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These days I don’t waste my time painting my nails unless I use gel polish. Without it, my nails are chipped by the end of the day and it wasn’t worth my time. I can get a long lasting manicure at home! Sometimes I go through the whole gel process starting with a gel base, two coats of color and a gel top coat. When I am short on time, I use a regular polish and only use a clear gel top coat to seal.
The only thing I don’t like about using gel nail polish is removing it. Once it starts to lift I tend to want to pick at it. DON’T DO THIS! It will take off layers of your natural nail causing them to become weak. You need to remove the polish properly for best results. Unfortunately this will take a little bit of time. Regular nail polish remover is completely ineffective. You’ll need acetone and some tools to remove the polish. 
Supplies:
- Aluminum Foil
- Acetone
- Cotton Balls
- Orangewood stick or Metal Cuticle Pusher
Directions:
- Cut your aluminum foil into large squares
- Soak 10 cotton balls in acetone and place one on each square
- Wrap the foil with the cotton ball placed on top of your finger nail. Fold the foil tight over the top and around the sides.
- Leave them on for at least 5 minutes.
Check a nail. If it doesn’t seem to be coming off you may need to scrape the very top layer of polish off with your metal cuticle pusher. Alternatively, you can use a fine grit nail file. Just make sure you don’t file all the way through the polish! Getting that top layer off helps the acetone penetrate and dissolve the polish underneath. I can’t usually get it all off in one round without doing something that will damage my nail beds. Luckily, the foil pieces are easy to slip back on to continue to soak until every bit is removed safely.
You can find another removal method, see some simple nail art designs and get other manicure tips by checking out the rest of the posts in my Manicure Monday Series.