Removing acrylic nails.

I decided today would be the day to finally give my poor nails a break and remove my acrylic overlays. I've been having full sets and infills for about 2 years, without a break, so I thought it would be about time to remove them and let my natural nails recover. 


  During a chat with a colleague about her gel nails, she told me how she soaked hers off herself. I've soaked mine off before with a bowl of acetone over another bowl of hot water which works well, but I don't like the warm/hot acetone on my sensitive skin. I gave her method a go:

You will need: 

Acetone,

 cotton pads,

 tin foil in small strips (enough to wrap around the cotton pad and your finger)

nail file

1. Soak cotton pad in acetone and place over nail.

2. Wrap cotton pad and finger with tin foil. The tin foil just stops the acetone from evaporating.

3. Make jokes about looking like a dodgy Edward Scissorhands.

4. Leave on for 45-60 minutes, or until the acrylic is soft enough to start filing off gently. 

5. File gently until most of the acrylic is off.

6. Wash hands frequently and rub cuticle oil in so your fingers don't dry out.

7. I found it helped to have a small bowl of acetone at hand to keep dipping nails into so the acrylic stayed soft enough to file off gently. 

8. If you're like me, cry at how short and sad your nails look and rub in some more cuticle oil and paint with a coat of polish.

I tried to file my nails so gently to try and save my long nails underneath but they were just too thin and bendy to save. Once I'd cut them off I found it a lot easier to file the remaining acrylic off. 

I'm aiming to leave my natural nails alone for a few weeks, but I already miss them and it's only been 2 hours! I'll aim for 2 weeks before I'm back in the nail bar having a new set!

xxx