Cool weather does not mean you should shelve the nail routine until Spring. I live in the South, where winter can be pretty mild. Yes, you will see me in my sequined, 4-inch platform sandals. And you will not talk junk about it.
That being said, I opened a bottle of nail polish the other day and almost passed out from the smell. Yuck! Let’s look at what’s floating around in your standard bottle of nail polish:
- phthalates (an endocrine disruptor)
- toluene (petroleum-based product linked to cancer)
- formaldehyde (known carcinogen)
Sounds like a cancer cocktail to me. So what is an ecodopalicious angel to do? The purist will just go bare. For the ecodiva who cannot live without a mani pedi, you’ll have to go with one of these safer, less smelly toxic alternatives:
Don’t worry about the color selection. You’ll have a hard time choosing from a wide spectrum including the nudest nudes, trendy brights and goth girl darks. You can even stick to your trusty dusty French manicure with no problem. Just don’t forget to snatch up some non toxic remover, because even non-acetone polish remover is suspect.
I’ve used the HoneyBee Gardens polish on my little eco-cutie and myself. It’s water-based, so showers and bubble baths do a number on a fresh coat. I do want to try the Priti and butter London lines not only because a whiff of an open bottle won’t scramble my brains, but the colors are superecodopalicious.
Check out Bianca Alexander of Conscious Living TV as she gets an organic mani pedi at ZaZa Nail Spa in San Francisco:
Toxin Free Mani Pedis! from Conscious Living TV on Vimeo.
