Removing Shellac Nail Polish

I prefer to do my own nails but every once in a while I will treat myself to a shellac manicure. What is shellac/gel nail polish exactly? It is a super heavy duty polish that does not dry it needs to be cured under a light. Once cured it will last up to three weeks. Most people remove the polish incorrectly by peeling it off. DO NOT DO THIS! If you do this you will remove the top layer of your nail bed and down the road get an infection. I wanted to share my method for removal that I have taught myself over time by reading and watching about 100 videos/tutorials. It has been a lot of trail and error and I do not really have patience. It can take almost an hour to do this for both hands so I recommend doing it when you are watching TV or something. I watched some downtown abbey.

This is what my  nails looked like after almost 3.5 weeks of wear. That is a record for me the out growth usually drives me insane sooner. I had a light colored tan glitter called cappuccino applied for New Years. As you can see one of my nails had naturally peeled off half way and I knew it was time to remove the polish.

This is what you need~
A small scissors to trim the polish pieces that are hanging or loose enough to trim.
A bowl to dip your hands in with 100% pure acetone in it.
A buffer to buff off remaining polish.
(not pictured) A cuticle stick to scrap off the polish 










Step 1. Wash your hands and dry them off.
Step 2. Using your scissors remove any polish that is loose or is hanging that you can. Do NOT peel the polish off at this time. 
Step 3. Place your hand in the pure acetone finger side down. This is going to be the majority of what you do. Only do one hand at a time. I usually let them soak for at least 5 minutes before I attempt to use the cuticle stick to start scraping the polish off. If it feels hard to scrap stop and place your hand back in the acetone. I try to focus on one nail at a time. This step is going to take you the longest amount of time and try to be patient. 
Step 4. Buff, buff and buff those nails some more. Buffing will help you get any remaining polish off. Feel your nails with your fingers to see if they are smooth or if you have spots that need to be buffed more.
Step 5. Wash your hands and lotion them heavily. Acetone is a harsh chemical and it strips the oils off of your hands. Make sure you really wash your hands good and lotion them. 

Gross picture but I wanted to show you what the polish looks like after being scrapped off.

It took an hour but they look nice and clean in the end.

 Please remember this is time consuming and you can always go to the salon to get the polish removed. I prefer to do it myself since I only get shellac a couple times a year anyway. I hope this was helpful to some of you.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily