Helle developed an allergy from gel nail polish from Shein: “It felt like my nails were on fire”

When Helle Nielsen bought a nail kit from Shein at the end of 2024, she never imagined it could lead to severe allergic reactions.

“I wanted nice-looking nails, and I’m a bit cheap, so I didn’t want to pay 800 kroner at a nail salon when I could get it for next to nothing from Shein,” she says.

Helle Nielsen received the product, which included gel polishes and a UV lamp, and thought it looked fine. She followed the instructions, applied the polish, and placed her fingers under the UV lamp.

“Everything seemed fine, and my nails looked really beautiful.”

Open wounds under the nails

The next day, Helle Nielsen began experiencing her first symptoms, with intense itching around her nails and blisters forming underneath them. The blisters burst and turned into open wounds. She experienced severe pain, and whenever she touched anything, it hurt and caused bleeding from her nails.

“At that point, I had no idea I was allergic,” she says.

The symptoms worsened, and she decided to remove the gel polish, soaking her fingers in acetone for a long time.

Once the gel polish was removed, the wounds slowly began to heal. She initially believed the reaction was caused by accidentally getting polish on the skin around her nails.

Fire in her fingers

After her fingers had healed, Helle Nielsen decided to try the products again, being careful not to get any polish on her skin. But she experienced another allergic reaction the very same day.

“It felt like my nails were on fire, and I got large wounds that took a very long time to heal and formed scabs under the nails. It looked awful, and it hurt like crazy,” she says.

Helle Nielsen constantly applied heavy moisturizer to relieve the dryness and went to the pharmacy to get something for the itching. When that didn’t help enough, she consulted her doctor and was prescribed a cortisone cream.

“It takes the edge off the itching, but my fingers and nails still itch.”

A recurring problem

Later, Helle Nielsen had her nails done professionally twice. On those occasions, gel polish without the highly allergenic acrylate HEMA was used. The first time, she experienced mild symptoms such as itching and a burning sensation under her nails.

The second time, the familiar burning sensation returned.

“The feeling of having fire under my nails came back, and since then I’ve had daily issues with itching, scabs under my nails, and very thick skin,” she says.

When she realized how severe her allergy was, she threw the products away. She never filed a complaint with Shein.

“In hindsight, I probably should have complained, but I think I just saw it as cheap junk.”

Today, Helle Nielsen is much more cautious about what she buys from Shein and avoids products that come into direct contact with her skin or nails.

Gel nail polish is linked to a high risk of allergy

Christel Søgaard Kirkeby, acting project manager at The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals, generally advises against using UV-cured gel nail polish, as it always contains uncured acrylates that can cause lifelong allergies.

“If you buy a nail kit with gel polish and a UV lamp, the allergy can develop if you get polish on the skin or if you use the wrong UV lamp that doesn’t cure the polish properly,” she says.

The particularly allergenic acrylates HEMA and Di-HEMA are banned in gel polish for consumers, but alternative acrylates can also cause allergies. This is because acrylates are very similar in structure, which can lead to cross-reactions. In other words, if you are allergic to one acrylate, you may also react to others.

The Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals presented the case to Shein, but the company did not respond with any comments.