The "Foiling" Method for Removing Nail Polish

I love wearing nail polish, but in recent months I've found my old method just too arduous. I used to always use a base coat, three coats of polish, and then a coat of Seche Vite which sets polish like rock. But painting all those coats takes time and energy that I just don't currently have going spare. For ages, this meant that I didn't paint my nails at all, but recently I've decided to just do two or three coats of just polish. Yes, it chips more, but it's worth it.

I recently went to Ireland with two friends - lots of posts about that coming up! - and decided to paint my nails green for the trip. I have a Helmer drawer unit and keep my polishes divided by colour, so I pulled out the green drawer, looking for a suitable "Irish" green. I found this China Glaze one called "Four Leaf Clover" which I thought was apt, and I decided to do an accent nail in this Urban Decay polish called "Zodiac".

I took nail polish remover and cotton wool with me to Ireland because I generally hate it when my polish chips and end up biting it off, which is really bad for my nails. However, even though the perfect manicure didn't last, I couldn't be bothered taking it off. A couple of days after I got back I finally took the polish off, using a sort of foiling method. I thought I'd share my method!

This is the foiling method using actual tin foil, and although I have done it that way, I don't find it necessary to use foil, and besides who even has foil to hand? Instead I use cotton wool and nail polish remover and soap and time and a little bit of patience.

First of all, pour some remover into the lid of the bottle and be careful to place both on a flat surface because there's nothing worse than spilling nail polish remover on, say, your bed. Rip the cotton wool into squares around two inches by two inches, they don't have to be perfect.

Then dip the squares into the remover in the lid. You want it fully soaked, but not sodden, so if the balls are sodden, squeeze a little liquid out of them back into the lid. Then squash the soaked ball on to one nail, wrap it around your fingertip a little, and then repeat for other nails. I tend to do two or three at a time.

So then you're left with something looking a lot like this! 

Then, have patience! Scroll through Twitter or something, check Facebook, text a friend. Don't rush, is what I'm saying. Let the remover do its thing.

After a few minutes, the polish will slide off in one go on the cotton wool, meaning you don't need to scrub at your nails to try to remove the glitter! That's the worst thing about glitter nail polish. I also find that this method works really well on dark colours, leaving my nails much less stained than they might otherwise be. 

Here you can see how much of the creme polish came off, with absolutely no effort from me. 

Here you can see how much of the glitter came off, again with very little effort. I just wiggled it a bit. The rest of the polish comes off with another soaked ball. Usually I find that glitter flecks stick to my fingers for ages, but this method avoids that. 

(You can also see where I spilt remover on the bed... oops)

And here's how my nails looked straight after removing the polish, with almost no staining and no glitter left behind. To remove staining, I wash my hands in warm water and soap, and scrub them with a nail brush and soap. It works for me!