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Concept
Nail polish
Summary
Nail polish (also known as nail varnish in British English or nail enamel) is a lacquer that can be applied to the human fingernail or toenails to decorate and protect the nail plates. The formula has been revised repeatedly to enhance its decorative properties, to be safer for the consumer to use, and to suppress cracking or peeling. Nail polish consists of a mix of an organic polymer and several other components that give it colors and textures. Nail polishes come in all color shades and play a significant part in manicures and pedicures.
Nail polish originated in China and dates back to 3000 BCE. Around 600 BCE, during the Zhou dynasty, the royal house preferred the colors gold and silver. However, red and black eventually replaced these metallic colors as royal favorites. During the Ming dynasty, nail polish was often made from a mixture that included beeswax, egg whites, gelatin, vegetable dyes, and gum arabic.
In Egypt, the lower classes wore pale colors, whereas high society painted their nails a reddish brown with henna. Mummified pharaohs also had their nails painted with henna.
In Europe, Frederick S. N. Douglas, while traveling in Greece in 1810–12, noticed that the Greek women used to paint their nails "dingy pink", which he understood as an ancient custom.
Early nail polish formulas were created using basic ingredients such as lavender oil, carmine, oxide tin, and bergamot oil. It was more common to polish nails with tinted powders and creams, finishing off by buffing the nail until left shiny. One type of polishing product sold around this time was Graf's Hyglo nail polish paste.
Modern nail polish consists predominately of a film-forming polymer dissolved in a volatile organic solvent. The most common polymer is nitrocellulose, although the more expensive cellulose acetates such as CAB are claimed to give better performance. In gel nail varnish, the polymer is usually some sort of acrylate copolymer. The solvents are commonly butyl acetate or ethyl acetate.
Official source
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