Having put this post off for so long I'm feeling a bit of pressure whilst writing this up. It’s just hard to think of where to start, there seems to be so much to mention since I’m trying to compress a year’s thoughts into a reasonable sized post. 

This magic nail polish remover is nothing but a pot holding a sponge soaked in nail polish remover which will supposedly remove nail polish in one second per nail. Sounds pretty cool right? Certainly did to me. Swatching and quick manicure removals before work was a breeze with this thing. It also has moisturising content of almond oil and red fruit & vanilla fragrance.






Silly me spilled about half the pot using it on my first go but with the remaining I had it still served me a long way, leaving my fingers feel moisturised and smelling nice. After some time you might see very small bits of the sponge clinging onto your nails depending how well you’ve looked after your sponge. My square nails and sharp corners kept ripping it little by little until I realised that I had to treat it with care.

After a long time of use it might start staining. That’s from the mix of old nail polish that’s been removed and you might see some glitters clinging onto your nails the next time. That’s the reason why I never use glitters with this, crème polishes only. The rough glitters just keeps scratching against the sponge; the noise and feel to it just bothers me. I could also do with less rips in the sponge.




In the pictures the index finger took about 4-5 twists on a crème polish of two coats




Middle dipped in for literally one second, the 2 twists





The ring finger is dipped in for 1 second, then 6 twists, 3 twists and another 3 twists to finish off.

Obviously some polishes may not take as long as it sounds. If I had not kept taking it out to check how much has been removed it might’ve taken less time as it’s kept in to soak  for longer. Every second counts here I guess.

Re-using the pot

Compared to the cheap cotton pads and polish remover itself, £4.99 looks pretty steep but if you find yourself using it less than me which is about maximum 3 times a week then it’ll turn out to be a worthy investment. They can be purchased on the 3 for 2 offers in UK drugstores which come up pretty often.

I know there's more than a few dupes out there from different brands, some much cheaper than this but I can't tell you how good they ae since this is the only one I’ve tried. Any dupes out there you’ve tried that’s good enough to share with me?

Out of curiosity I pulled the whole sponge out to see how things looked in there. The remaining nail polish remover is dirty! I flipped the sponge around and reached for some clean polish remover and without thinking a second more poured ¼ of my Sally Hansen acetone free polish remover in.

When I thought this magic pot was coming to an end, it is now reusable again and it felt brand new. The secret is not in the formula of the nail polish remover they use but rather in the sponge! The sponge lets your old polish soak up the remover so that it’s broken down making it easy to take off, a few twists and you’re left with a clean nail.

No more dirty staining but it just didn’t feel as moisturised nor did it smell as nice as before since it had been diluted. Whether it stained or not I always made a trip to the bathroom for a hand wash or a quick wipe down with acetone just to remover the excess oils for my next manicure. 

Right, just in case you didn’t want to go through the essay up there, here’s a quick summary of the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Moisturising 
• Fast removal (Good if youre in a hurry)
• Convenient if you decide to travel 75ml of liquid.
• Lasts a long time
• Guess it’s easy to dispose of
• Can be re-used by pouring in your own nail polish remover (and depends on how well you’ve kept the sponge for you to use it again)

Cons:

• Seems expensive at first 4.99 for 75ml compared to pads and acetone/remover
• Not good on glitters, transfers back on the nails and rips the sponge
• Starts getting sticky and stains after a while of using
• Strong smell at first

Final verdict? £4.99. Worth it? Yes. Repurchase? Yes. Recommend? Yes?

What’s your thoughts on this little magic pot? Would you give it a try or stay with the pads and removers?