Magic Gel remover review

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NancySyd

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OK here’s my review on the magic gel remover that is everywhere on the internet/facebook. I hope that my experience will satisfy any curiosity about this product. TLDR version: not as bad as I thought, has potential as a product, but way too many health and safety unknowns.

As we know, it isn’t gel polish that can damage your nails, it’s gel polish removal that can damage your nails! I always remove my own polish even if I am enjoying a busman’s holiday by getting my nails done. Typically, I would not give this product a second look, but removal is the bane of my gel-polish existence, I am curious to a fault, and well, it was 3 a.m.! And this was before all of the dire reports about it. I received the product from China nine days after my order. The brand name on my bottle was Vinimay, but I have seen exactly the same bottle with different brand names. The bottle is a standard dark nail polish bottle containing 15 ml of remover. It came without any brochure or separate instructions. The instructions and warnings on the bottle are incomplete and in broken English - “Protect of your hand Only Offly Fast Removal & Care Reduces dehydration of nails and surrounding skin and eliminates the appearance of whiteness” and “Please take care about your skin”

This did not bode well, but I decided to give it a try. I opened the bottle and there was no bad chemical smell, no smell at all. The remover has the consistency of a thick and goopy clear gel polish, and the brush was square and flexible. I had five layers of polish on my natural nails that had been on for one week (1 OPI GelColours base coat, 2 OPI GelColours - Color So Hot It Berns, 1 OPI GelColours Top Coat, 1 Gelish Top It Off). Starting with my left (non-dominant) hand I first tried it on my pinkie, carefully avoiding any skin contact. It is my understanding that this product contains caustic soda/lye/sodium hydroxide, and while that is contained in a number of beauty products, including cuticle removers, I thought it was important to avoid contact with my skin. Still, any product used on the nails will ultimately get on the skin, so its safety is critical.

I waited. After 5 minutes, there was some bubbling of the polish, but nothing like the ads, which say 1 minute. I decided to buff the top coat on my ring finger before applying the remover to see if that made a difference. It did. After about 3 minutes, I could see the polish bubbling up more evenly. After 8 minutes, the remover seemed to be drying up on my pinkie, so I applied another coat of the remover. At 10 minutes, I applied another coat of remover to both nails. At 12 minutes, the polish was evenly bubbled up on both nails so I used my standard metal spoon pusher to remove the polish. It came off rather easily and I washed and scrubbed my nails as usual. The two nails looked and felt good. I decided to try it on the rest of my nails. Buffing the top coat, applying the remover liberally but carefully, reapplying the remover at 5 minutes, removing at 8 minutes, washing and scrubbing my nails. It did a very good job of removing many layers of gel polish quickly and completely. My eponychium(s) look good as do my nail plates.

Pros:
• Much neater process - No additional devices, wraps or pads needed
• Applies easily and controllably
• Process is visible and can be monitored easily
• Worked quickly to remove five layers of gel polish; less time than an acetone remover wrap

Cons:
Incredibly bad instructions
• Takes much longer than advertised, the polish does not “burst”
• No list of ingredients or MSDS/SDS - I asked, they said they had none. This is an interesting and troubling omission for a product labeled as for professional use only. This alone makes this not an acceptable product
• May require buffing of top coat (especially for acetone resistant top coats like Gelish)
• May require additional application of remover during process
TOO MANY UNKNOWNS ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS, SAFETY, AND ANIMAL CRUELTY

After decades in this business, I have been through a number of products making outrageous claims. Most of them were ineffective, and some of them were even dangerous. This product was reasonably effective, but despite no ill effects from it myself, I would say that its safety is still up for debate. I absolutely would not use this on a client; there are just too many unknowns, it is not a professional product, and the manufacturer’s instructions are useless. My review applies only to gel polish on natural nails; I have no idea how this would work on L&P, rnp, dip, or hard gel. And of course, this one try doesn’t reveal anything about what long term use of this product might do.

Oddly enough, I do have to say that I was somewhat impressed with it. It has real potential. If the R&D division of one of the big professional brands got their hands on it and did it up right, I believe it could be made into a very viable product. But right now, no, it is just not ready for primetime.

BTW, I should add that the vendor, Vanilla Snowball, did not honor their “100% satisfaction guaranteed” warranty and refused to refund my money.
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Last edited:
Yes, I did see this after my experimentation. I should have linked this to my review. I posted this to be in support of whatever Doug releases, from the perspective of a non-chemist, NT end user.
 
I tried it too I WOULD NEVER BUY IT AGAIN! It takes way longer then 1 minute and does not remove and bubble like they say do not waste your money!
 
I saw a professional NT selling a similar product on hers/his web shop, but claiming the product is approved according to EU regulations. The information from Doug Schoon regarding false data sheets however made me very sceptical to the validity of the ingredient list.. It looks very familiar to what similar products have stated to contain..?
 

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