E. Asks:
My manicurist swears by OPI nail polish. Is it really all that different than say, Cover Girl? Also, I recently tried the L’Oreal extended wear nail polish, and it stayed on for a week, when I took it off. No chips or anything. How does it do that?
Left Brain relents
From an ingredients standpoint, there really isn’t much difference between OPI and Cover Girl. They are both good nail polishes and they also use nearly all the same ingredients. There are subtle differences that may affect the lasting power, but it is more likely that the Cover Girl product would be superior. It is produced by P&G, a company that spends significantly more money on Research & Development.
But let’s look at your question a little more in depth. There are three primary ingredients in all nail polishes including
- organic solvent and drying agent
- thickener & hardening agent
- coloring agents
The organic solvents & drying agents most commonly used include ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, and isopropyl alcohol. Both OPI nail polish and Cover Girl use all three of these ingredients.
The thickeners and hardening agents actually make the coating on your nails when the organic solvents they are dissolved in evaporate. These are polymers similar to the ingredients used to paint walls. The most common types of these ingredients are nitrocellulose, acrylate copolymers and polyester/polyurethane copolymers. Both OPI and Cover Girl use nitrocellulose. They both have secondary hardening agents that are different but the primary ingredient is nitrocellulose.
The coloring agents are pretty standard and every manufacturer uses the same palate.
Here is a comparison of the ingredient lists for anyone who is curious.
OPI nail polish Ingredients:
Butyl Acetate, Toluene, Nitrocellulose, Ethyl Acetate, Tosylamide/Formaldehyde Resin, Dibutyl Phthalate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Camphor, Benzophenone-1, Mica, Cl 77499, Cl 15850, Cl 15880
Cover Girl Ingredients
Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Tosylamide/Epoxy Resin, Isopropyl Alcohol, Styrene Acrylates Copolymer, Stearalkonium Bentonite, Benzophenone-1, Trimethylpentandiyl Dibenzoate, Polyvinyl Butyral, Dimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Silica, Polyacrylate-4, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Acrylates Copolymer Polybutylene Terephthalate Ethylene/VA Copolymer
Why your manicurist swears by OPI is probably because that’s what she has used successfully. OPI is a good product, but so may be Cover Girl. It’s doubtful that she did a direct comparison of Cover Girl versus OPI, so she really doesn’t know the difference. She may just assume that because OPI is only available in salons and is more expensive that it is naturally better. But frequent readers of the Beauty Brains know different, price and quality have little in common in the beauty business.
As far as the L’Oreal nail polish goes, they too use the same kind of ingredients as the OPI and Cover Girl. According to their website,
“Research on nail polish has led to a formula that contains neither toluene, nor formalin, nor rosin. This is a real achievement that has improved the staying power of polish while being extremely gentle to nails.”
This sounds like a lot of marketing bunk but if it lasted longer for you, there might be something to it. Only a direct comparison of each different kind of nail polish could really tell if any work better. You could simply run a test where you painted each nail with a different nail polish. Then compare them after a week. Then you’ll know.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
There is technically very little difference between OPI and Cover Girl, but only through experimentation can you really tell how different they are for you. As far as L’Oreal goes, they suggest they have some new technology but without rigorous testing, this brain remains skeptical.
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