COVER NAILS

Nail polish that changes color when a drink has been tampered with or spiked with drugs or alcohol. A nail polish that could hopefully reduce sexual assault rates.

COVER NAILS is a nail polish designed to allow women to test their drink before they consume it. Simply insert the nail with the applied nail polish in the drink, if the color changes this means the drink is spiked. Drinks get spiked in all sorts of environments ranging from bars, parties, clubs, college gatherings, music festivals, etc.   

The most common substance used to tamper with drinks is alcohol. Rather than that the most common drugs used are MDMA(Ecstacy) and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GBH), though there are many more. This is why there will be different nail polishes depending on where the individual is headed. For example, at a bar, the individual will be drinking alcohol so the nail polish should not be able to detect alcohol because it is obvious the drink contains that. But possibly in a more professional area, the nail polish will be designed to detect alcohol as well drugs in the drink.

Nail polish contains cellulose nitrate, which is flammable cotton. The most common date-rape drugs contain cocaine and heroin. That is why the nail polish should contain color-changing chemicals used for drug tests such as Marquis (heroin) and cobalt thiocyanate (cocaine). 

• Sexual assault is no hidden issue, according to RAINN.org over 463,634 victims have been sexually assaulted in a year in the United States alone, 90% being women.
• One in nine women has had their drink spiked, and out of the 969 people surveyed, 56% percent of women had their drink spiked unknowingly.
• According to a study done by the journal Psychology of Violence out of just a pool of 462 people about 18.5% of people were sexually assaulted due to a spiked drink. 
• The Office on Women’s Health states that date-rape drugs like Rohypnol and GHB are used because they are not easily detected, and victims often do not remember being drugged or assaulted until many hours later.

Young women ages ranging from 18-34 are usually the target audience for getting their drinks spiked. Obviously seen by these statistics, women are not aware of the drug possibly in their drink. Using COVER NAILS can help women realize if they are being targeted or not. On social media, I have witnessed many young individuals from all over the world speak out about having their drinks being spiked, and the result of what happened to them. 

The result of a young woman having their drink spiked is almost always unwanted sexual contact. Which can lead to many consequences such as anxiety, depression, phobias, etc. But collectively we can agree sexual assault is a huge problem that needs to be solved, and the first step is COVER NAILS.

COVER NAILS is designed for the use of young women as they are the main target of spiked drinks, though it can be utilized for the safety of any person. Specifically university students and women throughout their 20s and 30s.

Though I do not wish to characterize women like this as I am a female myself, people tend to think women are helpless all alone. They are then made potential victims of spiked drinks and what comes after. Often women and people, in general, don't have a tool to truly tell if their drink is spiked, or if they might be a potential target for someone. This is why COVER NAILS can be utilized as an extra tool for reassurance the individual is safe from a tampered drink.

Imagine Two Settings

1) A young woman is going to the bar. There she attracts another young man who talks with her at the drinks bar. The man slips a pill of MDMA into the women's drink. While the man is not looking she slips her nail into the drink that has COVER NAILS on it. The nail polish changes color signaling that her drink is tampered with, she calls her friends and leaves safely.

2) The young woman goes to the bar. The man she talks to slips the MDMA into her drink. The man takes the unconscious woman with him and...

In one scenario, the woman is safe with the use of COVER NAILS, and in one she is not.

Though personally, I have not researched with people face-to-face, I can still realize how big the situation is. For example, just scrolling through social media such as TikTok and Instagram many young females bring light and talk about their situation with spiked drinks.

Many young women also speak out on having to take many precautions when going out to a party or bar alone or even with friends. Safety always has to be thought about and it is a priority as people who were thought to be trustworthy also seemed to be a perpetrator. 

The unmet social problem relates to sexual assault, which is a huge issue that needs to be solved. In terms of the 17 United Nations Sustainability Goals, COVER NAILS addresses problems in Good Health and Well Being, Gender Equality, and Peace Justice and Strong Institutions.

