How to Safely Remove Gel Polish at Home - Without Damaging Your Nails

With social distancing in full effect, it’s time to take such matters into your own hands.

Give yourself plenty of time for the removal process and most importantly, do it in a well-ventilated area so you're not breathing all that polish remover.

Grab a coarse nail file (we use a 180/180 file) and gently slowly sand down the top layer of polish. The point here is not to sand all the polish off. You're really just roughing up the topcoat, so take it slow. Basically, you jus want to remove the shine.

Coat the skin surrounding your nails and fingertips with a cuticle oil or a thick cream. This will provide protection from the polish remover, which is very drying to your skin.

Then, saturate some cotton balls with polish remover -- more than you think you need.

Grab some aluminum foil of any brand and tear/cut it into squares of about three by three inches. Place a polish-remover-soaked cotton on each nail and use the foil to secure the cotton balls in place. Leave it for fifteen minutes,

Pull foil off of each finger and apply slight pressure to the nail with cotton ball. For any remaining spots gently use a nail stick working under the gel to lift it off the nail plate. If the polish still isn't lifting easily when you press your tool into it, you need more soaking. Rewrap the nail with a new cotton ball and try again in five minutes.

Once done, soak your nails in coconut oil for five to seven minutes, then apply cuticle oil on your nail beds. To finish, we recommend applying a hand lotion like or very own Buffed Lavender Hand Lotion.