Olive & June is a nail polish brand we’re asked about often. “Is Olive & June nontoxic?” “Is Olive & June long lasting?” “Does Olive & June dry quickly?” In this post, we review the nontoxic nail polishes from Olive & June, outline the pros and cons of its polishes, and highlight a few of our favorites too!
By: Lisa Fennessy & Nicolle Mackinnon
IN THIS POST:
- What is Olive & June?
- Does Olive & June last?
- Olive and June tools: worth it?
- Olive + June Pros
- Olive + June Cons (Considerations)
- Olive & June FAQs
- Olive and June discount code
We’ve talked a lot about which nail polish brands are formulated with the best ingredients, but we’ve failed to mention which brands come out on top for the team personally. So we are here to say Olive & June takes the cake, which is why we’re breaking their whole line down for you here.
When it comes to nontoxic nail polish, the team has two personal faves. One is Dazzle Dry, which is a gel alternative nail system that delivers manis that last up to 14 days. More here.
But our everyday go-to is Olive & June. Let us count the ways…
What is Olive & June?
When Olive + June founder Sarah Gibson Tuttle moved from NY to LA and couldn’t find a “perfect” nail salon, she created one. (We like her style!)
Olive + June is “salon-quality” and formulated without the typical, concerning nail polish ingredients (for a deep dive on nail polish ingredients, head here). It’s also void of benzophenone-1 and benzophenone-3, which some “cleaner” nail polish brands still include.
On top of that, O&J is one of the most on-trend brands on the market. The team is constantly innovating and totally has their finger(nail) on the pulse of hot nail trends. Each season, O&J releases a new set of colors that really slap. On top of that, they’ve started offering responsible press on nails, which (again) ON TREND. (We tried them here, ICYMI.)
RELATED: The best non toxic nail polish brands.
Does Olive & June last? My performance review
Okay, this polish totally lasts. With the O&J system, we consistently get about 5 days without noticeable chipping, but we’ve gotten closer to 8 days, no sweat.
We love that this is a harder, more structured finish. This polish was able to take more of a beating without chipping and held up for DAYZZZ. You can see day 5 (photo below) looked almost as good as day one, less a tiny chip on Lisa’s thumb.
(If you want an insider tip… the whole TNK team uses O&J polish with the Dazzle Dry base + top coat for 10-14 days of chip-free manis. DD will say you should only use their polishes with their system, but we’re rebels, what can we say? Here’s a peek at Nicolle’s DD top / base coat with Olive & June’s color coats—two, obvs—after 13 days.)
RELATED: Summer 2022 nail colors and trends.
Olive and June tools – totally worth it
The other stand out? THEIR TOOLS. Like, we’re here for killer colors and long-lasting manis, but add on essential tools that make it easy to do our own nails? WE’RE IN. Here are the tools we can’t do our manis without.
Clean Up Brush | $8
Lisa has had the Clean Up Brush for more than a year and she LOVES IT. She’s ruined so many manis and makeup brushes trying to turn a lip brush into a nail polish remover tool. This one is great and it’s only $8!
Cuticle Pusher | only available with Pedi System purchase
Okay, so we don’t mean to recommend something you can only get when you buy a whole bunch of other stuff, but THIS IS WORTH IT. Like, seriously. We know nail techs are all, “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME,” when it comes to cuticle care, especially cutting, but we can’t NOT do it, so we might as well have a stellar tool to break the rules with.
Dry Drops | $10
Rare is the day that a brand claims a product works as well as it really does (we’re looking at you, As Seen on TV). Dry Drops are the exception: They totally make your O&J mani dry at least twice as fast as a mani finished without. And not just dry—smudge resistant!
RELATED: Natural nail polish remover (the best we’ve tried).
Olive + June Pros
- O&J has the hottest and most on-trend colors.
- O&J is longer lasting, with our manis averaging 5 days.
- O&J has the BEST brush, which delivers a pro salon finish even to someone like me (Lisa👋) who can’t paint her nails for crap.
- O&J polishes are only 8 bucks!
- They are accessible and stocked in most Targets (or Target online).
- O&J dries fast and even faster with their Dry Drops.
- Love their Clean Up Brush (BRILLIANT).
- One of the better formulas on the market when it comes to ingredients.
