National Nail Polish Day Date in the current year: June 1, 2024

People have painted their nails for thousands of years using natural pigments such as carmine in henna. During the Ming dynasty of China, for example, a nail painting mixture included plant-based dyes and binding ingredients such as beeswax, gelatin, gum arabic, and egg whites. In some parts of the world, it was common to polish one’s nails with tinted creams or powders, and then buff them until shiny.

Modern nail polish, however, its a relatively recent invention. Interestingly, it was spurred by the development of the automotive industry: the first nail polish, introduced in 1916, was inspired by automotive paint. In 1932, brothers Charles and Joseph Revson founded Revlon, the world’s first established nail polish brand.

The key ingredients of modern nail polish are a film-forming polymer and a volatile organic solvent. When polish is applied to the nails, the solvent evaporates, and the polymer forms a strong coat on the nail surface. The most commonly used polymer in nail polishes is nitrocellulose because it dries quickly, does not damage the skin, and is inexpensive.

Some nail polish brands use more expensive polymers such as CAB that are thought to be more resistant to the elements, and professional gel nail polish is usually made with some type of acrylate copolymer. Unlike regular nail polish that dries on its own, gel polish needs to be cured under ultraviolet light. The upside of gel polish is that it can last for two weeks without chipping, whereas regular nail polish usually lasts two to seven days.

Additional ingredients are included in nail polish formulations to give the desired finish: various dyes and pigments to achieve the desired color, opalescent pigments for glittery and shimmery nail polishes, plasticizers, adhesive polymers, UV stabilizers, thickening agents, and more. These additives allow to achieve more than a dozen finishes: shimmer, glitter, opalescent, iridescent, matte, crackled, holographic, and more.

National Nail Polish Day was launched in 2017 by the American nail polish brand essie. The date of June 1 was chosen to celebrate the beginning of meteorological summer and the nail-care season when a lot of people to experiment with bright nail polish colors and show off their manicures.

There are may ways to celebrate National Nail Polish Day. You can paint your nails yourself, book a manicure or pedicure (or both!), throw a nail-painting party for your friends or family, stock up on new nail polishes, try nail polish colors with fun names (for example, OPI is known for its iconic nail polish names like Tickle my France-y or Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around), or treat your friend, sibling or other loved one to a manicure. And don’t forget to snap a photo of your freshly painted nails and post it on social media with the hashtags #NationalNailPolishDay and #NailPolishDay to spread the world about the holiday.