Pirates in Chains + A Solution to your Glitter Woes

Pirates: Wenches. Rum. Booty. Parrots (or monkeys). Pillaging. Canons. Treasure. Chains.

Those are all things that come to mind when I think of pirates. Chains inspired this manicure, using my new OPI Skull and Glossbones. I stamped with my trusty Black on Black from Sinful Colors. I have two bottles in my collection because black is my favorite to stamp with. The chains are from Bundle Monster's #12 plate.

Not a bad combination, and one of the easiest stamping sessions ever. Sometimes, especially with Bundle Monster plates, I'll set everything up to stamp, but when I press the stamp down to get the image, only about 1/2 of it shows up. It's one of the most frustrating feelings. The ghosts from this post took so long to get right. I almost gave up, but I was happy with the result in the end.

Now I want to share with you the solution to any glitter woes you have. It's this amazing scrubbing tub from Target.

It's much different than the normal dip-in take-off tubs you see at beauty supply stores. Most of the time, those tubs come with a sponge inside to remove polish. So after a few uses, the sponge starts to tear, and doesn't really provide enough pressure to do a good removal job. They're still better than sitting there with 10 cotton swabs, but don't compare to this one from Target. The difference is in the bristles.

The bristles in these tubs are plastic, and stay attached to the wall of the tub itself. They're closer together than the pre-carved holes in the sponge tubs, so every finger, including the pinky, has pressure provided to it. It almost feels like there is suction happening when you dip your fingers in and out. The tub literally does all the work. You just dip in and out, repeatedly. (It can look quite sexual sometimes if your friends have a dirty mind.)

These tubs are glitter's best friend...or worst enemy depending on how you look at it. Smaller glitters, like OPI's Burlesque collection (Bring on the Bling) come off in a snap. Sometimes larger glitters like Wet n' Wild's Party of Five Glitters from this post still won't budge using the tub, but since everything else is removed, you just end up using one cotton swab to clean up the stubborn pieces of glitter. They come off much easier at that point.

So while I've heard that the foil method is brilliant, it just seems like such a task to get all that together, and if you're like me, you're too eager to get the old polish off and start a new manicure to go through all of that.

One pitfall of these glorious tubs is the 100% acetone formula it comes with. Here's what happens to your poor skin using these tubs.

Happy skin and nails before removal.

Unhappy skin after using the acetone tub.

Unhappy skin and nails after using the acetone tub.

It's important that after you use these tubs, you give your hands a quick wash and dry using warm water and soap or your skin will stay dried out like my pointer finger there. Then, it's essential you slap on some lotion, or your skin's going to be madder than a grounded teenager at you. Still, even with this small step, you're saving yourself a ton of time and tears. You're essentially not adding any steps, since I hope a good scrubbing is part of your normal manicure routine anyway.

To solve this problem, I don't see a problem with dumping out the acetone, and replacing it with a more friendly, non-acetone formula. Of course, you won't get the same chemical magic you get from acetone, but your opposing hand will still thank you.

The tubs run cheap, and can be found at Target stores in the nail polish section. My Target's display has a Sally Hansen wall, then a Nicole by OPI, OPI, Essie, removers wall. These tubs are at the bottom.

I hope this helps someone conquer their fear of glitter removal, or general removal at that.