All Nails by Laura D Lee treatments come with FREE removal of products I have previously applied, because I know that improper removal is one of the leading causes of nail damage. When you think about it, this makes perfect sense because when I apply gel polish or Plexigel, they are firmly adhered to your nails. If you skip the correct removal process and choose to peel or pick these coatings off, you will also be peeling off layer(s) of your nails at the points where the gel is still firmly attached, leaving you with thinner and therefore weaker nails. Also, spoiler alert - the damage is visible so I can see when you've picked!
Now I know that sometimes your gels need to come off before you can next get in to see me, so I thought I'd help you out with some top tips for safely removing your CND Shellac gel polish at home.
First, find yourself some regular cotton wool pads (yep, the flat circular ones you take your make-up off with, will be absolutely fine). Bonus, you can generally cut these in half to make them go further, as you want them slightly bigger than your nail but unless you have suuuper long nails on you won't need them at full-size.
Next, crack out your tin foil and cut yourself 10 pieces of it. Size-wise, you want these big enough to be able to wrap around your fingernail and under your finger (to hold the cotton wool in place) but again they don't need to be massive. The picture below shows an approximate suitable size.
Now you'll need to soak the cotton wool in nail varnish remover, making sure to use one which contains acetone.
Once you've done this, you place the cotton wool piece over your nails so that it's fully covered, then wrap the tin foil over and around the cotton wool, squeezing and scrunching it tight to hold it in place. This part can be a bit fiddly (especially as more and more of your fingers are wrapped) so I find it easiest to do one hand at a time.
Now you sit and wait. How long for depends on which CND topcoat you have on ~ NbLDL clients can check their treatment log to see which has been used, then follow the timings below:
CND Shellac Luxe Topcoat ~ 2 minutes
CND Shellac Xpress5 Topcoat ~ 5 minutes
CND Shellac Original Topcoat ~ 10 minutes
CND Shellac Matte/Pearl/Glitter Topcoats ~ 12 minutes
CND Shellac Duraforce Topcoat ~ 15 minutes
When the time is up, squeeze the tin foil and wriggle it off your nail (still gently applying pressure as you pull it off) - you should find that the Shellac has flaked away underneath [see below for the Nail Geek explanation for how this works].
If there is still some Shellac attached you can try 1 of 3 things:
Soak a fresh cotton wool pad in remover and wipe it over the nail, as you would if you were removing regular nail polish.
Use an orangewood stick to gently nudge the remaining Shellac. I emphasize the gentleness here because the acetone is likely to have (temporarily) softened the nail plate and if you scrape too hard you risk taking layers of the nail plate with it too.
Re-soak and re-wrap for a few more minutes. Sometimes if you have 3 colour coats, nail art such as glitters, flakes or foil, or other additional layers such as chrome gel, the remover can take longer to penetrate and therefore a little bit of extra time is needed for easy removal.
Once you have naked nails again, I would recommend giving your hands a quick rinse followed by (of course) a slick of CND SolarOil to replenish the moisture that will have been removed by the acetone.
Now, these are step-by-step instructions for removal of CND Shellac, a gel polish which is well-known for its easy removal (again, see the Nail Geek info below for a more in-depth explanation). If you're not a NbLDL client and you've stumbled upon this blog post with another brand of gel polish on your fingers (or toes), your best bet is probably going to be to start by filing the topcoat to 'break the seal' (ie remove the top layer or visible shine) which will make it easier for the remover to then get to work. For some brands, or for harder gel coatings such as CND Plexigel, you may even have to file off the bulk of the product before you can remove the remainder with acetone. When doing this, be super careful not to file all the way through to the nail plate itself, as this is another thing which thins and weakens the natural nail itself.
If you do end up with damaged nails from picking gels off or over-zealous filing (by yourself or another nail tech!), I highly recommend booking an IBX treatment which both repairs & strengthens your natural nails. You can find out more here.
So there you have it - a step-by-step guide to safe at-home removal of your gel polish. I hope you find it helpful, but as ever, if you have any questions, just get in touch.
P.S Nail Geek explanation: your nails are made up of lots of thin layers of nail cells, which then in effect leaves tiny 'tunnels' between each layer. The clever people at CND have formulated Shellac to mimic these tunnels, so that when it comes to removal the acetone can 'flood' through the tunnels & start breaking the Shellac down from the inside-out. This creates the 'flaking' effect, as well as allowing for quick and easy removal with no nail damage. Perfecto.
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