Vintage Manicures

[C-dot]

It's been two weeks since I had my nails shellacked, and while I loved it, it's starting to grow out and chip at the bottom. That's fine, but the great nail salon I raved about before will to charge me to take it off I've since discovered that taking it off myself is a real pain in the rear. I've bought pure acetone (if this doesn't do it, nothing will), and will soak my nails in olive oil afterwards.

Anyone else had this experience?

[ZombieGirl]

It's been two weeks since I had my nails shellacked, and while I loved it, it's starting to grow out and chip at the bottom. That's fine, but the great nail salon I raved about before will to charge me to take it off I've since discovered that taking it off myself is a real pain in the rear. I've bought pure acetone (if this doesn't do it, nothing will), and will soak my nails in olive oil afterwards.

Anyone else had this experience?

From what I understand, you'll need to break the seal on the gel by buffing off the shiny finish and soak them off in a bowl. Not sure if the acetone will work but its worth a try. If not, check out a Sally's Beauty to see if they have the remover for that gel system. They've got the Harmony Gelish Gel system but I'm not sure about the rest.

[fortworthgal]

I wore acrylic nails for years, and I've had the gel/shellac manicures and seen them removed. I've even taken off my own acrylics several times. It takes a little bit of patience, but can be done easily and it is free to DIY it!

100% acetone will do it. It is the same process as removing acrylic or gel nails, except much faster. Pour some of the acetone into a glass bowl and soak your nails for 5-10 minutes. By this point the gel/shellac should be coming loose and flaky. Then just buff away what comes loose or gently push it off with an orange stick. Be warned that when you take your nails out of the acetone, the gel will re-harden somewhat, so you need to either work quickly, or use the orange stick *in* the bowl while your fingers soak. You can also soak a cotton ball in the acetone, set it on your nail, and wrap foil around it and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, although I've always had better/faster luck with the bowl method. Make sure to wash your hands well afterward and use a good hand and cuticle cream, as the acetone is pretty drying.

[C-dot]

Thanks ladies. The acetone did work, and I used the bowl method forthworthgal mentioned. I wasn't able to buff it off, though - I had to use the edge of my metal nail file to scrape it off, and it took some hard scrapin'. Surprisingly, most of the shellac came off without damaging my nails, and the olive oil really brought the moisture back. I buffed and filed them down and painted them with a shimmery colour to disguise the uneven surface.

Overall I'm happy with how it worked.

[crwritt]

Here's my attempt at the vintage style half moon manicure.
I used some little stickers from the dollar store, cut in half, for stencils. I haven't had polish or anything on my nails for a couple of years. Prior to that, I was getting them done in gel. Last time I went for a manicure they were pushing that shellac. It impressed me as nearly identical to gel, but with color. I declined because I'd given up that sort of thing.So much expenditure
every two weeks if you like to keep it nice.
We'll see how this fun vintage manicure stands up to today's project, assembling solar panels.

[crwritt]

Thanks ladies. The acetone did work, and I used the bowl method forthworthgal mentioned. I wasn't able to buff it off, though - I had to use the edge of my metal nail file to scrape it off, and it took some hard scrapin'. Surprisingly, most of the shellac came off without damaging my nails, and the olive oil really brought the moisture back. I buffed and filed them down and painted them with a shimmery colour to disguise the uneven surface.

Overall I'm happy with how it worked.

Last time I soaked off acrylic nails I went a step further than the acetone/cotton ball/ foil trick, and put rubber gloves on over
all that. It worked really well, the acetone didn't evaporate as fast, and everything came right off.

[Bluebird Marsha]

I had acrylic nails (once). I don't if it would work for others, but when I wanted them off, I used sewing thread to speed up things. Once I got a bit loose at the base of the nail, I "see-sawed" thread underneath until I got the nail off. Don't know if that will work with the shellacked nails, but I thought I'd mention it

[Stray Cat]

It's been two weeks since I had my nails shellacked, and while I loved it, it's starting to grow out and chip at the bottom. That's fine, but the great nail salon I raved about before will to charge me to take it off I've since discovered that taking it off myself is a real pain in the rear. I've bought pure acetone (if this doesn't do it, nothing will), and will soak my nails in olive oil afterwards.

Anyone else had this experience?

I just pulled mine off.. they were not made for heavy work I had to do these days..
The removal was like this: I took the nail cleaned
http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/...il-cleaner.jpg
..anything like that..

..and jerked the damned things off.

(Don't get me wrong, I liked them on me.. but there was something wrong with them.. air bubble or something.. and I had lot of work to do.. nails were not included in it)

[W-D Forties]

Here's my attempt at the vintage style half moon manicure.
I used some little stickers from the dollar store, cut in half, for stencils. I haven't had polish or anything on my nails for a couple of years. Prior to that, I was getting them done in gel. Last time I went for a manicure they were pushing that shellac. It impressed me as nearly identical to gel, but with color. I declined because I'd given up that sort of thing.So much expenditure
every two weeks if you like to keep it nice.
We'll see how this fun vintage manicure stands up to today's project, assembling solar panels.

That looks really nice, you have done a good job of it! Did you use the hole reinforcing stickers for the half moon?

[crwritt]

That looks really nice, you have done a good job of it! Did you use the hole reinforcing stickers for the half moon?

I didn't have those, but I did have some small round stickers, meant for kids, that I cut in half.