive & June
Shade: GH RAting: 9.8/10
I’d heard so much about Olive & June, but I had no idea they were 7-free until recently! I ordered GH, which is a little pinker than my usual shade, but at $8 a bottle (cheaper than Essie!) I’m going to buy HD (their white) to mix my ideal color. They also sell the “Poppy” which is the most genius thing ever. You put it on top of you nail polish applicator and it gives you so much more control! The Poppy can also be used on other nail polish brands. The brush on the Olive & June polishes is identical to the Essie Gel brush which is a huge win in my book! You also need to get their top coat because I swear it makes a huge difference how long it lasts and how good it looks.
(Hi, it’s me making a quick update to this post! For the past 6-8 months I have been exclusively using Olive & June nail polishes – hands down my favorite nail polish ever and I will be bringing it to the nail salon with me when I finally venture out for my first mani/pedi post-Covid restrictions!)
Concluding Thoughts…
There you have it: Olive & June is the best nontoxic nail polish brand I tested! I would honestly recommend any of the top four if you’re looking for a safer, at-home manicure. And I love that they’re all available on Amazon! You can even grab Olive & June at Target now. Overall, I’m really impressed with the nontoxic options out there – I didn’t think I’d come away with more than one, maybeee two, great nontoxic nail polish brands!
I added the top four nontoxic nail polish brands on my beauty page under the shop tab, along with other shades I love from each brand (just in case light pink isn’t your color). I truly hope this was helpful for you, I had a lot of fun testing out nontoxic nail polishes, ranking each one, and typing up this post! It was definitely a labor of love, and I hope it saves you time and money when searching for a nontoxic replacement for your favorite at-home mani products. And if you have any favorite nontoxic nail polishes I missed, leave me a comment down below!
xx, c
Leave a Reply