Recently, I was asked if spending extra money on designer nail polish was worth the expense.
I have two thoughts about this –
1. if the concern is about the formula, there is no reason to spend extra money as most nail polish is made from the same ingredients
2. if the concern is trendy colours, then yes, buying a designer polish is ok since they are often the fashion trend setters
It is best to decide what the primary need for the polish is and go from there.
How Nail Polish is Made
The primary component in all nail polish is called nitrocellulose. Nitrocellulose is a flammable liquid mixed with micro particles of cotton which form a film across the nail but sets slowly to allow for complete adhesion and long wear. Nitrocellulose on its own is quite brittle (thus causing chipping) and to create longer wearing polishes, additional resins are added.
These resins allow the polish to wear well and also help suspend the colour in the formula so it is easy to layer on the nail. The most common resins used are amyl/butyl stearate and acetate. 99% of all nail polish include these resins. My advice is to read the ingredient list carefully and if there is very little difference between a designer polish and the generic one you can use a less expensive product and expect the same durability of wear.
A side note – OPI, the leading nail polish brand by volume in North America, also creates polish for many other brands and often sells them at low prices. For example you can buy an OPI polish in a salon for $12 but all Sephora brand polishes are made by OPI and sell for $9. A savings of 25% for the exact same products.
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