Britain’s restrictions on TPO are forcing a beauty favourite to confront the chemistry behind its staying power. As India’s nail economy expands, what should consumers really know before they put their hands under the lamp?

There is something almost magical about a gel manicure. A liquid colour is painted onto the nail, the hand disappears beneath a lamp, and moments later the finish is hard, glossy and remarkably resistant to the ordinary abrasions of life. It can survive showers, keyboards, luggage, cooking and the inevitable encounter with a handbag zip. Beauty, engineered for endurance.

Now the chemistry behind that endurance is receiving rather more attention.

On August 15, 2026, Great Britain began restricting cosmetic products containing trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide, better known as TPO, a photoinitiator used in some UV- and LED-cured nail products. TPO helps initiate the chemical reaction that turns liquid gel into the hard, shiny surface associated with a gel manicure. New TPO-containing products can no longer be placed on the British market, while existing stock has a transition period until February 14, 2027. The Independent, ITV News and the Financial Times have all reported on the change, although the phrase “gel nail ban” makes the development sound rather more dramatic than it is. 

Gel nails themselves are not banned.

That distinction is important because the story is not that a beauty ritual has suddenly been declared poisonous. It is that one ingredient used in some formulations has crossed a regulatory line.

The European Union got there first, prohibiting TPO in cosmetics from September 2025 after its classification as a Category 1B reproductive toxicant. Britain has now followed, albeit with a transition period. The British Beauty Council has stressed that the change concerns TPO-containing products rather than gel manicures as a category. 

And yet, for an industry built on making chemistry invisible, the episode is revealing.

The success of gel polish was always a scientific achievement disguised as a beauty treatment. Traditional polish largely dries as solvents evaporate. Gel polish is different: it cures through polymerisation, triggered by light. Photoinitiators such as TPO are part of the mechanism that makes that transformation possible. The reward is longevity — and longevity is precisely what turned the manicure from an occasional indulgence into a recurring beauty ritual.

The numbers tell part of the story. The global nail-polish market was estimated at $18.46 billion in 2025 by Grand View Research, while estimates for the broader nail-care market run even higher. The exact size of the gel category varies considerably according to what researchers include, but the direction is unmistakable: nails have become big business. 

The cultural shift has been equally striking. The Financial Times reported in 2025 that Ruuby, a UK home-beauty booking platform, had seen gel-manicure bookings rise 122 per cent, while nail-art bookings rose by 1,000 per cent. The manicure had become content, identity and increasingly, a form of personal style. 

India is very much part of this story. The country’s nail-care market is being propelled by urbanisation, social media, premium beauty consumption, e-commerce and an expanding salon culture. Estimates vary sharply depending on the definition: IMARC puts India’s nail-polish market at $605.2 million in 2025, while other market researchers produce substantially larger figures. What is clear is that UV gel is among the faster-growing parts of the category. 

And here lies the question for Indian consumers: what happens when a chemical restricted in one major beauty market remains available elsewhere?

The answer is not necessarily alarm.

TPO is still permitted in some markets outside the EU and Great Britain, and the British regulatory decision does not mean that every person who has ever worn a TPO-containing gel manicure has been harmed. Much of the toxicological concern derives from hazard classification and studies involving exposure levels that cannot simply be equated with a routine manicure. The regulation is therefore better understood as a precautionary tightening of cosmetic safety standards than as proof that gel manicures are inherently dangerous. 

But TPO is not the only reason to pay attention.

Acrylates, which are central to many gel systems, have long been associated with sensitisation and allergic reactions, particularly where uncured product comes into contact with skin or where curing is inadequate. Then there is the lamp: gel manicures require exposure to UV or UV-emitting LED light, albeit for relatively short periods. And finally, there is removal. The very durability consumers love can become a problem when gel is peeled, scraped or aggressively filed away, potentially leaving the natural nail weakened.

The sensible response is not to panic. It is to become more curious.

Ask what product a salon is using. Check the ingredient list. Look for reputable professional systems and appropriate curing equipment. Don’t assume that “gel” is a single formulation or that every product carries the same chemistry. And don’t confuse a regulatory restriction on one ingredient with a verdict on an entire category.

The industry, meanwhile, is already moving. TPO-free formulations and alternative photoinitiators are available, and manufacturers have been reformulating products for markets where the ingredient is prohibited. The British transition therefore looks less like the death of gel nails and more like the next stage of their evolution. 

Perhaps that is where the beauty conversation is heading generally.

For years, beauty sold us permanence: long-wear foundation, permanent colour, extensions, lash treatments and gel nails. The promise was that beauty should not move, fade or chip.

Now consumers are beginning to ask a different question.

Not simply: How long will it last?

But: What makes it last?

That is a subtle but significant shift. It moves beauty from finish to formulation, from appearance to ingredients. The luxury may no longer be simply in having the most immaculate manicure, but in knowing that the person applying it understands what is in the bottle, how it should be cured and how it should be removed.

Gel nails are unlikely to disappear. They have become too embedded in contemporary beauty culture, and the technology is already adapting.

But the TPO controversy may leave us with a useful new beauty habit: reading the small print.

Because perhaps the next great beauty trend isn’t a new colour, shape or finish.

Perhaps it is simply knowing what’s underneath the pretty.