Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tuesday - How to Remove Nail Polish

First - don't forget about my giveaway, which ends next week!

Second - I have an entry in Bundle Monster's nail art contest.  I would be most appreciative if you would please vote for me to push me into the second round.  You can vote once each day.  Please help!  Voting is through Facebook here.

And third - on to today's trick!  I know that removing nail polish seems like a no-brainer.  But it's surprising how many people still do this the hard way.  So, my military background insisted that I create a step-by-step how-to.

You will need nail polish remover, polished nails, and something to use to remove the polish.  Personally, I prefer cotton rounds.  Depending on the amount and type of polish, I can usually get all 10 nails clean with one round, two at the most.  Some people prefer cotton balls, paper towels, or even cut up felt.  I have heard that the felt does a great job of removing polish, especially glitter, but it also does not hold much remover and can be very drippy.  Just go with what works best for you. 

I use nail polish remover with acetone.  Some like to use use pure acetone, but I think it is overkill.  Regular remover works just fine for me, and I am spared the drying effects of pure acetone.  If you do use pure acetone, I suggest putting Vaseline on your cuticles prior to use to help protect them.

The "hard way" is to put remover on the cotton and go to work scrubbing the polish off of the nail.  Some people rub back-and-forth, others go side-to-side, in circles, or a little of everything!  Once you've removed the polish from the nail, you will probably have a lot of staining on your cuticles, as well as polish that was pushed under the nail that you will need to work on next.  Good luck with that.

Now for the easier method.

I will hold the cotton round over the opening on the bottle of remover and give the bottle a quick tip.  You want to get a decent amount of remover on the cotton without completely saturating it.  Then, hold the cotton on the nail, applying light pressure.  Depending on how thick the polish is, hold the cotton on the nail (without moving it around) for anywhere from 10-30 seconds.

Next, keep applying pressure and slightly wiggle the cotton side-to-side.  As you wiggle it side-to-side, also slowly start wiggling the cotton down the length of the nail towards the free edge.  In most cases, by the time you wiggle the cotton off of the nail, all polish will be gone...no stained cuticles, no polish under the nail.  My favorite part is that if you have some nail art going on, occasionally you will see the design on the cotton in a neat little square.

I will then put a little more remover adjacent to that spot on the cotton and repeat.  I typically "load" my cotton round with remover only 3 times for each hand.  By the third load, it's pretty well wet to get through the rest of that hand.

And there you have it!  Hope this helps someone out there and I'll talk at you tomorrow!  :o)