Eco-Easy Nail Polish Remover

I didn't have time to get another picture of this today, but you can see my bottle of Eco-Easy Nail Polish Remover from Peacekeeper Cause-Metics pictured in this post. Not only is this polish remover supposed to be easier on the environment - it's completely devoid of any synthetic or petrochemicals, and 100% biodegradable - it's healthier too, with just five ingredients:

- ethyl lactate (from sugar beets)
- glycerin
- water
- Spearmint leaf
- Rosemary

It says right on the bottle that this remover takes a little time to work. And it's true - you need to put it on your nails (with a cotton ball or cloth), and let it sit for a while before you start rubbing. The bottle says 30 seconds, it was more like a minute or so for me before it started working. But once it starts, it's really not much different than using regular "chemical" polish removers in that you just rub your nails, and it dissolves the polish.

There are a few things though that make this polish really worth the extra time and money for me. The first is that it isn't drying at all on the cuticles & skin around your nails. the oils and glycerin make it soft and soothing to dry skin, so it's conditioning. The second is that it gets *everything* off without any harsh rubbing or digging with a q-tip. With chemical polish removers, I always end up having a hard time getting the polish off the very sides of my nails by the skin, and sometimes I have to get a q-tip to really rub in those creases, especially with dark polish. This remover just dissolves everything, leaving a perfectly clean nail bed with no "elbow grease" needed. I didn't have to work at getting the rhinestones off either - they just popped right off with no problem.

I also was impressed at just needing 2 cotton balls for all 10 nails. With chemical removers, I need at least three per hand, as they get really soaked with "old" nail polish as I remove it. This remover really seems to just dissolve the polish - I don't know where the color goes, but one cotton ball did an entire hand with no problem. It doesn't take much remover either - I put remover on one cotton ball, swiped each nail on one hand, let it sit, then used the same cotton ball to clean all 5 nails, repeated for the second hand. It seems like with chemical removers, I'm constantly needing more remover as it evaporates so quickly - Eco-Easy doesn't evaporate (or at least not so fast).

And of course there's the smell. Zoya's polish remover has a nice fragrance, but this Eco-Easy remover smells great, like a light mint. And the fragrance is natural, so no worries about inhaling alcohol or chemical fumes either.

The only downsides to this remover in my opinion are that it takes a little extra time, it comes in a plastic bottle, and it's $12.00. Really though, the price is not bad at all considering how little is needed for each use. I'm sold - and I think I'll be switching to this from now on.

I do have one other eco-friendly polish remover to try...it comes in a glass bottle, which is better, but the ethyl lactate is derived from soy, and it does have a chemical in it that I need to look up. I'll post a review on that later.