[unpaid/sample] Mavala released twelve ‘bio’ polishes using 85% natural origin ingredients in April. It’s just not possible to have 100% natural nail polishes that would provide the performance that we’d want – I’m sort of waiting for the first real attempts at this which have to come at some point. I need to flag up that the new nail wheels I’ve ordered are the sort I didn’t want that give a mattifying effect to the polish. Rest assured, these polishes are as glossy as you’d ever hope.
They’re not the first nail brand to attempt a more natural formula – if you think that originally, nail polish was basically car paint – Kure Bazaar has been a favourite nail brand of mine for a long time (now I think about it, I haven’t heard from them for ages) – and they’ve made good progress at putting less ‘toxic’ polish on the map. Most of Mavala’s collections are named after rivers and it’s the same here.
Mavala Bio uses plant and mineral based raw ingredients – think corn and crushed clay, rice, sugar cane and wood pulp. Using bio-sourced solvents from renewable ingredients is definitely better for the planet rather than using petrochemical origin solvents. If you see ‘breathable’ on a nail polish ingredient list, that means it is water permeable allowing air and water molecules to pass through (you may see such polishes billed as ‘halal’). I’ve seen this formula compared to contact lenses that allow oxygen to pass through – same sort of thing. You can apply nail oil and those molecules in theory should get through and condition the nail – I don’t honestly know if it does this in any meaningful way though. I’ve always been taught that nails themselves don’t ‘breathe’ so don’t be confused that you are allowing your nails to breathe as such.
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Colours on the wheel starting with the red on the left: Murray, Nile, Thames, Amazonas, Volta and Colorado. Bio-sourcing has to be the way forward – nail polish on its own isn’t one of the bigger drains on planet resources but according to a stat site I use, $552.51 million of polish was sold in the US last year and that number is estimated to be 40% of nail polish sales. So, it could have a significant impact if everyone used bio-sourcing. Mavala polishes also contain silica which may help to strengthen the nails. Polishes are currently £5.61 on offer at Sephora HERE.
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