OOPS! You just spilled nail polish on the carpet and you are googling ways to remove the ugly stubborn mess. Don’t worry, I’m here to help!
Over the summer, Kris accidentally knocked over my nail polish rack. BOOM, neon green nail polish coats our bedroom carpet (don’t ask me why I have neon green nail polish). Moral of the story is that I spent hours watching youtube videos, googling, and looking at Pinterest for ways to get rid of the nail polish. I saw videos where the man used a spatula to scrape the nail polish, I read an article telling me to rent a carpet cleaner, and I asked my friends if they had any advice. I tried all the suggestions and nothing seemed to be working, if anything it was only smearing the nail polish and spreading it more!
Finally, I stumbled upon an article that told me to use acetone. I was desperate and went to Target right away and bought 3 giant bottles of acetone. I went home and grabbed a roll of paper towels and brought the acetone to my room. I began pouring a little bit of the acetone on the carpet to make sure that the solution would not strip away the color of my carpet. After a while, I found that the acetone did not change the color of my carpet, so I began the process.
I poured the acetone all of the section of the carpet where there was nail polish and began dabbing with a wad of paper towels. The key is to dab and press on the area, instead of rubbing and wiping the area no matter how much you want to. The dab and press technique is definitely time consuming but it will prevent the nail polish from smearing more. I tried an old rag at first, but it did not absorb the nail polish as much as the paper towels did. I also highly recommend opening up the windows and using gloves. I got really light headed towards the end and my hands were stinging from all of the acetone I was using because I didn’t have any gloves.
I had to run to Target 3 times to buy more acetone. The employees probably thought I was up to no good. Why does this young lady keep coming back and buying our entire stock of acetone? (I imagine them asking in their head). I would pour acetone, sometimes, I would also pour some cold water with the acetone and dab/press on the nail polish mess. The process took about 5 or 6 hours and by the end of the process I was eager to air out the entire apartment because the smell is so strong. But it worked! I wouldn’t say it was 100% gone at first, but it was definitely a dramatic difference to what it was at the onset. Now, a year later, it looks like the accident never even happened 🙂
Here are some before, during and after pics!
