Gel Nail Polish Removal

Hey Ladies, any tips on the best way to remove a gel manicure?

I would always recommend having your gel polish removed by a professional, but if for some reason you are unable to get to a professional salon, then this can be done safely at home by following these steps. You will need a nail file, cuticle oil, nail polish remover that contains acetone (like the pink Health Basics one), cotton wool, foil wraps (squares of foil) and an orangewood cuticle stick.

1. Lightly etch (file) the surface of the gel polish with a nail file, so that it loses some of its shine.
2. Apply cuticle oil to the skin around your nails, try to avoid getting it on your nails. The cuticle oil will prevent the acetone in the nail polish remover from drying out your skin. If you don’t have cuticle oil, use olive oil, baby oil or even a thick layer of hand lotion. 
3. Apply nail polish remover to a piece of cotton wool (if you’re using the rounds, cut them into quarters) and place it over the nail.
4. Wrap the nail and cotton wool securely with foil.
5. Repeat with all your fingers.
6. Leave the cotton wool and foil on for 10 minutes to dissolve the gel polish. If it’s cold, sit on your hands or place them under one of those microwavable wheat packs, as this will help loosen the polish.
7. Starting with the finger your first applied nail polish remover to, carefully slide the foil and cotton wool off of the tip of your finger and gently scrape off the peeling gel polish using the orangewood cuticle stick. If the polish doesn’t come off easily, replace the cotton wool and foil “cap” that you’ve just removed and move onto the next finger. Don’t force any polish off as you may damage your nail.
8. Repeat with remaining fingers, removing and replacing cotton wool and foil ‘caps’ as needed, until all the polish has been soaked off and gently removed.
9. Lightly buff your nails with a buffing block, before applying cuticle oil.

If you absolutely cannot get to a salon for a professional to remove your acrylic enhancements, this same method can be used, although it will need to be soaked for longer (20 minutes or longer).  If the acrylic doesn’t gently flake off, replace the foil ‘cap’ and soak it for a little longer. Don’t force any acrylic off, as you will damage your natural nails by tearing off layers of the nail along with the product you’re trying to remove. This kind of damage can leave your nails paper-thin and soft, or if it’s really bad, even tear off whole portions of the nail plate and doing permanent damage.  Wherever possible, always get a professional to remove your gel polish, and acrylic or hard gel enhancements.

Silvene, have you worked with the peel off gels? I see they are sold on wish and wonder if they're any good. I've just recently purchased a starter set including the lamp and soak off gel polish.

No, I’ve never used a peel-off gel product, and personally wouldn’t advise it.  If you already have damaged nails, a peel-off product will only aggravate the issue and do more damage.  Peeling off the product in the wrong direction (against the grain of the nail) can also lead to damage of the natural nail plate. 

In saying this, so can purchasing and using ‘salon only’ products online (like lamps, gel polish and acrylic).  Many people don’t understand the risks involved with purchasing professional/salon only products -  if they haven’t had the correct training and don’t understand the chemistry behind the products and the correct steps to follow when using the products, they run the risk of damaging their nails and exposing themselves (and sometimes others) to unnecessary injury.  Incorrect prep of the nail prior to application can lead to product lifting and nail damage, incorrect curing of the product can lead to overexposure to the raw product, which will lead to allergies developing and possible burning of the nail plate and/or nail bed, and incorrect removal of the product will remove layers of nail plate, leaving nails thin and paper-like.  If any of the damage is severe enough (and it doesn’t take much), nails can be permanently damaged or even lost completely. 

Sadly, many people think they can just buy ”professional use only” products online from sites like Amazon and Wish and use them with no risk, but as soon as something goes wrong often the product is immediately blamed instead of the user, when the fault is often due to incorrect application.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard “gel polish ruined my nails” or “acrylic ruined my nails” and after asking a few simple questions it turned out it wasn’t the product at all, but rather an untrained person using the product incorrectly, or incorrect prepping of the nail plate, or incorrectly removing the product because they simply didn’t have the necessary knowledge required and didn’t know any better. 

Thanks Silvene, I will look into it further hence a professional.  I look forward to your different designs on the beauty wall, you must have a steady hand and are very talented :-)

Thanks Silvene :)

@itsclearascrystal, did you manage to remove your gel polish? 

I was helping a friend figure out how to remove it themselves. But yes they got it off. Thanks :)