Introduction
The types of enamel found on the shelves of perfumeries, herbalists, supermarkets, pharmacies and parapharmacies are countless: pastel enamels, glosses, beaded with glitter, restructuring, medicated and reinforcing are just a few examples. The shop windows adorned with enamels of any kind certainly do not go unnoticed and, releasing a brilliant charge of color, inevitably capture the attention of women.
The application of the enamel on the nails - with the exception of the medicated enamels - has a purely aesthetic purpose. In fact, these cosmetics are applied to beautify the nails or hide small imperfections that can appear on their surface (such as spots, areas where the nails flake off or break, etc.). Be careful, however, not to underestimate any chromatic changes of the nail plate (white, yellow, green, black spots, etc.), since they could represent the symptom or the alarm bell for disorders and basic pathologies not yet diagnosed (onychomycosis, disorders of the skin, systemic diseases, etc.).
Let's see, then, what are the characteristics of the types of enamel most appreciated by women, of medicated enamels and technological innovations in this area.
Colored Enamel
As we know, an enamel consists of a base - usually consisting of nitrocellulose - dissolved in a solvent (butyl acetate or ethyl acetate).
The nitrocellulose base can be left as is (transparent enamel) or embellished with other colored substances.
The so-called "trendy enamels" are made according to market demands: there are those who love strong nuances, others who appreciate the more tenuous and delicate ones. Some women even look for black and metallic glazes; others glue special stickers on a colored enamel base to make the nails even more extravagant.
There is a colored glaze for every taste: you just have to be spoiled for choice.
Transparent Nail Polish
A transparent enamel is a paint without colored pigments: applied over the entire surface of the nail plate, the transparent enamel makes the nail shiny and (at least in appearance) healthy.
Very similar to a transparent enamel is the glossy acrylic gel: it is a gel widely used in beauty salons to support the color of a colored enamel. In fact, once applied over a dry (colored) enamel, the transparent varnish protects the underlying color from possible scratches or small traumas.
Strengthening Enamel
Reinforcing enamels are widely required by the female population, which too often has to face the problem of brittle nails that break, with or without a tendency to flake.
Cellulose enamels dominate the cosmetic market in the nail polish industry. This substance, however, is not the only one to be included in the formulation of a reinforcing enamel: betonite, dimethicone and acrylate copolymers are also ingredients that help strengthen nails. It is good, however, to dispel a mystery. These products do not make the nail stronger through the modification of its structure, but rather they create a coating on the nail plate that protects the keratin from atmospheric insults, from mechanical stress and from the same pigments that are found in the product.
In addition to these "reinforcing" substances, an enamel can be embellished with functional ingredients such as jojoba oil, panthenol, hydrolysed wheat proteins or other ingredients with moisturizing, nourishing and emollient properties.
Water Based Nail Polish
On store shelves it is now possible to find innovative, less polluting and less toxic enamels: water-based enamels. This is a new category of nail products, the ECO alternative to common "classic" solvent-based enamels. These products, the result of the most modern technological cosmetics, are completely free of parabens and are dispersed in water: they are very resistant enamels, which have also shown excellent adhesion to the nail plate.
In these types of glazes, the solvent (water) does not completely evaporate as it does in classic glazes: a part of the water is, in fact, absorbed by the nail.
Cuticle Enamel
The specific products for cuticles are improperly called "enamels": in reality, they are specific liquids that, applied to the contour of the nail during the manicure, soften the cuticles (commonly called "pellicine") making it easier to remove them through the appropriate tools (clippers). These types of enamels are composed of substances that can soften the cuticles while exerting an excellent moisturizing and emollient action. The most used functional ingredients for this purpose are: glycerin, mucilage, lanolin and vegetable oils in general. Even the anti-reddening substances are often included in the formulation of this type of enamels.
deepening
The cuticles are thin corneal structures that cover the nail plate: their function is essentially that of protecting the nail, hindering the penetration of dust and external particles into the matrix and the damage that would ensue.
Before the manicure it is always advised to use these cuticles "enamels": the excessive (and brutal) elimination of the cuticles, in fact, opens the door to bacteria and fungi, the main responsible for bacterial and fungal infections. For this reason, the use of these special enamels is always recommended before the manicure.
Medicated Nail Polish
The medicated enamels deserve further study. These are curative liquid formulations, which have nothing to do with beauty enamels analyzed up to this point.
Just to give some examples, to treat the onychomycosis (nail infection sustained by fungi like Candida albicans, Trichophyton and Epidermophyton ) or to cure athlete's foot we recommend a topical treatment with amorolfine based enamels, azole derivatives or Ciclopirox .
The purpose of these medicated enamels is therefore not to aesthetically embellish the nail, but rather to cure or prevent a particular nail infection.
Bitter Enamel
What is commonly called bitter enamel - and sometimes even spicy - is nothing more than a particular product widely used to counter the onychophagia. Therefore, similarly to the medicated enamel, its use does not have a purely aesthetic function like the other types of enamel so far described.
Furthermore, the term "enamel" is used in a certain way improperly. In fact, bitter enamel is actually a solution containing active ingredients with a bitter and / or spicy taste (such as, for example, the denatonium benzoate and the chili pepper extract) that must be applied on the nail, on the cuticles and on the whole area adjacent to these skin appendages in order to discourage the act of "biting nails".
Once applied, the bitter enamel must be left to dry for a few minutes and the application must be renewed several times during the day. Naturally, these particular types of enamel are ingested - even if minimally - due to contact with the tongue and the oral moss, therefore, they are formulated with non-toxic and non-hazardous ingredients.
