Flakie/Glitter Layering and Homemade Peel-Off Base Coat Experiment

Using Elmer's (or any type of) school glue as a peel-off base coat has been popular lately, so I decided to finally try it out.

I had a preliminary fear of it, I didn't want to end up peeling off a layer of my nail or anything! But I figured a little  buffing could always take care of that if it happened.

When debating on what polish to try it with, I thought shimmers, glitters, and flakies are the hardest to remove, so I'd layer all three and test that. Over 2 coats of a 3/4 glue and 1/4 tap water mix, I started out with one coat of a shimmer, My Favorite Martian from Confetti, put a coat of Zoya Apple over that, and finished with 2 coats of Sinful Colors' flakie Green Ocean.

I didn't take pictures of the peel-off process. I figure it is pretty self-explanatory, especially with all of the tutorials out there for it. After a few days, I just started to pick at one corner of the polish with another nail until it lifted. None of them came off in full sheets, but rather in at least 3 bits, and it didn't peel off any of my nail at all!

I was pretty surprised at how it stood up perfectly to hand washing, showering, etc., though! I ended up having to use some acetone around the edges to get a few little leftover pieces off, but it was definitely much easier and quicker than scrubbing with remover, and way better than the foil method in terms of not drying out your nails and cuticles! Soaking polish off always makes my nails really soft and sometimes makes them peel a little, too, so its definitely a bonus to not have that issue with the peel-off base coat!

I am not sure if I'll always use the glue before a glitter. It doesn't seem to save much time versus the soak-off foil method, but it is definitely less harsh when it comes to the fumes, the drying out, and whatnot! Soaking glitters off seems to be a tad more effective, though. I never have any additional cleanup to do afterwards.

Have you tried using a peel-off base coat? What do you think of it? Will you be using it from now on with glitter polishes, or is the foil method still your go-to removal process? Thanks for stopping by!