How To: Remove Gel Nail Polish

Got shiny new gel nails? Rocking those bad girls for a few weeks and ready for them to come off? Do not despair, you do not have to go to the salon to get these off. I will walk you through how to do this at home without ruining your nails.

Before I start - let me say, DO NOT peel the gel nail off. If you do, you will ruin your nail!!! If you peel the gel nail polish off as it starts to come up, you will remove the top layer of your nail and it will make your nail weak and brittle.

OK, now that I got that out I will proceed with the instructions.

This is medium grit file

Step 1: Get yourself a nice thick grit nail file. I picked mine up at Sally's for about a buck! File the top layer of your gel nail polish.

Step 2: Tear off pieces of foil that you will wrap your nails with. I like to do longer thinner pieces. You will wrap your finger and the cotton ball inside the foil so you want long pieces that can wrap around a few times.

Tear foil pieces

Step 3: Take a piece of cotton ball and tear it in half. I have the large cotton balls so I like to save $ and polish remove by using a smaller piece of cotton ball.

If you have the larger cotton balls, tear them in half

Step 4: Now dip your cotton ball piece in acetone. You have to use acetone nail polish remover, regular nail polish remover will not work.

Use acetone nail polish remover

Step 5: Place the dipped cotton ball on top of your nail and place your nail on a foil piece. Now wrap the foil piece with the cotton ball in place around your finger. I recommend doing your dominant had first. If you are right handed, wrap your right hand first, then your left. Once you have multiple fingers wrapped it gets a little

tough to wrap the other hand so make it easier on yourself by wrapping your dominant hand first.

Wrap the rest of your fingers. Make sure you place a towel under the surface you are working on. Acetone can ruin furniture and even melt plastic! I am sure you are wondering if it's safe for your fingers. It is, just make sure to hydrate your hand and nail once you remove the polish.

Wait 10-15 minutes once your nails are wrapped until you take off the foil. I sometimes will pour a little more acetone into the foil pieces (at the knuckle of my finger where they are wrapped) if I feel the polish is being stubborn. Just be careful not to spill!

Step 6: Now go ahead and pull each foil piece off. Have your cuticle pusher reader or a similar tool to help scrape the rest of the polish off. When you take the foil off, most of the polish will have lifted up at the ends. If there is still some polish on the nail, that't OK. Use your scraper to remove the excess. Once you are done scraping each nail, there still may be some residue on your nails. Just dip a cotton ball into the acetone and remove the rest with a cotton ball.

You can also do the "easier" route and dip your hand in a bowl of acetone nail polish. I don't like doing this because you expose your hand and nails to SO much acetone and it can really dry it out. Also this way, you can still move around without being tied down to a bowl of polish remover.

If anyone has any suggestions to add that have worked well for them please leave them in the comment box. I would love to try them out!