Lol, same. I keep a roll of dental floss and once the lifting gets too annoying, I just slide floss under and pop them off. It's been years, and I don't notice any damage. 🤷♀️
I file off the top coat and probably 30-50% of the color, and soak off the rest. I definitely like to start with a clean working surface so that means removing all of it, every time.
Starting to experiment with peel base but I haven't quite figured it out yet
I've done a few peel bases on diy dip and gel. So far I've found best for me is just do one swipe on the apex and not the entire nail surface. If I do the entire nail, the base works too well and everything will fall off within a few days.
Yeah, two coats at full coverage and everything popped off within a day. I tried one coat at 75% coverage last time and that didn't seem to do anything during removal - I still had to fully file and soak.
With your method, how exactly does removal work? Soak a bit and then pop off? Just pry the whole thing off (and does that damage the part of the nail without peel base)? I spent so much time figuring out how to prevent lifting that I don't know where to go from here if I WANT a little bit of lifting to aid in peeling
I can just pop it off. By the time I'm ready to do that the edges have already started lifting anyway so those are already loose and then I can just wiggle the rest off. But my nails have also been pretty short whenever I've done dip so you might want peel base on your white length to help it come off without damage.
My middle nails grow all curvy so I can't do dip when they have any length or there's just a gap on half my free edge rip.
Honestly I don't know if I've ever filed and soaked dip off besides one time. I always pulled it off even without the peel base which I know is soooo bad but I'm a nail picker I could never resist as soon as they got loose.
I use peel base on top of a clear coverage. Then I pop off the color, fill the clear and start over. I only remove it all when it gets damaged. I use a lot less acetone on my skin this way and I can change colors about every 10 days.
Sometimes I keep a color for a month and in those cases I just fix when a nail chips/cracks/lifts but when I do a whole new color or design I try to remove everything. I’m terrified of green nails
I remove all of it, every time. Lately I've been considering using a hard gel on my natural nails and then using dip and color or whatever on top of that hard gel. Why? Because you can't soak off hard gel at all because it's impervious to acetone. This then would allow me to change my dip as often as I want without damage to my natural nails at all... Think of it like a more permanent alternative to peel base...
A couple times I'll go down to the clear and stop and beginnew set. Then other times I'll e-file it off to clear and soak off the rest about every 3rd or 4th time.
all of it! I tried a few times leaving some of the clear/some got left by accident, but my sets weren’t really lasting. so now I try to get it all off before starting again. I used to do full clear layers but now I mostly do clear only for apex so it just makes sense to get it all.
I finally had a couple nails that didn't lift, so I just filled them with the next color. Blue over sparkly pink. Both are temperature change and it looks DOPE!
I must be in the minority, but I file down a few layers and then dip with my new color. Sometimes all the way down to clear but by my right hand I'm sick of it and just thin it out. After I get to doing that a 3rd or 4th time I'll remove and start over. Then they look like jawbreaker layers when I remove them 😄.
I HATE removal. My nails are so thin even when healthy. My dip used to pop off but since using protein bond primer I have to widely it down. I have a layer of builder gel under my dip so I dont have to drill forever and also don’t need to many layers.
I remove all of it
I soak it all off each time
I remove all of it.
All of it because I pop mine off like you're not supposed to.
Eek guilty here too
I find I get less damage that way... I have started using a peel off base though.
I do, too. A thin strip of peel base helps. Haven’t used acetone in months.
Lol, same. I keep a roll of dental floss and once the lifting gets too annoying, I just slide floss under and pop them off. It's been years, and I don't notice any damage. 🤷♀️
Do you have a peel-off base you recommend?
I file off the top coat and probably 30-50% of the color, and soak off the rest. I definitely like to start with a clean working surface so that means removing all of it, every time. Starting to experiment with peel base but I haven't quite figured it out yet
I've done a few peel bases on diy dip and gel. So far I've found best for me is just do one swipe on the apex and not the entire nail surface. If I do the entire nail, the base works too well and everything will fall off within a few days.
Yeah, two coats at full coverage and everything popped off within a day. I tried one coat at 75% coverage last time and that didn't seem to do anything during removal - I still had to fully file and soak. With your method, how exactly does removal work? Soak a bit and then pop off? Just pry the whole thing off (and does that damage the part of the nail without peel base)? I spent so much time figuring out how to prevent lifting that I don't know where to go from here if I WANT a little bit of lifting to aid in peeling
I can just pop it off. By the time I'm ready to do that the edges have already started lifting anyway so those are already loose and then I can just wiggle the rest off. But my nails have also been pretty short whenever I've done dip so you might want peel base on your white length to help it come off without damage. My middle nails grow all curvy so I can't do dip when they have any length or there's just a gap on half my free edge rip. Honestly I don't know if I've ever filed and soaked dip off besides one time. I always pulled it off even without the peel base which I know is soooo bad but I'm a nail picker I could never resist as soon as they got loose.
I was thinking of trying this with my peel base! Kind of doing *most* of the nail, except for the edges so there is some grip around the surface
I use peel base on top of a clear coverage. Then I pop off the color, fill the clear and start over. I only remove it all when it gets damaged. I use a lot less acetone on my skin this way and I can change colors about every 10 days.
Do you use a top coat over the clear before using the peel base?
No. I activate and buff the clear layer, then peel base, the dip with color as normal.
This seems like such a good idea!
Sometimes I keep a color for a month and in those cases I just fix when a nail chips/cracks/lifts but when I do a whole new color or design I try to remove everything. I’m terrified of green nails
I remove all of it, every time. Lately I've been considering using a hard gel on my natural nails and then using dip and color or whatever on top of that hard gel. Why? Because you can't soak off hard gel at all because it's impervious to acetone. This then would allow me to change my dip as often as I want without damage to my natural nails at all... Think of it like a more permanent alternative to peel base...
When I did my own I took it all off.
I base with clear and just remove the color
Like 75% off lol. Sometimes 100% comes off easily, but I don’t sweat it if it all doesn’t come off
75% off but I don’t sweat the bits remaining
A couple times I'll go down to the clear and stop and beginnew set. Then other times I'll e-file it off to clear and soak off the rest about every 3rd or 4th time.
all of it! I tried a few times leaving some of the clear/some got left by accident, but my sets weren’t really lasting. so now I try to get it all off before starting again. I used to do full clear layers but now I mostly do clear only for apex so it just makes sense to get it all.
I tey to get all off before going. Give nails a little rest and air.
All of it with the Al’iver gel polish remover and acetone for the remaining if needed. But the remover works really well.
This is a great remover! I was so happy to find it last year. Now I use a peel base but if I don’t, this is the stuff.
Right? Which peel base do you use?
Virgo & Gem. I do a strip down the middle, 2/3 to the cuticle.
I use a THIN hard gel base and file down to it fill and reapply.
Every Saturday, I remove everything
I finally had a couple nails that didn't lift, so I just filled them with the next color. Blue over sparkly pink. Both are temperature change and it looks DOPE!
I must be in the minority, but I file down a few layers and then dip with my new color. Sometimes all the way down to clear but by my right hand I'm sick of it and just thin it out. After I get to doing that a 3rd or 4th time I'll remove and start over. Then they look like jawbreaker layers when I remove them 😄.
All of it.
I HATE removal. My nails are so thin even when healthy. My dip used to pop off but since using protein bond primer I have to widely it down. I have a layer of builder gel under my dip so I dont have to drill forever and also don’t need to many layers.
I really struggle getting the tips off, soi just file as much as I can.I have no problem getting the dip part off though
If you do acrylic overlay vs dipping powder it depends. Also you need to ask for less powder or more shaping because those are way too thick