How To: Remove Acrylic Nails At Home!

 Hey everyone,
Getting acrylic nails at a salon is pretty expensive and not something I do too often.  However, on the rare occasion that I do decide to get them done I can't for the life of me remember why I hate them so much.  For the first couple weeks they just look so much more clean and polished than the standard bright pink manicure I usually sport. But than that 2 week period passes by, my nails start to grow and the acrylics start to look a little haggard, and I suddenly remember why I hate them so much.  (For the record, I'll be sticking to french manicures from now on).  They can be a pain to remove, so today I'm going to show you a way to make removing acrylics a lot easier.

What you'll need is: nail polish remover (with acetone in it), tin foil, cotton balls, clippers and a space you don't mind making a little bit of a mess in.  

1)  Before you begin, take the tin foil, and cut it into 10 medium sized squares.  (They should be big enough to go over about half of your finger and seal shut).

2) First, moisturize your hands, especially your fingers, to prevent the skin from getting dry, making sure not to get any moisturizer on the nail. 

3) As for the nail polish remover, it contains acetone which dissolves the nail glue which attaches the acrylic to your natural nail so make sure that your remover contains acetone.  You can either use it as is (at normal room temperature) or you can warm it up.  If you want to use it at room temperature that's completely fine.  However, if you warm up the nail polish, it will make the process easier and faster.  Acetone is highly flammable, so do NOT microwave it.  To heat it up, pour nail polish remover into a bowl and place it in a bigger bowl of hot water. 

4) Next, take a cotton ball and dip it into the polish remover/acetone.  Squeeze out a little bit of the excess and place directly on top of the acrylic nail.  Take one of the tin foil squares that you should have cut earlier and place it over the cotton ball and your finger and seal it shut.  Nail polish remover evaporates, so sealing it with the tin foil will ensure that it doesn't do that.  Repeat this step for the rest of your nails.

I recommend making each piece of tin foil bigger than I made mine.

5) Wait about 30 minutes.

6) After that 30 minute period, remove the foil and cotton balls.

7) I found that the tips were soft enough that I could easily clip them off without any pain or resistance, so if you have a pair of clippers around, I recommend doing that to make removing the rest of the acrylic easier. Following that, just scrape off the acrylic.  It should come off fairly easily.  Make sure not to rip it off if it doesn't completely work the first time, remember that the process can be repeated!

8)  Once your done, wash your hands to remove any remover left on your fingers, and use a really good hand moisturizer in order to restore any moisture lost from the acetone in the nail polish remover!!

What do you think about acrylic nails? yay or nay?

Hey guys! ;)