Brand Breakdown
Is Côte Nail Polish a Clean Beauty Brand?
Nail polish is one of those beauty categories where finding a truly “clean” formula gets complicated quickly. Even brands marketed as non-toxic still need solvents, film-formers, pigments and other ingredients to create the smooth, glossy finish we expect from traditional polish.
Côte set out to create a better option. The California-born brand is best known for its 10-free nail polish formulas, which eliminate many of the ingredients that originally put conventional nail polish under scrutiny.
But as always, we wanted to look beyond the “10-free” label and see what’s actually inside.
The Côte Brand Story
Côte was founded by Mary Lennon and Leah Yari, who wanted to create a nail salon experience that felt both luxurious and more conscious of ingredient exposure.
The concept began in Los Angeles, where the pair developed their own nail polish line alongside their salon. Their goal was to remove many of the ingredients commonly associated with traditional nail polish while still creating the color payoff, shine and wear you’d expect from a professional manicure.
Since then, Côte has evolved into Côte Beauty, expanding beyond nail polish into body, hair and lip products while keeping cleaner formulation at the center of the brand.
What Cote Claims About their Ingredients
Côte describes its nail polish as “10-free,” although its current exclusion list actually goes beyond the original ten.
The brand formulates its polishes without formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), formaldehyde resin, camphor, triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), xylene, ethyl tosylamide/epoxy resin, parabens, gluten and Benzophenone-1.
Those exclusions matter.
Formaldehyde, phthalates, toluene and TPHP are among the ingredients we’ve historically been most concerned about in conventional nail products, particularly because nail technicians and frequent polish users can experience repeated exposure.
Côte’s formulas are also vegan, cruelty-free and made in the United States.
Inside Cote's Ingredients
This is where the conversation gets a little more nuanced.
Côte’s nail polishes generally begin with solvents such as butyl acetate and ethyl acetate, followed by nitrocellulose, acetyl tributyl citrate and various polymers that help create the smooth, durable film we associate with nail polish.
You’ll also find ingredients like isopropyl alcohol, silica, stearalkonium bentonite or hectorite and mineral or synthetic colorants depending on the shade.
These aren’t botanical skincare formulas and we wouldn’t expect them to be. Nail polish needs an entirely different chemistry to perform properly.
What we appreciate most is what Côte has intentionally removed. Traditional nail polish has historically relied on ingredients including formaldehyde, DBP, toluene and TPHP, and Côte has formulated around all of them.
But “10-free” doesn’t necessarily mean every remaining ingredient automatically meets our preferred standard.
Anything We'd Change?
There are a few ingredients we’d take a closer look at.
Some Côte shades contain Etocrylene, a UV stabilizer used to help protect the color and formula from light degradation. This isn’t one of the traditional ingredients highlighted by “10-free” marketing, but it’s an ingredient we would prefer to avoid based on the Oh Daisey ingredient standards.
Certain shades also contain CI 77266 (Nano), or Carbon Black, which raises additional questions around nanoparticle use. Our concern with nanoparticles is highly dependent on the ingredient and route of exposure, but we’d still prefer greater transparency around particle size and the specific pigment being used.
You’ll also see ingredients like acrylates copolymer, diacetone alcohol and other solvents and film-forming polymers throughout certain formulas. Their presence doesn’t necessarily make a nail polish equivalent to conventional formulas containing DBP, formaldehyde or TPHP, but they do reinforce why we don’t use “10-free” as a shortcut for calling an entire formula completely non-toxic.
We’d love to see Côte continue reformulating some of these secondary ingredients as nail polish technology evolves.
Our Verdict
Côte is one of the better conventional-style nail polish options we’ve reviewed, but we’d recommend it with a little more nuance than simply calling every formula completely clean.
The brand has removed many of the ingredients we most want to avoid in traditional nail polish — including formaldehyde, DBP, toluene, formaldehyde resin and TPHP — while maintaining the glossy finish and wear people expect from a salon-quality polish.
We also appreciate that Côte is vegan, Leaping Bunny certified and actively working on the environmental problem created by nail polish packaging.
However, individual shades can vary, and ingredients like Etocrylene and nano pigments mean we would still evaluate Côte products individually rather than automatically approving the entire polish collection.
For someone transitioning away from traditional nail polish, Côte is certainly a brand worth knowing — we’d just recommend checking the individual shade rather than relying exclusively on the “10-free” label.
At a Glance
Founded: 2014 by Mary Lennon and Leah Yari.
Cruelty Free/ Vegan: Yes. Côte states that all of its products are vegan and cruelty-free, and the brand is Leaping Bunny certified.
Certified Organic: No. We found no organic certification for the nail polish collection, nor would we necessarily expect one for this type of formula.
Sustainability: Côte uses packaging containing post-consumer recycled materials and is a member of PACT Collective. The brand also accepts hard-to-recycle beauty packaging, including nail polish bottles from any brand, through its recycling program.
Parent Company: No parent company identified; Côte appears to remain founder-led.
Manufactured: United States. Côte states that its nail polish is hand-poured in the USA.
Giving Back:Côte plants one tree for every order and currently works with reforestation organizations including Eden Reforestation Project and Trees for the Future. The brand has also participated in other charitable initiatives over the years.
Oh Daisey Rating
OhDaisey Approved!
Where to Start
Curious where to begin? These are the products that stood out based on ingredient quality, formulation and overall usability.
