Bubbles in nail polish

[DrewLG]

So this is weird...

After around 30 minutes in the pool today, Mrs. DrewLG noticed that tiny white bubbles had formed in her toenail polish. She regularly gets pedicures and regularly spends time in the pool, but had never seen this effect before. Photo below.

Her polish was relatively new (applied yesterday), but our niece's polish is weeks old and was doing the same thing. Pool water is balanced (logs here).

Any ideas of what's causing this?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Did they get that gel coat stuff that makes the nail polish last for 20 years and requires a Dremel tool with a diamond grinding bit to remove?

 

[DrewLG]

They say no gel, just a base coat + color coat + top coat of regular nail polish. They bring their own polish from home; apparently it's free from dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, Ethyl Tosylamide and xylene. No wonder I can't get a buzz from huffing it.

FWIW, the full ingredient list is:

Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Adipic Acid/Neopentyl Glycol/Trimellitic Anhydride Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Stearalkonium Bentonite, Acrylates Copolymer, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate, Dipropylene Glycol Dibenzoate, Octocrylene, Polyvinyl Butyral, Di-HEMA Trimethylhexyl Dicarbamate, Citric Acid, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Dimethicone, N-Butyl Alcohol, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Aluminum Hydroxide, Methicone, May contain (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Black Oxide of Iron (CI 77499), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Titanium Dioxide nano (CI 77891), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850:1), Red 6 Lake (CI 15850), Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Red Oxide of Iron (CI 77491)

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Do they vigorously shake up their nail polish before using?

 

[DrewLG]

No, she says that her manicurist deliberately doesn't shake the bottle, to avoid bubbles. And she says the polish was perfectly smooth before she got into the pool.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

We’re there any Doctor Fish in the pool -

Ichthyotherapy - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[DrewLG]

Yikes.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

My guess is there was some degree of inhomogeneity in the chemical mixture and while the color was dispersed well, the binder was not. The water hydrolyzed some component of the nail polish binder which produced that blotchy look. The styrene and acrylate components are basically the “super glue” of the nail polish which gives it the hardness but, if they don’t cross link properly, you’ll get that kind of water damage.

Or … you have doctor fish in your pool …

I’m hoping it’s the fish, that would be way cooler …

 

[mgtfp]

Interesting thread. Is the conclusion of this that vigorously shaking the bottle would have been better? Or feed the fish before swimming?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I use the "regular" stuff too when getting a pedicure and that's never happened to me???

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Interesting thread. Is the conclusion of this that vigorously shaking the bottle would have been better? Or feed the fish before swimming?

Both. A layered approach is always best …

 

[red-beard]

I want to get a pool of the fish that eat callouses...

 

[DrewLG]

My guess is there was some degree of inhomogeneity in the chemical mixture and while the color was dispersed well, the binder was not.

Thanks! Next time she'll ask for one foot as usual and one foot with thorough mixing, and we'll compare the results.

 

[Orion7319]

My wife’s toe nail polish will often just flake completely off in one piece in the pool. The robot often retrieves it… Wife doesn’t ever want it back at that point though….