I have nail lacquers in red and blue.




But I got sick of these 2 colours, so being the DIY Maestro and arty-farty person I am, I decided to MIX THEM TOGETHER TO GET PURPLE. The result? I got a very beautiful purple that you can't find anywhere else except in my humble bedroom. And since my bedroom walls are also purple in colour, I shall give my new concoction an O.P.I-esque name: My Bedroom is Purple.

I got this little cup to mix the 2 colours in. It's just a simple plastic cup, never used before.



Right-O. So I got this very romantic purple which is neither too light to be girly, nor too dark to be sexy. (Pardon my stubby fingers, hee.)





After painting I disposed of the little cup (like duh, why would I keep it?) and I went about my usual stuff to do.
By chance I looked into the dustbin and GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CUP??!!!@#$%^&*

WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT IT HAD MELTED!!! LIKE AS THOUGH IT HAD BEEN CORRODED BY STRONG ACIDS!!!!







The whole base had become so soft and flimsy, that when I poked it gently with a cotton bud, it just slipped out.



CAN YOU IMAGINE? FROM THIS TO THAT??!!



It was enough to get me running for my nail lacquer remover to get rid of My Bedroom is Purple. It was so shocking. For about 3 years I have been diligently painting my nails and now all I can think of is: "Is this what's been happening to my nails all these times?" If the nail lacquer can do this to plastic, does it mean that my nails are more vulnerable? I had really horrid image of my nails being all ragged and dry, like the surface of the moon, and the colour's just eating away all the moisture and shine.

For some reason I wanted to find out more (even after being disgusted), like what was going on, why does this happen etc etc. So... GOOGLE! And turns out that in nail lacquer, there are these Big 3: Toluene, Formaldehyde, and Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP).

Toluene is used to prevent the lacquer from chipping and cracking, and also to allow it to flow and adhere smoothly to the nail, so that you get pretty nails all week long. It is also one of the constituents that give nail polish its sweet, sticky but also slight repulsive smell. It can cost you your kidney in the long run since it can be ABSORBED INTO THE SKIN (!@#$%^&?). Not exactly a good trade-off for pretty nails huh. Plus it's used in your normal stationery glue and is found in crude oil. Not exactly glamourous for pretty nail colours too.

My earliest memory of this chemical called formaldehyde is that it is used for preserving bodies. Bodies as in, corpses. Dead bodies. Turns out that it's also a carcinogen, and Bio students, yall know what that is right. I read that even though it is not directly added into nail lacquer and thus won't be inhaled, the thought that it's used to preserve corpses scare the living daylights out of me. Like at funerals and the dead is full of formaldehyde.....ohmygod.

DBP, according to Wiki, is a 'low molecular weight phthalate' that can be 'dermally absorbed'..... So, it means that the skin can absorb it just like how it absorbed toluene??? My poor nail bed must be dead already. And get this: you can find DBP in detergents, glues, and in PVC. DBP is used to treat parasitic infestations (grossed out to say anything else).

Turns out, both the red and blue lacquers contain all the Big 3. Nail suicide, man.

Nail lacquers don't sound very appealing now, do they?  Now that you knew what's behind the dazzling shades, you know what to do.