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Sienna Revolutionizing The Nail Polish Industry By Going Green

Written by: James Carnell

When you are painting your nails or shopping for nail polish, have you ever stopped to think about what’s in the formula and how environmentally friendly the packaging is? Sienna has thought about everything. The company, born in New South Wales, Australia, has stripped nail polish down to the formula and built their own aluminium-free blueprint from scratch, throwing out everything harmful and only retaining the best potential of what nail polish could be, which in turn, elevated Sienna into the market leader that they are.

Since the company was forging their own path, they’ve decided to throw all conventions out of the window and opted for the most transparent path. They are insistent on being certified before making any claims because a great deal of nail polish on the market are labeled “child-safe” or “pregnancy safe” without having the clinical trials to back these claims. With integrity at the core of Sienna means that they want to advertise on things that are officially recognized. For instance, they have obtained the Leaping Bunny announcement back in May, 2021, for being cruelty-free, and also has received vegan, b-corp, and non-toxic certifications from the relevant authorities.

On top of that, they are also above vague marketing tactics which often use “2-free”, “4-free”, up to “21-free” to advertise that they are free from a fixed amount of harmful chemicals. This marketing method can show you just how many harmful ingredients are in conventional nail polish, but at the same time, not naming names and pointing out specific ingredients that they have left out, it’s impossible to know how clean the nail polish formula actually is.

When it comes to Sienna, they can proudly say that they are the cleanest conventional nail polish on the market. Their formulation is free from benzophenone-1, a common ingredient in many beauty products that is a known carcinogen. Aside from that, it is also linked to endocrine disruption, hormone disruptions, and ecotoxicity.

Formaldehyde is another carcinogen that has been purged from Sienna’s vegan nail polish. Listed as a Schedule 6 poison by the Australian Government in the 2012 Poison Standard, the substance can cause grievous harm to those who are often exposed to them. Products aside from nail hardener should not have more than 0.05% of formaldehyde due to the dangers associated with the substance.

Other ingredients that Sienna doesn’t and will never use are toluene, tosylamide or formaldehyde resin, synthetic camphor, or xylene. All of which can cause a slew of health problems from headaches or dizziness, all the way to liver and kidney damage or even seizures. The ingredients that Sienna uses in their nail polish is not linked to any negative or long-term side effects because while they are unable to keep their formula at a hundred percent natural, they want to make sure that it is as safe as possible. Dibutyl Phthlate or DBP poses a risk to development and reproduction and should be highly avoided, especially by children or pregnant women. In an attempt to create a nail polish that celebrates inclusivity, they’ve opted out of this dangerous substance, so everyone can enjoy beautiful nails.

Equality is something that Sienna is also passionate about. Everyone should be able to buy and enjoy nail polish without discrimination. That’s why you can find various skin tones exhibiting the different shades of nail polish on their website. It’s often frustrating to see only one type of skin colour being represented, but Sienna is breaking down these walls, alongside other conscious beauty brands, to ensure that everyone can have a relatable skin tone to view, and also give them a realistic expectation of how the color may look on their own skin tone.

Aside from that, they also ensure that their nail polish is air and water permeable which means that friends of Muslim faith will be able to wear their nail polish without disrupting their rituals of cleansing or wudu. This allows them to continue practicing their faith without disrespecting their traditions of worship. Being aware of other customs and making concessions for them should be a part of the beauty industry - something that Sienna hopes to rectify and also inspire others to follow suit.

From their green formula, recyclable packaging, and inclusive culture, Sienna embodies the best of the beauty industry and has set a new standard for nail polish all over the world. When asked about their future plans, the humble and down-to-earth Danielle Egan - creator of Sienna - says that, “Sienna started as a vision for non-toxic nail polish, but the more we discovered about the ingredients and manufacturing process that goes into producing these beauty staples, we realized that there’s copious of room for improvement. Now that we have perfected our formula, we hope to serve as an inspiration for the rest of the beauty industry. Beauty doesn’t have to come at a price of being harmful to us or the environment. Beauty products can be effective as well as eco-friendly.”

For a product that was born in a Byron Bay living room, this Australian-grown product is making waves in the industry for being clean, transparent, and considerate. There aren't many beauty products in the world that can tout the same. While it isn’t yet possible to make a 100% eco-friendly beauty product, Sienna remains hopeful that one day they will be able to become the world’s first completely eco-friendly brand. As the world continues to move in an environmentally-conscious fashion, that possibility will draw nearer and nearer to us and become a reality as long as we keep pushing for it, which is what makes Sienna so important as a market leader in creating clean beauty products, because if they can do it, other companies can as well. It’s just a matter of prioritizing ethical practices over the cheapest materials and labour to maximize profits which Sienna is a hundred percent against.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes

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