Women's Nails
Shop vegan and cruelty-free nail care products. From nail polish to nail polish remover, and everything in between, all products in our store are 100% free of animal-derived materials, ingredients, by-products and testing.
What is a vegan and cruelty-free nail product?
The term “vegan” with regard to nail products, refers to nail care and styling products that do not contain animal derived or sourced ingredients. The term “cruelty-free” means a product and its ingredients aren’t tested on animals. However, those that are both vegan and cruelty-free don’t have any animal derived or sourced ingredients, and aren't tested on animals.
What animal ingredients are found in nail products?
Nail Polish: Many well-known nail polish and lacquer brands use pigments from insects, as well as fish scales and oyster shells to achieve the gold and silver sheen found in metallic nail colours. They also use carmine (crushed up female beetles) for red pigment. Nail polish can also contain 0leic acid, which is basically rendered animal fat, used primarily as a thickener.
Nail Polish Remover: Many mainstream nail polish removers contain animal ingredients like gelatin, for ‘strengthening nails, and lanolin, used an emollient and moisturizer.
Without these animal ingredients, won’t the products not work?
Actually, plant and mineral based ingredients can be used just as, if not more effectively than insect and animal-derived and sourced ingredients. For example, aluminum can be used to add shimmer to nail polish, and vitamin E and Aloe Vera can act as emollients in nail polish remover.
What companies make vegan/cruelty-free nail care and style products?
We’ve contacted several companies to personally check that they are cruelty-free and vegan. This is necessary because not every company pursues voluntary vegan and cruelty-free certification from organizations such as Leaping Bunny and PETA. The following companies assured us they don’t use any animal-derived or sourced ingredients or materials in their nail care and styling products, or test their products on animals:
- LACC Beauty
- Karma Organic
- Priti NYC
- LVX
- Pacifica
- a-England
- AILA Cosmetics
- SpaRitual
- e.l.f. Cosmetics
- ncLA
- SpaRitual
- Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC)
Please Note: Since Get it Vegan is an Amazon-curated store, some of the above-listed brands may not have products listed in our store, as they may not be sold on Amazon.
Are vegan & cruelty-free nail polish, remover and other products expensive?
In general, vegan and cruelty-free nail care and styling products are not any more expensive, or any less-expensive, than products that include animal sourced and/or derived ingredients, and/or products that are tested on animals. Just like non-vegan/non-cruelty-free products, there are differences in the quality of the ingredients used, differences in the manufacturing processes employed, and different brand names behind the products; all of these factors can make prices differ from one product to the next.
Should I get rid of any non-vegan nail products that I already own?
This is a very controversial topic within the vegan community, and touches on one of the more challenging aspects of transitioning to a vegan and cruelty-free lifestyle. Some options you have are to give away any unused or gently used products to friends and family, or use products (if you’re comfortable doing so) until they have run out or otherwise outlived their usefulness. Simply throwing them away is generally considered wasteful, and we would recommend turning to that as a last resort. Ultimately, it comes down to what you decide you’re no longer comfortable using, what you can afford to replace immediately, and what you feel can be given away hygienically.
How do you choose which companies to list?
We keep a growing list of companies that we find, or are suggested to us, whose nail care and styling products all seem to be completely vegan-friendly and cruelty-free. We contact these companies to find out which products of theirs, if any, use animal derived or sourced ingredients, or have ingredients that are tested on animals. If they assure us that their nail polish remover and related products are cruelty-free and suitable for vegans, and they can be purchased on Amazon, then we list those products here for your convenience.
Similar product categories
If you’ve found this page helpful, check out similar product categories to learn or shop more:
For companies that make vegan & cruelty-free nail care and styling products
If you make vegan and cruelty-free nail polish, lacquer, remover, wraps, cuticle oil, files, or any other nail products for that matter, we’d love to feature you and your products on the “Brands We Love” section of our site! Contact us at - info(at)getitvegan(dot)com - to find out more!
Sources
Some of the information for this mini guide on vegan nail care and styling products was gathered from the following sources:
- Style: “The Best Vegan Nail Polishes To Try If Crushed Beetles Aren’t Your Thing.” Dana Oliver (n.d.). Huffington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/30/vegan-nail-polish-zoya-sparitual_n_1896463.html