1 reply to this topic

[Jessica B.]

Hello!

 

I am currently a Chemical Eng. Prof. and am helping run a camp for students during the Summer. It is an all girl camp and they voted to make nail polish. However I am finding it increasingly difficult to find a formula that I can reproduce on the lab scale. Does anyone have any experience making nail polish that could provide me with the basic recipe (amounts, general instructions)? We are able to order any of the necessary chemicals and equipment.

 

So far, most of what I have found online consists of buying clear nail polish and adding pigment to it. This is not what we want the girls to do. We would like them to create the entire product so that they can really learn about the process.

 

Thank you in advance!

[Neelakantan]

(this reply is by Nandini, my daughter, a pharmacy graduate; preparation and testing of cosmetics is part of B Pharm Syllabus; she has prepared lipstick, nailpolish, lip balm, etc)

 

 

INGREDIENTS FOR A BASIC LAB FORMULA ( For 100g)

The basic elements are : "a solvent, a pigment, and something to make a film,"

 

Nitrocellulose- 14 g( film former) ( critical ingredient- most preferred film former)

Dibutyl Phthalate- 4 g (plasticiser- will make your nailpolish film flexible) ( Caution: some medical professionals now consider it as carcinogenic;  can be substituted with castor oil- i dont recollect exact quanitiy- will have to adopt trial and error method- too much castor oil can prolong the drying time. this happened during one of the trials)

Ethyl acetate-30g

Butyl acetate-2 g (solvents for nitrocellulose)

A suitable resin for making the film stick to the nail (typically a formaldehyde resin:tosylamide-formaldehyde app 7 gms); you may also use Eudragit

Toluene- make up the weight to 100g (again can be "termed": carcinogenic

Preferred colours- according to your preferred shade( iron oxide-red, titanium oxide to reduce intensity of shade, add mica for glitter effect)-3 g

 

Procedure-

1. Dissolve nitrocellulose in mixture of ethyl and butyl acetate

2.Add plasticiser to the above mixture. Mix well

2a add the resin (dissolved in small quantity of toluene or other sutiable solvent)

3. Triturate colours till you get desired shade ( not more than 3 g per 100g)

4. Add to the above mixture( if you are using castor oil - suspend the colour in a portion of castor oil and add to the mixture)

5. Adjust weight to 100g using diluent (toluene in this case). Mix well

6. Fill in glass bottle with applicator.

 

(The three ingredients  are known as basic trio, Toluene, DibutylPthalate and Formaldehyde; ; all are now considered Toxic!)

 

You may refer to the following references:

 

http://www.srmuniv.a...ticsfornail.pdf

 

http://www.cosmetics...-202309561.html

 

http://www.specialch...ecipe.aspx?id=3

http://tintin25.hubp...ake-nail-polish

 

regards and best wishes;

 

Don't  forget to tell us the results!

 

(Lipstick is easier to make!)

Edited by Neelakantan, 03 June 2014 - 05:00 AM.