The Best Nail Polish – Manucurist Green Flash Review

Searching for a more eco-friendly nail polish? Want a polish that doesn’t ruin your nails? French brand Manucurist’s Green Flash has the best nail polish system.

I enjoy having my nails done (I’m a recovering nail biter) but keeping up with chipping polish made me crazy. Doing my nails every couple of days was too much. I enjoyed getting gel manicures but they’re expensive and rough on my nails. Then it was months until the damaged nails grew out.

I wanted my new nail polish solution to be:

• long lasting/chip proof
• better environmentally than traditional or gel polishes
• non-damaging to nails

After a bunch of reading and researching I settled on Green Flash by Manucurist. I chose them because:

• they have no endocrine disruptors or allergens and are 12-free (free of 12 common harmful nail polish ingredients)
• all polishes are 84% plant based & cruelty-free
• made in France (the EU has higher safety standards than the U.S.)
• promised to be long lasting through UV curing
• UV lamps are 365 nm (longer wavelength than most UV gel lamps & therefore on the less skin damaging side of the UV range)
• promised to be easy & non-damaging to remove

The Best Nail Polish

I’ve found in the 8 months I’ve been using Green Flash that what they promise is true. My manicures typically last 10-14 days before any lifting occurs. My nails don’t chip unless I hit the tip particularly hard against something that would break a nail anyway. Lifting and grow out are the factors that determine the life span of my manicures. Picking off lifted polish will damage the top layer or two of my nails. I reliably get 2 weeks out of manicures.

Green Flash promises a 1 minute removal. While it is quick, 5-10 minutes per hand is a more reasonable time frame. The clips provided in the kit keep polish remover soaking on nails. The color layers lift off and wipe away after a few minutes. I’ve found the base coat takes a couple passes with a remover soaked pad to get off. Green Flash’s remover is acetone free which doesn’t dry out nails or hands like traditional remover does.

Green Flash is more expensive than regular polish. Having my nails done makes me happy, so the lifespan of my manicures is worth the price. I originally ordered the Travel Starter Kit which comes with 3 polish colors, remover, removal clips, base & top coats, and a foldable lamp (watch for a sale to be around $100). A few months later I ordered more colors and remover during another sale.

A Few Tips

• Cotton balls cut into fourths to fit under the removal clips better than full sized ones.
• Sometimes the polish that is removed flakes off in little crumbs during the removal process. Having a paper towel laid out catches everything and makes for easier cleanup.
• Apply sunscreen to hands about 20 minutes before starting a manicure to protect from UV rays. While the Green Flash UV lamp emits lower energy light than many other nail lamps, the light is still in the UV range. Sunscreen is a simple precaution.
• Thick layers tend to get some wavy lines in them when cured under the lamp. Thinner layers are better.
• After nails are cured under the light, they are susceptible to smudges/denting for about 30 minutes (but way less susceptible than regular polish is). If you can still smell the polish on your nails, it is not fully cured.