Coat Polish

Coat Polish

Polished Possibilities

Polished possibilities

What constitutes a "quality" nail polish is not known.

Consumer VOICE did a user test of 12 leading nail polish brands to find out which brands of nail paints got the highest scores from users for their long-lasting effect, fragrance, and ease of application

Nail polishes, also called nail varnishes, nail paints and nail enamels, have been one of the oldest cosmetics items in the twentieth century, much like lipsticks. Colouring nails is very common among women, and as more and more women go out to work and have little time to paint their nails frequently, the nail paints market has come out with paints that last for upto two weeks, just the way there are day-long lipsticks now available for consumer use. With time, nail paints have progressed to being a somewhat complicated product for users. It is no more fashionable to have just one bottle of nail paint, to apply a few coats of it on the fingernail and be done with it. Now brands offer upto four bottles of nail paints, foundation or base coat, main colour, top coat and so on, all in one pack—all of these have to be applied to get "full satisfaction" from a nail painting job.

Consumer VOICE checked out 12 popular brands of nail paints—from the mid-priced to the most expensive, and tested them for user satisfaction. The touchstone criteria for user satisfaction were that the nail varnish should last for at least a couple of weeks and that it should not discolour the nail after application. It should also have a pleasant feel and fragrance.

Cheaper nail paints make users unhappy

Nail paints can be expensive. One small 13 ml bottle can cost upto 325 rupees, as the Consumer VOICE team found out when they set out to collect the most used brands of nail paints (and this means that nail paints can cost upto 25,000 rupees a litre!). Some nail paints cost just about 70 rupees a bottle, but our user test findings do show that the cheaper brands leave users dissatisfied with the quality and experience. The affordable nail polishes give a heavy coating on application, the paint does not smell good and they also wear off within a week. Altogether, they do not serve the purpose for which a user buys them.

The costliest nail paint: The internationally renowned cosmetics brand, L'oreal, has its "L'oreal Paris Jet Set Shine" priced at Rs 325 for one bottle of 13 ml. That means one litre of the L'oreal nail polish would cost around 25,000 rupees!

Nail paints: stingy with label information

Nail varnishes, like other cosmetics, have had their share of controversies regarding the safety of their ingredients. In any case, we did not find the nail paint brands to be very forthcoming with disclosure of information. Five out of the twelve brands we tested did not disclose their ingredients on the label. This included Lakme, the popular Hindustan Unilever cosmetics brand. We also found that the international brands were more responsible with disclosure of information. Revlon and Diana of London had declared they were "DBP and Toulene-free". L'oreal also gave a detailed list of ingredients. In fact they were printed so fine that we had to use a magnifying glass to read them.

The average nail polish retailer in India may never have heard of DBP which stands for the chemical dibutyl phthalate. DBP acts as a binder to improve the lasting power of nail lacquer but it has also been linked to cancer in lab animals, and underdeveloped genitals and other long-term fertility problems in newborn boys.

The Delhi-made brand "Nail Juice" however did mention DBP as one of its ingredients on the label.

What all brands, except for ‘Bonjour' did mention was that the product should be kept away from heat or flame as it was inflammable.

The four-bottle pack gimmick

Gone are the days when applying nail polish was the simple affair of just opening the bottle and applying the varnish onto one's nails. Now there are four bottles in one nail polish pack and one has to remember which has to be applied first, and which last. Each bottle has around 8 ml of liquid in it.

Consumer VOICE asked the users to apply the nail polishes both ways: once with the procedure and once without it. The feedback we got was that using the nail paint straight away was not really a good way of using a nail polish as then, the colour fades away in just 4-5 days, leaves stains on nails and sometimes the coating is too heavy.

However, those nail polishes, like L'oreal which did not come with a foundation, also did very well by lasting for more than two weeks. Therefore, wherever the foundation is available, it should be applied, and where not, it is best to go along with the instructions of use on the brand.

Brand: Lakme True Wear Nail Colour

Type: Frosted

Per bottle price: Rs 90

Quantity in ml: 9 ml in each bottle

Rating: Very good ****

What's special: Stays on nail till after a week of application; no effect of water on paint; nails don't get pale after application; list of ingredients not mentioned.

Brand: Maybelline Colorma

Type: Matt

Per bottle price: Rs 90

Quantity in ml: 8 ml

Rating: Excellent *****

What's special: Stays on nails even after ten days of application; no perceptible effect of water on paint coating.

Brand: L'oreal Paris Jet Set Shine Speed Dry Nail Enamel

Type: Frosted

Per bottle price: Rs 325

Quantity in ml: 13 ml

Rating: Very good ****

What's special: Looks good on nails but the fragrance of the nail polish was not very appealing; does not mention list of ingredients

Brand: Colorlife

Type: Frosted

Per bottle price: Rs 99

Quantity in ml: 8 ml in each bottle

Rating: Very good ****

What's special: Smooth texture; declares list of ingredients: DBP and Toulene-free

Brand: Lotus Herbals Color Marbel Nail Enamel

Type: Frosted

Per bottle price: Rs 90

Quantity in ml: 8 ml in each bottle

Rating: Very good ****

What's special: Feels good on application, does not affect nails adversely

Brand: Revlon Nail Enamel

Type: Matt

Per bottle price: Rs 130

Quantity in ml: 8 ml

Rating: Very good ****

What's special: Stays on for two weeks; does not stain nails and makes nails look shinier; declares list of ingredients on label; one of the most expensive nail enamels surveyed.

Brand: Colorbar Nail Lacquer Vernisa Ongles

Type: Frosted

Per bottle price: Rs 250 (kit) + Rs 65 (main colour)

Quantity in ml: 9 ml in each bottle

Rating: Excellent *****

What's special: Lasts for more than a week

Brand: Diana of London City Glamour Triple ‘S' Formula Nail Varnish with Vitamin E

Type: Frosted

Per bottle price: Rs 265

Quantity in ml: 12 ml in each bottle

Rating: Very good ****

What's special: Lasts for more than a week; no negative effects seen