Nail Polish consists of 6 main types of ingredients:
Pigments, Resins, Solvents, Plasticizers, Dispersants, and UV Stabilizers. Obviously, the exact proportions of these are TOP SECRET! But, I can tell you what these ingredients are, and what they do.
(1) Pigments (colors) are the essence of polish; a variety D&C (drug & cosmetic approved) dyes are used. Most popular polish colors require a combination of different pigments, mixed in the right proportions, to make the desired color. Before adding pigments to the polish, they must be ground down with mills to very fine powders – you don’t want big chunks of color ruining the polish! “Frost” and “shimmer” polishes are created by adding sparkling, reflective particles, such as Mica; the size of the particles helps determine way the polish sparkles. (Some colors may be identified on the label by “CI ######”; CI stands for Color Index, which is an internationally recognized way of identifying colors.) Continue reading »