- Super wide brush, which makes it wicked easy to apply. Nicolle says she’s ruined for all other polish brushes now.
We mean, at this point we’re like, when is O&J going public because we’re ready to invest! Lol.
RELATED: Summer 2022 nail colors and trends.
Olive + June Cons (Considerations)
- SUPER wide brush that may be too big for narrower nail beds.
- There is a lot going on over at the O+J website. There’s Olive University, master classes, boot camp….they even have beginner, intermediate and advanced formulas (?). IDK, we found it to be a little overwhelming but maybe that’s just us.
- There are a couple products (namely the Cuticle Serum) that contain ingredients on our NO THANKS list, which is a bummer, since we do love this line.
Olive & June FAQs
Olive + June is a “salon-quality” nail polish formulated without the typical, concerning nail polish ingredients (for a deep dive on nail polish ingredients, head here).
YES. We’ve gotten our manis to last up to 8 days, with minimal chipping. Learn more here.
Totally. O&J dries fast and even faster with their Dry Drops. Learn more here.
YES. It lasts 5 days on average without chips, and the colors are on-trend. Learn more about our experience with their polish here.
Yes.
You can find it on their website and at Target.
Olive and June discount code
Use code THENEWKNEW for 20% off all Olive & June systems purchases (including Mani, Pedi & Complete Systems).
Have you tried Olive & June? What’s your go-to nail polish brand?
TNK Team Note: This article contains affiliate links. TNK uses affiliate links as a source for revenue to fund operations of the business and to be less dependent on branded content. TNK stands behind all product recommendations. Still have questions about these links or our process? Feel free to email us.
Olive & June
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Price
(5)
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Ingredients
(4.5)
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Effectiveness
(4.5)
Summary
Olive + June is nail polish brand that provides “salon-quality” and is formulated without the typical, concerning nail polish ingredients. They also offer a variety of nail tools.
Overall
4.7Pros
- O&J has the hottest and most on-trend colors.
- O&J is longer lasting, with our manis averaging 5 days.
- O&J has the BEST brush, which delivers a pro salon finish even to someone like me (Lisa👋) who can’t paint her nails for crap.
- O&J polishes are only 8 bucks!
- They are accessible and stocked in most Targets (or Target online).
- O&J dries fast and even faster with their Dry Drops.
- Love their Clean Up Brush (BRILLIANT).
- One of the better formulas on the market when it comes to ingredients.
- Super wide brush which makes it wicked easy to apply
Cons
- SUPER wide brush that may be too big for narrower nail beds.
- There is a lot going on over at the O+J website. There’s Olive University, master classes, boot camp….they even have beginner, intermediate and advanced formulas (?). IDK, we found it to be a little overwhelming but maybe that’s just us.
- There are a couple products (namely the Cuticle Serum) that contain ingredients on our NO THANKS list, which is a bummer, since we do love this line.
Kendra
October 14, 2022Hello, helpful tip about pairing Olive and June with Dazzle Dry! When you do this how long do you wait between coats? How long do you wait after applying the last coat of lacquer before applying the Dazzle Dry Top coat? Does the entire manicure dry in five minutes like when using the full Dazzle Dry system? I found that the Olive and June system took a long time to dry. Their top coat is super glossy, but took extremely long to dry even when using the drying drops. I often got smudges even after waiting 30 minutes and longer after applying the top coat. Olive and June now has a new fast dry polish they released. I wonder how it stacks up to Dazzle Dry’s system.
Lisa Fennessy
October 20, 2022Hi Kendra! Just got the fast drying O+J polishes and I can’t wait to try! Okay so for the DD top + bottom w other polishes…you have to wait a few minutes…if not, you will see polish transfer to the top coat brush. (But you don’t have to wait forevs. I never timed it but I would guess a couple of minutes). And they DRY FAST fully. Like 5 mins or less. Hope this helps! xo, Lisa
Kendra
October 21, 2022Thanks! I’ll be trying this method with Olive & June and Zoya. Look forward to hearing about your experience with the new O&J fast dry polishes.
Kat
December 1, 2022Love this blog, having followed you for awhile now. Was wondering if there’s a reason Keyspure isn’t listed as a clean skincare line on your blog?
I found the line a few years ago when I was searching for a clean skincare, and I’m wondering if there’s something that I’m unaware of with their line? Thank you for your informative and always appreciated feedback.