Can’t make it to the nail salon and want to remove your gel polish? It’s tempting to start picking and peeling, right? You can totally avoid any damage that can come from peeling off your gel polish by following a few simple steps. All you need is about 30 minutes, and some basic products! Here’s how to remove your gel polish, at home and damage free. Don’t forget to check out my video tutorial at the bottom!
First, you’ll be needing some items like aluminum foil, cotton balls and 100% acetone. Here’s the full list of everything I needed:
Aluminum Foil
Sally Hansen – Vitamin E Cuticle Oil
Ulta Beauty – 100% Pure Acetone
Wooden Nail Sticks
Start by cutting pieces of aluminum foil big enough to wrap about a cotton ball and your fingertip.
Then, use a coarse nail file or buffer to carefully remove the top layer of your gel polish. Be careful to not file too harshly on your skin since the file is more rough than a typical file you’d use to shape your nails.
Next, saturate your cuticle area and surrounding skin with cuticle oil. This will help protect the skin from the acetone since it is very drying.
Now, soak a cotton ball with 100% pure acetone and place it on top of the nail. Take your aluminum foil piece and wrap it around your fingertip snugly, making sure to fold the tip. Repeat for all of your nails.
You can also soak your nails in a bowl of acetone, but I prefer the foil method along with using products like these (10% off with code HANNAH), and .
Let your nails soak for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once that time has passed, take a peek to see if the polish is flaking off well. If it still feels pretty stuck to the nail, let your nails soak for another 5 minutes, then check again.
When removing the foil, apply slight pressure and twist, then pull off. This will help loosen the polish even more. The gel should be flaking and falling off the nail. Any stubborn pieces still stuck should pop off easily with a wooden stick. Once the gel is removed, wipe the nails clean with acetone.
Lastly, grab your cuticle oil again and apply a generous amount to rehydrate and keep your nails and cuticles looking nice and healthy!
Watch my video tutorial on how to remove your gel manicure at home, without any damage!
Disclaimer: I was not paid to create this post. Some links may be affiliate links. Opinions are always my own.