Lori says…I’m thinking of getting OCC’s Nail Lacquer because it’s Vegan. How do they make it vegan? Will it be as good as a regular polish?
The Right Brain responds:
According to OCC’s website their products are vegan because they don’t contain “animal-derived ingredients (including Lanolin, Beeswax, Carmine and more).” I’ll let you in on a little secret–it’s not that hard to make a nail polish without these animal derived ingredients.
Nail polishes don’t contain many animal ingredients
Consider that nail polishes primarily consist of polymers, resins, and solvents. A few of these are derived from plant sources (ethyl alcohol can come from corn and stearic acid used in some esters comes from coconut oil, for example) but most of which are derived from petroleum. WHAT? A vegan product contains synthetic petrochemicals? Yep!
Bully for them for taking a stance in favor of defenseless animals. But to be honest, this vegan product is not much different than a regular, animal-hating nail polish. But hey they’re not charging you that much more for this brand so as long as you like their colors (our personal favorite is called “Captain Howdy”) , then go for it.
OCC Vegan Nail Lacquer Ingredients
Ethyl Acetate, N-Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Isopropyl Alcohol, N-Butyl Alcohol, Styrene/Acryates Copolymer, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Benzophenone | May Contain: Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines, Bismuth Oxychloride, FD&C Yellow #5, D&C Red #7, D&C Red #34, Ferric Ferrocyanine, Mica
Reference: http://www.occmakeup.com/nails.html
Image credit: http://www.occmakeup.com/
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and try our new beef nail polish made with real animals!
Those colors are very pretty!
@Rozy: Lol! Or how about Pork Polish? Lamb Lacquer?
I’ve seen several ads for gluten free lipstick. Are there even any cosmetics with gluten in them? Even if there were, I think a gluten allergy is for consumption, not skin contact. All the silly buzzwords are getting very ridiculous.
@Daintynymph : It’s recommended that all people with celiac disease avoid using make up and other products that may get in contact with any mucous (like lipstick and eye make up), because it can trigger the symptoms. It’s a real concern to them. I have a friend that always make contact with cosmetic companies to ensure that the products she wants to buy are gluten-free. She also stopped using some MAC lipsticks because of it and is very happy that more companies are using the gluten-free adds.
In cosmetics, gluten can be found in wheat protein, for example.
I think that people confuse vegan with non – synthetic. I love this line. Even though vegan nail polish seems a little silly, the rest of their line is also vegan including some AMAZING red lip products and pigments which are so hard to come by in vegan lines.
There are a lot of vegan nail polish brands on the market, but a lot of nail polish contains animal ingredients, whether or not it’s easy to produce nail polish without them. More importantly, vegan nail polishes are also produced without animal testing. If it’s not something that’s important to you it may seem silly, but the fact remains that many consumers prefer cruelty free products, to the extent that they are available. I’ll never understand why so many people in the cosmetics industry have such a sneering attitude when it comes to animal welfare or the most basic concern for the environment.
@Blauriche: I hope we didn’t come across as “sneering” because we’re certainly for companies that believe in animal welfare and the environment. What we’re NOT for is companies that exploit people’s concerns over those issues to try to make a buck. We’re not saying that’s the case with OCC’S Vegan nail polish since their brand is very affordable.
We’re just trying to raise everyone’s awareness so they don’t think they have to spend more for a “vegan” version of a product when it really isn’t any different than the “regular” version. Hopefully that makes sense.