Easiest glitter polish removal: peel off base coat tutorial!

Nothing to disclose

Hi there! I've been getting a whole bunch of questions about my peel off base coat: where I got it, how I use it and how long it stays on my nails. Well, today I'm going to show you how to make one of your own! I'll also give you some tricks of the trade and tell you my experiences. A peel off base coat is such an amazing find for us polish addicts, this is something that doesn't even have to cost a dollar (or even a euro) and is very easy to use! Click to get to the good stuff!

First off, I want to mention that I'm not the genius who thought of using glue underneath nail polish to make removal easier. I don't know who originally thought of it, but I have been using it for over a year and I've learned some tricks that I will share with you.

What you'll need:
- An empty polish bottle
- PVA glue, look on the bottle for something that says 'polyvinyl acetate'. It's known as Elmer's Glue in the US
- A top coat, preferably one that makes a thin layer
- Regular polish
- Your favorite top coat

Open the container of glue and pour it into the empty polish bottle. This will make applying your peel off base coat so much easier.

Dutch ladies: I bought this bottle at Action for only €0,80 and it holds 100ml. That's almost 7 full sized bottles, so only €0,12 per bottle of peel off base coat!!!!

Nederlandse dames: Ik heb dit flesje lijm bij de Action gekocht voor maar €0,80 en er zit 100ml in. Dat betekent dat je er bijna 7 full sized flesjes mee kunt vullen, dus één flesje peel off base coat kost dan maar €0,12!!!!

Add a few drops of water to make application easier and shake. I can't tell you exactly how much, just a little bit. Feel it out and if doesn't dry quickly or it's too thick to apply, add a few drops extra.

Now you have your peel off base coat all ready to go!

Make sure your nails are clean and dry. The peel off base coat will stick better to clean nails!

Okay, so let's get to the good part! Taking out the brush of your base coat, wipe off as much as you can. Too much base coat will take a really long time to dry, ain't nobody got time for that!

You just need a thin layer to enjoy the peel off effect, and take care to cover every spot!

Leave a small margin at the cuticle. When you clean up around your nails later, the glue will be stringy and hard to get rid of without ruining the polish. So when you leave a small margin, you can easily clean up without getting tangled up in the peel off base coat!

You know your peel off base coat is dry when it's gone clear and semi-matte. In this picture, my pinkie nail is almost completely dry and my index finger nail is freshly painted.

After your peel off base coat is completely dry (this usually takes about a minute for me), apply a layer of top coat. Yes, you read that right, top coat. I tried this with a base coat and it has some kind of hydrating stuff, so it wrinkled up my peel off base coat! I forgot to tell a friend this and she used base coat as well, with the same effect. That's some ugly stuff right there, so make sure to use a top coat!

I use Rimmel London Super Wear. It's a really nice thin top coat that is actually really perfect for this job :D

Edit: My friend Samantha from Gothic Gala Lacquers told me that polish straight onto a glue base coat has a bigger chance of staining. So don't skip the top coat!

When the top coat is dry (which usually only takes about a minute too), you can apply your polish like you normally would! Apply two or three layers, add your favorite top coat, do beautiful nail art and add top coat again!

The more layers you add, the easier it will be to peel off the polish in one piece!

Et voilá! Just put your nail underneath the polish on one side, and start pushing under it. The first two hours this will be easy because the polish will still be soft and bendable. After that, you can probably push it off really easily as one thick hard layer. My Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat (the one in the red bottle) works really great with this whole process.

These are my experiences and the combination of glue, Rimmel top coat and Sally Hansen top coat is what works best for me. If you run into trouble, change any of these things or feel free to shoot me an email at piggieluv@outlook.com and I'll try my best to help!







I also made a fun little pictorial for you to save on your computer for later, or to share! I know how you all like to pin these pictorials so go ahead!!!