Help! It won’t peel off!
This is the most common problem, and it tends to happen more with girls who have non-oily nails. There are a few things you can try:
– Make sure the polish on top of the peel-off base is quite thick. I’ve only had the base refuse to come off as a big flake once, when I used a sparse coat of glitter over a thin creme. A thicker polish “lasagna” will give you better leverage to break the seal between the base and the nail. A good combo for adding volume to the nail is a chunky glitter feeder (Glitter Food, Essence gel look) followed by quick-dry (Seche Vite, Poshe).
– Try taking a hot shower or bath before peeling. The hot water will dissolve the PVA a bit, and make it bendier, which can make it easier to peel. The downside to this is that your nail is weaker when wet, which increases the chance of you damaging your nail during removal (more on that later).
– Use two coats of base
Help! It won’t stay on!
Some people have reported their polish coming off spontaneously. Try these tricks:
– Make sure your nails aren’t too oily before application – dip a cotton bud (Q tip) in acetone and rub it over your nail before you start.
– Leave a 1-2 mm border of bare nail, or paint it in carefully with regular base coat. If your polish only peels off at the free edge, do a bare French tip.
Help! My nails are flaking off!
Anything that involves peeling stuff off your nails will cause a little bit of damage. Even peeling sticky tape off your bare nail will strip the surface, albeit very very slightly. PVA is the same – it’s a lot less damage than regular base coats, plus it’s easy to scratch the nail with whatever you’re wedging the polish off with (hopefully not the corner of your thumbnail!).
– First, make sure it’s actually your nails! PVA leaves a white residue on your nails which looks like terrible damage – it’ll rub off with soap and water.
– If the base coat isn’t coming off easily in a few big pieces, don’t force it – that seems to be where most of the damage happens.
– Peeling the polish off from the cuticle to the tip will minimise flaking at the tip, which is the most easily damaged part of the nail.
– Some people’s nails will be simply to flaky to take the peeling – you’ll have to decide for your own nails. In terms of long-term damage, I’ve been using peel-off base almost exclusively for the past month, changing polish every 2-3 days, and my nails don’t show any visible damage – in fact my nails have never looked better, especially at the tips, where I’d often start peeling away at regular polish when it started to chip. If you’re guilty of this too, peel-off base might help 😉
Help! My polish stained through the PVA!
This one’s easy! Add a layer of your regular stain-preventing base coat on top of the PVA, before you add colour. It doesn’t work so well the other way around!
Hope that helps you make the most of your peel-off base coat!
I’m just trying pva out on my thumb today for the first time. I didn’t put it in a polish bottle but bought a PVA with a pointed tip and spread it on my nail using that. Normally I wear my manicures for a week but this one I will probably only wear for 2 days so we shall see how it goes!
Good luck! I found that straight out of the bottle it was a bit too gloopy and lifted off my nail by itself during a hot shower, so if that happens try diluting it with some water 🙂
Thanks for the tips. I am planning on using PVA again on my next manicure because I want to use glitter.
Hope it works for you! Peel off base makes glitter removal easier than wiping off cremes – I don’t ever want to go back to the foil method!
Excellent post. Thank you! I’ll be trying it out next weekend 🙂
Thanks 🙂 Good luck!
Very nice troubleshot Michelle! I’m just unlucky with flaky (dry) nails, your post explains well, thx.
Glad you liked it!
great tips!
Thanks 🙂
I’m so happy with your tips I got the PVA to work 🙂 I still do use the foil occasionally if I can’t be bothered waiting for the PVA to dry however. 😛
So glad it worked for you! I prefer waiting for the PVA to dry than waiting for the acetone to eat through the polish – my cuticles are terrible enough as it is! >.<
This is really great trouble shooting info. Well done! 🙂
Thank you Alanna! 🙂
Great tips! I took a glitter bomb off today (I had a PVA base) and the polish stained my nails orange so badly!! Will be using base coat on top of PVA from now on – hadn’t even thought about doing that
Oh no! Hope basecoat stops that from happening in the future!
Does this work on acrylic nails as well?
Theoretically yes, but a few people have told me that it doesn’t peel off easily. If you want to try, maybe just put a layer of PVA on one nail and see if that comes off easily before putting polish on.
Some of my experiences: wiping the nails with acetone is to me the must do for long weartime (3-4 days, instead of 1 day). Don’t use metal tools to take it off, but an orange stick, this prevents flaking(at least a bit) and damage. Together with the hot shower, it makes a big difference. Or go do some housekeeping. Using wipes to clean surfaces always leaves me with less painted nails. But I do prefer a hot shower/bath, haha.
Good tips! Thank you 🙂
^^ wtf lol
Great tips! I loooove the peel off glue base coat, it’s changed my (polishing) life, lol. I hate hate hate removing polish, so I was super excited when I first heard about this! Thanks for all the great info you have provided on it. 🙂
For what it’s worth, I’ve been fiddling with the formula on my DIY, and I’m finding that two thin coats of more watered-down PVA dry a lot faster than one thick coat, but peel just as well. Makes sense, but it’s helped with my impatient base-coat prep!
I love you for this idea: you’re a genius!
Now I can wear glitters without the pain of removing them ^^
the peeling work fine for me and the nails are healthier than when using acetone
thank you for the tips
I was curious if you know anything about using a treatment basecoat before the peel-off base. does the PVA come off just as easy if there’s a starter base coat underneath? i want to wear glitters but i also need to grow my nails out ;P hehe
I was just peeling off my polish when I came upon this post! Thanks for all the help!
I kinda love you.
Does water dissolve your peel off mani?
It can if you soak it for too long! But showering seems to be fine if you’re gentle with your nails.