Two years ago, when I posed an urgent question to the universe (OK, social media and in a Journal News/lohud column) asking why my gel nail polish manicure was changing color on one hand, I got numerous guesses.

But none of them were conclusive. I even called up Revlon, the parent company that owns CND (Creative Nail Design), the brand of nail polish that was used on my nails at the salon, but came away with no satisfactory answers.

A licensed cosmetologist at Revlon ventured it could have been a chemical reaction from cosmetics or a cleaning agent on my dominant hand. She also said she'd refer it to R&D and ask the chemists in the department if they could shed some light. The chemists didn't call me back.

How had the nails on my right hand mysteriously changed color from lavender to a pistachio green?

Back then, a colleague wondered if it had anything to do with the "Mood Ring" nail polish. Interestingly, he wasn’t alone. Many commenters thought I might have accidentally picked a mood-changing nail polish that alters color with a shift in temperature.

But why would my right hand turn green with envy while my left hand remained a cool lavender, I wondered.

Once applied, the nail paint is cured under UV light to set, and typically last two weeks without chipping.

As one of the most popular stories on lohud, based on pageviews and follow-up questions via Twitter, email and Facebook from people all over the world, I realized that this was a mystery worth solving.

Today, I’m happy to report I have finally cracked the case.

One reason it took me two years to blow the lid off this issue is because I am an infrequent gel nail polish user.

However, it happened again. This time a light pink shade took on a beige hue. Again: right hand.

Hmm, what had I done the previous night?

I had cooked rasam: A delicious, soupy dish made with tomatoes and tamarind extract.

As a self-respecting South Indian, I eschew the use of ready made tamarind paste. Instead, I extract the juice from the sour and tangy fruit by soaking it in warm water and gently squeezing and separating the pulp from the seeds — with my right hand and my manicured fingers!

As I soon realized, the high acid content in the fruit was interacting with my gel nail paint.

Given that ingredients from Indian cooking, from the highly staining turmeric (yellow counter tops, anyone?), ghee, coconut oil and tamarind have found their way into the shelves of Whole Foods and pantries everywhere, it’s practically a public service announcement.

Don’t extract tamarind juice with gel manicured fingers.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy covers women and power for the USA Today Network Northeast. She also occasionally writes about her frustration with manicures. Write to her at svenugop@lohud.com

'MONEY HONEY': Maria Bartiromo on Trump, artificial intelligence and the future of work

HAPPY HOUR: Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney talks non-alcoholic beer, Iona basketball

MELISSA DEROSA: Cuomo's right hand is 'unapologetically fierce'