I decided to take off my bright manicure from last night. To my dismay, it went from this:
To this.
In my rush to get the post happening I didn't use any base coat and ended up with the worst staining that I've ever had.
I would usually buff out light nail polish stains but these ones were too bright to do that. I would have to thin out the nails a little too much for my liking. I did a bit of a research on how to remove these stains with different methods and came across to methods that used anything from using toothpaste and lemon to harsher things like peroxide and bleach.
I decided to keep it on the gentler side and opted for whitening toothpaste to begin with. This is the before photo in sunlight that makes the stains look a little better.
Took out my old toothbrush and used a Middle Eastern whitening toothpaste. Nothing particular about the formula of this toothpaste, I just happened to be using it at the time.
I added a little water and scrubbed for bout a minute and then rinsed.
The stains didn't disappear completely but the intensity lessened.
I wasn't completely happy with it so I moved onto bicarbonate soda. I put about a teaspoon of the powder into a little dish.
I added water haphazardly and ended up with salty water so I had to start again. I'd say to get the paste below, I added the same volume of water as I did of bicarb soda. It's just a matter of playing around with it till the consistency is manageable and can be picked up easily with the toothbrush.
I scrubbed for about two minutes with the paste and rinsed completely so I ended up with this result.
Much better. I think they are the whitest they have been for a while.
Even though I (think I) used relatively gentle methods, all the chemicals, scrubbing and rinsing, left my nails a bit dry. I lathered my fingertips, nails and cuticles in Neutrogena Hand Cream. I find it to be very rich and good for this sort of occasions.
I'm actually happy with the way they look without polish, I may leave them to breathe for a day.
I know there a massive number of links that show you how to remove stains but I wanted to share my experience. Hope you guys find this helpful in the event of nail stains.
Do you have a preferred method for stain removal? Do you have a way, apart from base coats, to avoid the stains to begin with?
Till next time,
Laura
