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Hey y’all! This blog post is something that I have been wanting to do for AGES. In so many of my posts, I mention soaking off polish to easily remove glitters, flakies, or super pigmented polishes. I asked the folks over on my YouTube channel if they wanted me to make a video explaining what I meant by soaking off polish. And so that is what we have here today!
To be real, I use this method for ALL nail polish removal. I love nail polish but I HATE scrubbing it off. I especially hate scrubbing off glitters and flakies. It’s messy and annoying so I just refuse to do it. For this blog post, I am wearing Skele-fun In The Sun by Sweet & Sour Lacquer in 3 coats. My review for that will be up later this weekend.
Video Tutorial
You Will Need
- Acetone (nonacetone remover will also work but it will take longer)
- Soak Off Clips Like these or these if you want to remove toe polish easily as well (tinfoil will also work but having reusable clips will be less wasteful). I am using these from Bliss Kiss in my video but I also own the ones linked above.
- Cotton Balls or Cotton Rounds (don’t use lint free wipes as they will dry out)
- Acetone Additive added to your acetone OR a thick cream (like this to place around your skin to protect it from acetone. I prefer using an acetone additive because it’s easy and protects my nails as well.
Step 1 – Apply acetone soaked cotton to your nails
Unravel (see video for how) and cut your cotton balls/rounds into pieces the length/width of your nail. Saturate each piece in your acetone with the additive or nail polish remover of your choice. If using straight acetone, apply some type of thick cream or salve to your skin to protect your skin from drying out.
Step 2 – Apply Clips
I am using the soak off clips from Bliss Kiss for these photos. I also have the ones I have linked from Amazon. The Amazon ones are less expensive and you get more for the price. They also come with clips for your toes!
I haven’t noticed a difference in quality between the two. I just happened to have the BK ones out so I grabbed those.
Step 3 – Wait
Depending on the type of nail polish you’re wearing AND the number of coats, you will have to wait anywhere from 1-2 minutes (cremes) to 5 minutes (chunky glitters). The more layers and more textured, the longer the wait. For the polish I am using for these photos, I waited for 5 minutes.
Why the picture of my cat playing in a drawer? I didn’t have a picture for waiting so y’all get a picture of my cat. It was this of a gif of Reggie (formerly) from Nintendo tapping his wrist.
Step 4 – Swipe
Remove the clip, press down on the acetone soaked cotton and drag it off of your nail. You might have a couple of stray glitters left on the nail but those can easily be removed GENTLY with an orange wood stick or by soaking for another minute or two.
Tips & Tricks
- This method is also great for removing highly pigmented polish.
- Using an acetone additive will lessen the drying effects of pure acetone.
- Using a pump bottle will make keep some acetone with additive in it handy
- If you want to DIY an additive, check out this link. **I have never used this or tried it so I can’t say if it works the same**
Feel free to ask me any questions that you might have here or in the YouTube video!