Monday, April 29, 2013

LacQit One Step Gel Polish Removal Process

Well, it's been 21 days since I applied the LacQit One Step Gel Polish so this weekend it was time to remove it.  Wearing LacQit has been a unique experience for many reasons.  First, the fact of being able to wear polish for longer than 3-5 days without it chipping is a phenomenon in itself.  Second, having access to polish for home use without spending a fortune is amazing and budget friendly.  Third, the attention it draws from others when they find out I did it myself as some people have asked, "Who did your nails" and look at me in disbelief when I say, "Oh, I did them" as they take my hand closer to their eyes to examine my nail application ability AND with the look of disbelief in their eyes.

I've been paying closer attention to gel polish worn by others and inquiring about their gel polish experience.  Recently, I ran into a friend at the mall as she was heading to a nail salon to have her gel polish reapplied.  She had been wearing a pretty nude color for 3 weeks, but I noticed that it had a significant amount of chipping.  The cost to have the old polish removed and  fresh polish applied was $20.  This was a good price because a fellow grad student recently told me that she paid $60 and her polish started chipping during week 2.  Okay...let's calculate this up from these 2 examples.  There are 52 weeks in a year, so if you get your nails polished every 3 weeks then that averages to be roughly 17 trips to the nail salon per year.  In ONE years time, that would equate to $340 for the polish application and removal at the $20 rate and $1,020 for the polish application and removal at the $60 rate.

With the yearly cost of gel manicures ranging from $340-$1,020 and beyond, you still should take into consideration the sanitary condition of the tools used on customers.  A workout buddy of mine was telling me about someone she knew who had to have a toe nail removed due to a bacterial infection she picked up in a "high-end" nail salon.  More of a reason to reduce or eliminate visits to nail salons.        

Using an at home gel system, such as LacQit would currently cost $59.95 + tax and shipping.  This price includes the LED lamp, 1 color (Cosmo to go), timer, cuticle oil, 2 cuticle sticks, 2 nail buffers, and a nail file.  Additional colors cost about $16 each.  A big savings  overall compared to going to the nail salon.

Now on to the LacQit (Pronounced: Lac-it) removal process:
I used the foiling method to remove the LacQit polish.  By doing so, it prevented the acetone from quickly evaporating from my nails.  So using cotton balls, I soaked each with 100% acetone, applied to each nail, and covered with a piece of foil (NOTE: use a piece just large enough to wrap around and cover the nail). Using this method, I soaked for 10 minutes.  I then removed the foil from ONE nail and in a downward motion, I used the cuticle stick to scrap the polish off.  When finished with that nail, I decided to reapply the acetone soaked cotton ball and the foil back to the nail to soften the remaining residue on the nail; thus making it easier to do my final clean up.  I repeated this process until all nails were polish free.

So I know you are wondering what challenges I had during the removal process of the LacQit polish.  For me, the challenges were applying the foil because I was basically working with one hand, which kind of made me feel clumsy.   When you watch the video, you will notice the awkwardness of wrapping the foil over the cotton ball.  Also, another thing I did was over saturate the cotton balls, so the acetone did drip out until I secured the ends of foil. However, I had a paper towel underneath my hands to catch the leakage and my technique improved by the time I got to my second hand.  Keep in mind this was my first time EVER applying and removing a gel polish, so the challenges too me are minuscule.

Below are the items I used during the removal process:
  1. 100% Acetone: Purchased at Wal-Mart for $2.50 for a 16 fl oz bottle.
  2. Cotton balls: Previously purchased store brand at Wal-Mart.  
  3. Aluminum foil:  Previously purchased the inexpensive generic brand at Wal-Mart.  I just used the same foil used for cooking.  
  4. Cuticle Stick: Provided in the LacQit kit. Used to scrap off polish after the soaking process.
  5. Yellow Nail Buffer: Provided in the LacQit kit.  I actually didn't have to use the buffer but you can use it to buffer away any polish residue on your nails.
  6. Paper towel: Used to catch the polish shavings as I scrapped off the polish.  Makes for easy clean up after you are finished.
Be sure to check out the awesome NEW colors at www.lacqit.com

Take a look at my video demonstrating the removal process of LacQit.



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