Removing Gel Nail Polish

If you can still remember, I talked about getting gel nail polish in a past post (read post here). And so it follows that my next post will be all about removing them. Read on for the 411 on how to remove gel nail polish, plus a DIY option if you can't swing by a nail salon.

The thing with gel nail polish is that it's specially formulated to adhere like crazy on your nails, hence the special formula and numerous baking under a UV light. When it comes to removing gel polish, forget your usual acetone and cotton ball routine, because your old standbys won't cut it.

The first step is to file down the gel polish, this is to ensure that the polish remover will fully permeate the gel polish.

Next, tear up a cotton ball or pad (you only need a thin layer), drench that with nail polish remover, wrap cotton around your nail and cover your finger tips in foil.

Take note that Get Polished uses a special nail polish remover that doesn't dry out nails.

After 5-10 minutes, remove the foil and and gently chip at gel polish from your nail.

And that's that.

A few things though. First, my fingers got uncomfortably hot inside the foil and they even began to sting. My nail technician said that this was caused by the polish remover being trapped inside the foil.

Second, ask your technician to not get too "gigil" while chipping at the gel polish. My technician got so engrossed with getting all that polish out that she got a little too rough and the screwdriver like implement poked the flesh under my nails a few times. In short, ouchie.

Third, it's not part of the soak off treatment (a.k.a. gel polish removal), but try to get a natural manicure (Php100) as well to clean and pamper your nails.

If you prefer to DIY it, just follow the above process but be sure to use pure acetone instead of those gentle and nail friendly varnish removers. This time around, you need acetone's brute force to remove gel polish. Here's a great blog tutorial with pictures to guide you.

The soak off process costs Php100 at Get Polished if you had your gel polish applied there, but goes up to Php200 if you had it done elsewhere.

After all that effort and expense on getting the gel polish on and then off, I think I'm better off sticking with regular nail polish. Anyway, my nails grow insanely fast so nail regrowth starts showing just a little over a week, creating a disconcerting two-toned appearance and defeating the 2 week lifespan of gel polish.

‹ previous

35 of 2072

next ›