15 Best Nail Polish Brands for Your Perfect Manicure
Found: A glossy, chip-free manicure that lasts.
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Just like painting nails, choosing the right nail polish is an art form within itself. A sea of nail polishes line salon walls and drugstore beauty aisles. Lacquers run the gamut from pretty pastels and rich reds to gel nail polish and natural nail polish. Don't fret; no matter your dream manicure, there's a perfect polish out there for you.
We cleared the sheer number of options and handpicked the best nail polishes. Thanks to long-lasting, trademark hues, recognizable brands like OPI and Essie are mainstays among our in-house beauty editors and staffers. Newer names like French-born Manicurist or buzzworthy Olive & June impress with fresh hues and speedy drying time.
Our top picks:
"A great nail polish delivers high shine, super smooth application, has a fast-drying formula, UV protection and great color assortments," says Jin Soon Choi, expert nail artist and JINsoon founder. In addition to tapping our team's favorites, our pros at the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty, Health & Sustainability Lab sent more than 174 polishes to consumer testers and recruited a professional manicurist to apply polishes. We whittled down the very best picks based on 37,000 survey responses rating dry speed, chip resistance, shine, evenness of application and more.
Peruse our complete list of picks below. For more at-home manicure inspiration, pamper yourself with DIY dip powder nail kits and gel nail kits or the most natural-looking press-on nails. Removing acrylics? Gently rid polish with a nail drill, then top it off with a nail strengthener.
Jessica (she/her) is a deputy editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute and a longtime product tester, reviewer, writer and editor of beauty and lifestyle content. She has over a decade of industry experience, previously as beauty editor at USA Today's Reviewed where she launched the Beauty vertical and tested hundreds of products and has covered trends for publications like The Boston Globe and The New York Times. You can usually find her sorting through piles of beauty products — and testing the best ones on camera.
Jacqueline (she/her) covers all things e-commerce in beauty, lifestyle and beyond for the Good Housekeeping Institute. Before joining GH in 2021, she was a style and beauty reviews fellow at Insider, testing viral trends, reviewing sustainable brands and more. She's a graduate of the University of Florida's School of Journalism, with a specialty in magazines and mass communication.
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