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How to Take Off Gel Nails at Home

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Northwestern chapter.

Last time, I taught you all how to create the perfect gel nails at home. Well, nothing gold can stay, and eventually, they will need to be removed. Here is a list of supplies you’ll need to have on hand:

  1. Lightly file the top layer of your nail polish, just enough to remove the shine/top coat.
  2. Dip a cotton ball in acetone and place the cotton ball on your finger nail. Wrap a piece of tin foil around the cotton ball and your finger to secure it in place.
  3. Let your nails soak for 15 minutes. Leave them be—do not check to see if they are lifting! This will disturb the soaking process.
  4. After soaking, remove the tin foil and cotton balls. Focusing on one nail at a time, use a cuticle stick to push the gel off your nail. The gel should be super easy to scrape off. If it isn’t, place the acetone-soaked cotton ball and tin foil back on your finger and let it soak for another 10-15 minutes before trying to scrape it off again.

That’s it!

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Stephanie Shields

Northwestern '24

Hello! I'm Steph :) I'm a Sophomore at Northwestern majoring in Political Science and minoring in Entrepreneurship. If I'm not writing for Her Campus, I'm probably running, reading, or making popcorn.