Chemicals plastered to your nails for a week? Um, no thanks. Until fairly recently, our digits were often subjected to five sketchy—and outright toxic—ingredients every time we got a mani-pedi. The Personal Care Products Council’s (PCPC) has done their best to remove things like formaldehyde (yes, the stuff they use to preserve dead bodies), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene, formaldehyde resin, and camphor from the market. Still, when you’re shopping for a fresh hue to bright your nails, it’s best to be 100 percent sure of what’s in the bottle.

To the rescue is a group of trailblazing, wellness-savvy lines like Priti and Kure Bazaar that are helping change the nail game big time. Over the past years more mani/pedi companies are jumping on the five-free bandwagon—and they don’t skimp on quality, color, or creativity, either. With so many healthier mani options on the market, chemical-heavy formulas may soon be a thing of the past?(Well-polished fingers crossed!)

Want formaldehyde-free nail polish? Keep reading for our editors’ 19 top picks.

Shop. Shop. Shop.

Smith & Cult Exit the Void $18

Kure Bazaar Nail Polish $24

LVX Paraiso $18

AILA My 2 Jeffs $14

NCLA Beauty Tennis Anyone? $16

RMS Beloved $15

SpaRitual Delight $9

deborah lippman Rule Breaker $20

Ginger+Liz Bling Coat $9

lacc 1953 $13

PRITI NYC 632 Bachelor's Buttons $15

Julep Taurus $7

Butter London Doily Overcoat $15

Pacifica More Reasons to Love $14

ella+milla my rain beau $11

Côte No. 92 $18

Zoya Evergreen Neon $10

JinSoon Dotty $18

Tenoverten cliff $12

Originally posted August 16, 2015. Updated August 20, 2019

Looking for some #nailspo for all your new finds? Try a wabi sabi or ugly-cute mani.