Homemade Nail Polish Remover

I've been reading up quite a bit on nail polish removers recently and while browsing online I've seen mention of a homemade version of Zoya's Remove + which is a very highly rated, and expensive, nail polish remover from Zoya. 

 

 

My search led me to loodie loodie loodie's blog and her recipe to make a copy of the top rated remover.  There are various posts online on the subject and they all seemed to come to the same conclusion; it's easy to do, not too expensive and works as well as the store bought product.  Obviously I had to give it a go.

 

So I stopped off at Sally's for some Acetone and Boots for the Glycerin required.

 

 

The Acetone was £3.49 and the Glycerin was £1.29.  £4.78 in total which will make one large bottle of remover with a good amount of Glycerin left over.  Zoya is $10 for just over 200ml (8oz) so it's quite a saving.

 

As well as the Glycerin and Acetone you add a little water into the mix to help everything emulsify nicely.  I wasn't exact with my quantities but I would say I used roughly 160ml of acetone, 3 teaspoons of glycerin and probably 4 or 5 teaspoons of water altogether.  I mixed them up in a smaller acetone bottle I had bought previously, making sure that there wasn't any glycerin rolling about at the bottom of the bottle (if there is, just add a touch more water and mix again until they all blend together nicely as one clear layer).

 

First impressions are good, the remover took my polish off super fast as you'd expect from something which is almost pure acetone but unlike using pure acetone it didn't leave my nails looking too dry, or feeling like they'd been stripped of all moisture as is often the case when I just use acetone.

 

I'll report back after I've been using it for a bit longer, and tried it on some tougher polish - like glitters - but so far it seems like a super efficient remover for very little money.

 

Have you tired Zoya Remove+, or made your own version before?

 

Easy Nails - Fast & Fruity Nail Polish Remover

I posted about a year ago about these remover pots after only trying them out a few times and mentioned that I couldn't get my hands on them easily as we didn't have many Home Bargains store, and certainly none I could get to. 

 

Since then I have used the ones I had loads and been keen to track more down before my supply ran out.  Luckily I've also acquired the use of a car in that time meaning that Home Bargains is now within reach, so a few days ago I headed over to see if they still stocked the little pots of wonder...

 

 

They do!  So I cleared them out of their current stock meaning I shouldn't have to make the journey back in again for quite a while.

 

I'm not sure what they put in this little pot because for an acetone free remover it really does the job well!  Not only do they remove regular nail varnish super fast I also find them great for glitter polishes, which are notoriously hard to remove. 

 

I'm not sure whether it's the solution in the pot, the sponge or the combination of both but they work incredibly well, as well as being really handy to transport if you're going away somewhere or want to keep a remover in your handbag or desk drawer (no, just me who does that?).

 

Another benefit is that they smell pretty good too, there's no horrendously strong chemically smell just a sort of synthetic fruit fragrance which I find quite pleasant and they seem to be kind to my nails too, they never look dry or flaky after using this remover despite how quickly it removes my polish.

 

So, all in, for only 85p each, I LOVE these little pots of wonder, if you're in the market for a new remover or want something to rival the hideously expensive Bourjois version of a remover pot then look no further, Home Bargains might have a store near you!

Money Saver! Allura Nail Polish Remover at Poundland

You may remember a while back I posted another Money Saver about cotton wool pads from LIDL which I thought were a really good deal, well today I have another which I thought I would mention.

 

I go through a lot of nail varnish remover and I've used a few in my time but my favourite bargain buy has to be Allura's nail polish remover from Poundland. 

 

 

At just £1 for 400ml it's really good value and I find it great for all my varnish removal needs; it doesn't smell too strong, it's not horribly drying and it gets the job done nice and fast.

 

Although it's not acetone free, which I know some people prefer, I don't find it to be drying or damaging to my skin at all which plain acetone definitely is - I learned that the hard way! ;)

 

So, if you're in the market for a new nail varnish remover at a bargain price then you could definitely do worse than grab a bottle of this stuff as you pass Poundland, then you can use it with your bargain cotton wool pads from LIDL. :D

 

What remover do you use, and why?  Do you think there's a difference between the cheap brands, like this one, and the more expensive brands available?

Easy Nails Fast & Fruity Nail Polish Remover

A while back I reviewed Pretty Perfect Twist and Out Instant Nail Polish Remover which I had picked up in Savers.  A few days ago my friend sent me a little pot of a similar product to try.

On first impressions I would say that this one is better than the Twist & Out one, the pot is slightly smaller which means that it's easier to reach right down to the bottom of the sponge and get your whole nail cleaned off.  The smell is pleasant too, there is a definite peachy scent after you have removed your polish which is nice, if a bit artificial.

Removal wise, this little pot made fast work of my polish and only took a few twists of each finger to completely remove all the polish - I had 4 or 5 coats on the day I tried it. 

Unfortunately, I think this little magic remover pot came from Home Bargains which we don't have very many of in Scotland so I may have to put an order in with my friend for a few more pots when this one dries up.  For 89p per pot it really is a great deal.

Pretty Perfect Twist and Out Instant Nail Polish Remover

The name is a bit of the mouthful but this is a great little product.  I got it for the bargain price of 89p in Savers.  To all intents and purposes it is a much cheaper version of the Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover but at a fraction of the cost.

 

Basically this is a plastic pot filled with a piece of nail polish remover soaked sponge, to remove your polish you simply pop your finger into the hole in the middle of the sponge, twist a few times and then pull it out, free from polish.

Considering the price this is a pretty effective product, I removed my 4th of July manicure using it and although it didn't take off all the layer with one twist it didn't take very long at all and was pretty mess free.  Considering I had 3 coats of polish, a top coat, a coat of extra thick stamping polish and another 2 coats of top coat this little bargain made pretty quick work of removal.

I'm fairly certain this wouldn't work too well on hard to budge glitter polish but on regular creams it works like a dream and for 89p it definitely won't break the bank.

Cien Nail Polish Remover

While I was in Lidl recently I grabbed a bottle of Cien Nail Polish Remover, mainly because of it's special cap.  I've previously seen caps like this available on more high end remover so when I saw it on this little bottle for a bargain £1.49 I couldn't resist.

There are apparently two versions, the one I have - acetone free - and a regular one with acetone which comes in a blue liquid / bottle.  Given the choice I would have gone with the regular one containing acetone as I find non-acetone removers aren't quite as effective but they only had one option in my store.

The main draw was definitely the cap which allows you to press down on the plastic disk under the cap and soak your cotton wool pad, this means you don't have to invert the bottle and risk pouring remover everywhere.  It also means I shouldn't have any more incidents when I leave the bottle sitting somewhere with the lid off!

I'm really looking forward to trying this out and if the bottle is effective re-filling it with my own favourite brand of remover.