Sound the alarms, this isn’t a joke: edible nail polish is now a real thing.
How many times have you picked at the chipping paint on your nails, chewing them away and wondering how many chemicals you were ingesting? It’s no secret that nail polish is full of harmful chemicals, but it’s one of those things we choose to ignore because we don’t have any other options.
Photo by Becca Berland
But now you do. Kid Licks, a new company based out of California, just came out with edible. nail. polish. It’s organic, GMO-free and goes on just like normal polish. The polish is fairly temporary (read: it’ll last just one day, without reapplying), but if you blow dry your mani/pedi, it’ll last longer.
Kid Licks comes in three colors/flavors: beet red, sour carrot orange and barley grass green. While it dries like normal polish, Kid Licks can be washed off with some soap and water, so you won’t need any harsh chemicals to remove it from your nails.
The polish is made from organic fruits and veggies, so it’s also vegan. It’s not meant to encourage people to bite their nails, but instead to offer a safe alternative for small kids who pick at their nails or adults who are allergic to chemicals typically found in regular nail polish.
Of course, I had to try it out for myself. The polishes are available online for $13.99 each plus shipping, so I only decided to order one (because #brokecollegekid). Obviously, I chose beet red.
Interestingly enough, the label on the polish says to refrigerate after opening. There’s a very short (but complete) list of ingredients: organic acacia fiber, water, organic beet juice powder, organic corn starch and citric acid. Five ingredients that are recognizable, and ones that I can pronounce without consulting the internet? I’ll take it.
Gif courtesy of giphy.com
I did some research on the only ingredient I didn’t recognize (acacia powder) and found out that it’s a dietary fiber that dissolves in water. It’s typically used to reduce cholesterol or increase weight loss.
The jar of polish actually smelled like straight molasses and had pretty much the same consistency as normal polish, although I thought it was a little thicker.
Kid Licks has a semi-matte finish, and the color of the beet-flavored polish was a deep burgundy. Surprisingly, it only took one coat to completely cover my nails, but I added a second just to see how it looked.
As the polish dried, it kept doing this weird thing where it would leave holes of no polish in its wake. Not entirely sure why this happened, but multiple coats solved the problem. I promise, I’m not a bad manicurist, but the nail polish was a little funky as it dried.
Be wary of washing your hands. Obviously, I’m not telling you to skip washing them, but keep in mind that when water comes in contact with the polish, it will start to chip and wear off. Most of your polish will chip by the end of the day, but it’s easy to reapply and Kid Licks only lasts 2 months in the refrigerator, anyways.
Taste Test
I decided to recruit my fellow Spoon peers in order to provide clear feedback on the taste of the beet red polish. Here’s what they had to say.
“Oh, it tastes chalky…surprisingly chalky. And it has a powdery consistency.”
“It reminds me of molasses.”
“It tastes like beets and gingerbread.” (The most spot-on answered I received all night.)
“It smells like fruit leather, and it tastes exactly how it smells.”
As you can see, the opinions differed greatly. Some thought it tasted like tomato soup or blueberries, while others were able to pick out the beet flavor without being told what it was. We can’t comment on the other flavors, although we wonder if they smell the same.
Final Thoughts
It’s weird, but cool. We don’t really understand who it’s marketed towards. Children? People who bite their nails? Adults? The flavors aren’t entirely kid-friendly, so we’re not sure.
Make sure you order a flavor that you like, because it actually tastes how it’s advertised. It’s a little on the expensive side, but it’s entirely natural and organic so you have to weight the pros and cons. And make sure you’re careful when you dry your hands.