It's ok to peel off your polish!

As I mentioned over the weekend, I gave the ole Elmer's Glue trick a test drive.  However, I wear soak off gels, so I wasn't really sure how this was going to work.  I finished my gel mani, which I'll show you on Wednesday, and went in search of an empty bottle.  I added my glue to the bottle and got my polishes all ready to go.  Now, let's see how to use a glue base coat on top of soak off gels.  [WARNING: This post is very pic heavy!!!!]

First, apply your glue on top of your gel top coat (I use Gelish Top it Off).  Try not to get it too thick or clumpy.

This is what it looks like once you've covered your whole nail.

Next, make sure you let it dry completely.  Here, you can still see a bit of white on the tip.  Don't apply your polish until the white is all gone.

See how my nail is matte now without any white?  This is when you should apply your polish.  

Make sure that all of your nails are ready to go before you apply your polish.  That way you won't have to skip a nail or stop midway through and wait for it to dry.  Here, you can see that my ring finger isn't quite ready.

You guys all know how to apply polish, so I won't bore you with those details.  Just apply as you normally do.  I used Hare's Dog Day Dream, which is a raspberry based polish with red, purple, and fuchsia glitters.  I really wanted this polish when I first saw it, and it did not disappoint.

It applied very evenly with the glitter spreading out without pooling up on my cuticles.  I didn't really need to do much cleanup on my left hand, so I was pretty pleased by that.

Check out a closeup of the glitters.  It looked really great on top of my gel mani (Progel Flaming Poker, which is a red glitter polish).

When you're ready to remove your polish, all you need to do is wet your hands in warm water to get the glue a little malleable   Start to pick around the base near your cuticle careful not to grab the gel.  You can also try to pick around the free edge if you think you can get a bit of the glitter polish/glue base without ruining your gels.  Then, gently peel the polish off.  You can do it with a cuticle stick as shown here or with your fingers, which is how I actually did it myself.

Your polish should pop off all in one sheet or in a few sheets.  Although, sometimes you may screw it up by grabbing the edge of your gel mani instead of the top coats...

While having to redo that particular nail sucked, attempting to scrub glitter off of my SOGs sucks more.  With this method, all you need to do once you remove the glitter regular nail polish is scrub the SOGs with your cleansing solution to make sure you've removed all of the glue.  And, voila!  Your gels are back to pristine condition!

Sorry for the wonk.  My patches aren't very great, but I just can't let this guy break yet.

You can purchase Hare at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  She won't be restocking either shop until mid-November, so check her Facebook page often for the details of her next sale.  Also, be advised that her polishes all sell VERY quickly, so be prepared for cart jacking and super quick sales.  I purchased my Elmer's Glue at Michaels.  Make sure you get the white school glue!  (I'm sure you could get the clear school glue, but I like using the white, which stays white when wet and turns clear when dry.  That way, I won't paint my nails before the glue has completely dried!)

Also, before I go...  Which polish should I wear over my red gel mani tomorrow?  Here are my options:

Dollish The Many Shades of Mr. Grey, Lynn Shape Shifter, Nail-Venturous Crawfish Boil (I may wear this on Wednesday since I have a networking lunch), Dollish Vampire's Coven, or Dollish Spectral Pup?

Do you use the glue base coat trick?