3) Good Health and Well Being- sexual assault is damaging mentally and physically and it is important to reduce the rate of sexual assault.

5) Gender Equality- Men and women both have a chance of getting assaulted, but women have a much higher chance, according to clear-cut statistics from The Office on Women’s Health and many other sources.

16) Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Sexual assault regards problems in safety and not everyone can feel entirely safe.

Though COVER NAILS addresses all of these issues, not it may not be seen as obvious. The goal of COVER NAILS is to make people feel safer and reduce sexual assault rates involved with spiked drinks.

The problem which COVER NAILS will be solving is thoroughly researched, the problem being spiked drinks. The technology going into COVER NAILS is also researched but involves tools that as a minor I may not have access to. 

I talk about the help I will need later on in this submission.

I would like to point out I just realized something. A similar technology to COVER NAILS has already been created, but I did not realize this until the date 1/16/2022. This is called Undercover Colors and has a website. This product uses a chip that goes on your nail that tests the drink and gives results just like a pregnancy test. The chip has to be discarded after every use.

My concept is different, COVER NAILS utilizes a nail polish that changes color, and the nail polish is removed with normal acetone then reapplied from the nail polish bottle when the individual wishes to use it again. Also, not many people seem to know about undercover colors, I wasn't even aware of it even after thorough research. Undercover Colors could possibly invest in COVER NAIls in a corporate venture capitalist.

COVER NAILS uses different substances and chemicals such as cellulose nitrate, etc.

First COVER NAILS needs to be created, fully functional, and tested, which will hopefully be done in the next year with help. Since COVER NAILS is mostly for the use of young women, this solution will be marketed first towards university students to colleges in my area. At the same time market COVER NAILS on social media. From there COVER NAILS can spread to more bustling cities where drink spiking is common. From social media and other methods COVER NAILS could potentially spread to other parts of the United States and maybe even other countries. Going global is far-fetched but in a few years, it can be possible.

1) With help, make COVER NAILS come to life. Test it and make it fully functional.

2) Advertise to university women and maybe at *alcoholic bars. To advertise make slideshow presentations explaining the product and how it can be beneficial.

3) Create a website and promote it on social media such as TikTok and Instagram. As of right now, I have no one to be in charge of social media as I have no ready-made product. But I could potentially find students in my high school who would be interested in marketing for a cause like this. I am the only person on the COVER NAILS team.

I have a solid plan created but will eventually get more detailed as the nail polish is created and progresses to be fully functional.

*I am 15 years old and will be difficult for me to enter alcoholic bars or nightclubs, will probably need an adult to do this step for me.

• I am 15 years old and when testing the nail polish it will be difficult to have access to drugs like MDMA.
• I will most likely need help to create the nail polish itself. 
• One of the substances that would need to go in the nail polish to detect the drugs is Marquis and cobalt thiocyanate. These are the color-changing chemicals needed to detect the drugs in the drink. I am not exactly sure how to get access to these detectors.
• Later on, a system will need to be made to continuously create this product as it is something that will need to be refilled.
• More small challenges are likely to show up, but for now, these are the main problems.

I also do believe there has to be a price when purchasing COVER NAILS keeping it as low as possible. This is because as the product grows and more COVER NAILS nail polished need to be created, it may be hard to fund the creation of the product.

As time goes on I will research even more on this topic as well as acquire more people to help me. I also took a Harvard Online course in business, this course is specifically designed to help people understand and develop ideas on entrepreneurship in emerging economies. I have linked the certificate below.

Certificate: Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies

I am a young girl who wishes to help other girls and women in need. My design is specially designed to help females prevent sexual assault as much as they can regarding the spiking of drinks. 

The Pozen prize is for people who create new innovations to help the people around them. This is exactly what I have designed, a new invention that can better help the lives of young females and really any person. Spiked drinks are a growing issue that needs to be resolved, COVER NAILS is the first step.