Nail Polish Removers That I Use

I usually show you manicures and often wine about removing them (especially glitters), but I have never shown you my collection of nail polish removers. So now is the time :-)

The first and most important criteria when I buy a nail polish remover is being acetone free. Even if removing will become a sweatier process (when removing glitters of course), I prefer these because them won't dry out my nails. 

At the moment I have 6 nail polish removers and I use them depending on the manicure (how may coats, what color, with or without glitters) I am wearing. 

My all time Nr. 1: Pierre Rene Professional's Nail Polish Remover with no acetone and with oil conditioner.

This polish remover is available online @ Magiq (here), where a bottle of 145 ml costs only 13 RON + shipping.

I like it because:

• it's transparent 
• has a "nice" fruity like smell, not like a usual solvent
•  removers quite fast glitters

Nr. 2 + 3: Bourjois Gentle Nail Enamel Remover and Astor Nail Polish Remover.

I use Astor Professional Nail Care Nail Polish Remover for light colors, mainly nudes and whites. It's a really soft remover, but smells like heavy duty acetone. You will have to work that cotton pad :-).  It's available here. 100 ml for 10 RON.

Although Bourjois Gentle Nail Enamel Remover has a pink color, I like it's fruity "perfume" which will persist a few minutes on your nails. I always wash my nails after removing the polish so I don't benefit from this extra :-). It works fine even with darker colors.

Nr. 4: Essence Quick & Easy Sponge Nail Polish Remover

I got this one from Barcelona (I haven't seen it in stores in Romania). I use it seldom, when I am in a hurry and I am not wearing any glitters, but my mom is in love with it! She says that the person who invented it was a genius. I agree.

It has a nice fragrance which I cannot identify :-)

Nr. 5: Gia Paris Nail Polish Remover 

This is the low cost variant of the Essence Quick & Easy remover. 

Actually it's a sponge in a jar filled with acetone. I guess you noticed by now: I am all about fragrance ... and this one is with pineapple. The remover works surprisingly well, I have to recommend it.

It's available online here, with different fragrances. 

As an alternative to nail polish removers, I use a peel off base coat from Essence (which I can't find at the moment to take a picture of and I am extreeemly pissed off because of this). I only recommend it for short periods (a few days), because it will stain the nails.

Have you tried the products from above? What nails polish removers are you using and what are your experiences with them? 

I'm on holiday in Crete, Greece, until next week. The following 4 blog posts will be scheduled. Hope you enjoy them :-).

If you like my manicures you can follow me on Bloglovin and Pinterest

  NailGlaze

Until next time,

My Nail Care Routine

In this blog post instead of showing a manicure I will show you how I take care of my nails.

Over time I have learned and experienced that the best thing you can do for your nails is to use nail care products from the same company. When I say nail care products I am thinking of cuticle remover, cuticle oil, hardener, base coat and, if possible, nail polish remover. Every time in the past when I combined cuticle oils, base coats or hardeners from different brands, my nails started to exfoliate and eventually broke. 

Although it is hard to use always the same old products, especially now, when the market offers almost infinite options, just try it for a while and you won't regret it.

I have chosen a local brand, namely Farmec. 

Before I start presenting them one by one, I want to show you my bare nails, before applying anything onto them:

And now let's see how to use these products :-) I have placed them in the order in which I usually use them. From left to right:

Cuticle Peeler. It comes in a nice little 15 ml tube, with a special applier. 

Just apply it on your cuticles and before it dries completely (approx. 3 minutes, of course depending on how much you have applied) just take an orange stick and remove the product. While doing so you will see how your cuticle is also removed. Be careful though, the formula is very thin and you can easily apply as much onto your first nail as much would be enough for both hands! Apply it even if you don't see it necessary and you will be surprised to see what comes off your nails.
After I remove the cuticle peeler, I wash my nails using an ordinary tooth brush and my special, home made soap with avocado oil. This cleanses my nails perfectly and prepares them for the second product. 

Vitamin B5 Lotion. This is the new formula of the Vitamin B5 Lotion. 

The first one was more thin, had a powerful smell and was not that gentle with cuticles. Being so thin made the wrong impression that it just evaporates from he nails.
The new formula is more sticky and drys harder. The smell is not so disturbing and its more cuticle friendly. I apply it immediately after washing and drying my nails. I leave it on for 3 minutes and then apply the third product. It's important to know, that this product contains formaldehyde. If you are allergic to this substance, don't use the Vitamin B5 Lotion!

Cuticle Oil. You should always use a cuticle oil after using a formaldehyde based product. In this case it was the Vitamin B5 Lotion.
The Cuticle Oil contains Vitamin A, almond oil, olive oil, soy oil and lemon essential oil. 

I apply it generously on my cuticles. Leave it there for 2 minutes and after that I massage it into my nails. Once it's totally absorbed by the nails you are ready to apply a base coat. 

Base Coat - Fortifying Complex. This products also contains formaldehyde! I have noticed that my nails react well to formaldehyde based products (hardener and base coat). I am using it for a long period and I haven't noticed and side effects. I apply the base coat every single time I apply nail polish and I have never had a problem with yellow nails. 

What I love about this base coat is that it dries extremely quickly! While I paint my right hand my left hand is already drying :-)

This blog post contains my own opinion, based on my personal experience with the presented products. This in not a payed post. 

If you like my manicures you can follow me on Bloglovin and Pinterest

  NailGlaze

Until next time,

My Nail Care Ritual

For me, taking care of my nails is at least as important as wearing some nice manicure. One isn't possible without the other. You can buy the best nail polishes and be a talented nail artist if your nails don't cooperate.

Today I will present to you some nail care products I use.

1. Acetone free nail polish remover
Make sure you use an acetone free remover, otherwise you will get your nails and cuticles dried out. It is true that acetone works faster but a non-acetone remover will be more gentle on your nails.
I have to admit I do use acetone based remover but only for glitter polishes and after removal I strictly follow the steps below.

After removing the polish I like to use Nail Polish Remover Pads to clean my nails. I use L.A. Colors pads. These come in various scents (I own the Peach and Grape scented), are acetone free and have an oily texture so it doesn't dry out my nails and cuticles.

2. Cuticle remover 
After removing the polish I like to remove my cuticles. For this purpose I use the Coral Cuticle Remover.

You have to apply it on your cuticles, wait 5 minutes until it dries and remove the dried cuticles with an orange stick.

3. Nail hardener
After trying lots of nail hardeners I stopped at the cheapest and surprisingly the most effective one: Farmec Treatment Expert with Vitamin B5.

Left: old formula which used to dry out cuticles
Right: new formula with keratin and calcium pantothenate. This is a much better formula compared to the first one.

4. Vitamin A and Vitamin E
To keep my nails healthy I give them some vitamins :-). I use Vitamin A and E in oily formula. Being 100%  oils they will dry pretty hard. I usually apply them before going to sleep. In the morning I will have hydrated nails and cuticles.

5. Base Coat

The best base coat I have ever used is definitely the Rimmel Stronger. This is a 2 in 1 product: base coat and nail hardener. It dries quickly (approximately 30 seconds after applied) and gives a discrete gold shimmer effect to the nails.

So...this is my nail care ritual in a nutshell :-).

I hope this post will help you keep your nails happy. Feel free to share you ritual by leaving a comment to this post.