First nail polishes were “3-free,” then
“10-free” and “15-free”—but they could
just as easily be “100 million–free”
because they don’t contain chocolate
or radon or dried rhino horn. As this
numbers game mounts, we decided
to find out which ingredients you really
need to avoid. It’s a short list, says Evan
Rieder, a dermatologist in New York
City: formaldehyde (a carcinogen and
skin irritant that makes polish shine and
resist chipping), toluene (a nail polish
solvent that may also be a neurological
toxicant), and butyl phthalates (plas-
ticizers for making polish flexible that
have been banned from polish by the
European Union as potential reproduc-
tive toxicants). It still doesn’t hurt to do
your own research, though—a study
published in the journal Dermatitis last
year found 4 out of 28 lacquers claim-
ing to be “formaldehyde-free” actually
B
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—GABRIELA THORNE
A slew of new—and kind of weird,
but cool/odd/fascinating weird—
dental products are inviting us to put
our money where our mouth is.
All Smiles
Keeko Oil Pulling Sachets
It was only a matter of time before
Ayurveda came to our gums. In
this case, the ancient practice
has arrived in little single-use
packets of coconut, lemon, and
myrrh oil. Swish the oil in your
mouth for a few minutes to help
reduce plaque, calm inflamed
gums, and freshen breath (in a
just-had-tea sort of way).
—KATHLEEN SUICO
Terra & Co. Brilliant
Black Toothpaste
If you think the black toothpaste
looks alarming in the tube,
just wait until you brush your
teeth with it. In fact, look away
from the mirror until after
you rinse. Made with activated
carbon (aka charcoal), this
peppermint-flavored toothpaste
cleans teeth without peroxides
or fluoride (ingredients that
can cause irritation for some).
Moon Kendall Jenner
Teeth Whitening Pen
This brush is to teeth what those
Tide sticks are to half our closet.
It erases stains with carbamide
peroxide, a milder hydrogen
peroxide compound than what’s
used in professional teeth-
whitening procedures.
cleaning
up your
manicure
Some of our favorite nail polishes without
questionable ingredients (clockwise from left):
Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure. in Crystal
Blue, Sundays in No. 47, Mischo Beauty in Je Ne
Sais Quoi, and Orosa in Twilight.
contained formaldehyde. Look out
for the other names formaldehyde
can go by: formalin and methylene
glycol. But the research just isn’t
there to say whether the other
stuff that brands advertise leaving
out—like xylene, gluten, and cam-
phor—is harmful or penetrates
nails, says Rieder. Gluten is in
some nail strengtheners, but that’s
not going to affect you (unless,
maybe, you eat it). And while it’s
possible that you could have a skin
allergy to some of the other ingre-
dients, like xylene, you’d know that
pretty quickly—you’d get redness,
scaling, and itching around your
nails after a manicure. But clean
polish is really about the inhala-
tion risk, so even though some of
the chemicals (like camphor and
acetone) in lacquers are probably
fine on your nails, it’s still not a
good idea to breathe them in large
quantities. One of the best things
you can do, says Rieder, is paint
your nails in well-ventilated areas.
—COTTON CODINHA
24 ALLURE APRIL 2020
JOSEPHINE SCHIELE
