Ideally, every girl would love to spend plenty of time at a nail salon painting fingernails with nail polish.
But finding sufficient leisure time to get your nails professionally polished at the salon proves tricky in the real world, given the hustles and bustles of everyday life. During such a beauty crisis, you are likely to resort to doing the painting yourself at home, Right?
Applying polish on your nails is a fun way of changing the look of your hands, but getting the job done all by yourself is extremely difficult.
Even the most seasoned manicurist can flub once in a while and get nail polish spilled on certain surfaces, such as carpet. Getting fingernail polish out of carpet is an arduous task, especially if the spill has dried.
See Also: How To Get Coffee Stains Out Of Carpet
Good News!
There are a few options you can take to get your carpet looking as clean and neatly polished as your nails. As the head of the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, Carolyn Forte says, it is imperative to act fast because the longer the stain stays the tougher it becomes to get it off.
The following are step-by-step solutions on –
How to get fresh and dried nail polish out of a carpet?
What You Need
As soon as you’ve spilled the nail polish on your carpet, gather the following products to help you get nail polish off your carpet –
- Window Cleaner
- A Spoon
- Non-Acetone Nail Polish Remover
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Carpet Stain Remover
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Hairspray
See Also: How to Get Ink Out of Carpet
Steps to Getting Fresh Fingernail Polish Out of Carpet
Scoop Up Wet Nail Polish
Cleaning up a fresh nail polish is much easier than a dried one. All you have to do is to remove as much of the polish as possible before the carpet dries out. Large spills may require using a spoon to scoop up a lot of wet nail polish from the carpet. Wipe off the spoon with a dry cloth when it gets dirty with nail polish to prevent the polish from spreading.
Absorb the Excess Polish
After using a spoon to pick up as much polish from the carpet as possible, absorb even more with a cloth, old towel, or rug. Wrap an old towel around your fingers and dab the polish with it. Be careful not to rub, or you may end up spreading the nail polish and getting it deeper into the carpet fibers. Use a new section of the towel after each blot to avoid spreading the stain. Dab the polish continuously with the towel until no more color is visible.
Select a Cleaner to Use
There are several cleaners which you can use in removing fresh nail polish from carpet. However, try not to use bleach and acetone as these products can discolor and damage your carpet. Non-acetone nail polish cleaner remains effective when it comes to getting nail polish off the carpet. Other products to try include the following –
- Hydrogen peroxide (recommended for light carpets)
- Hairspray
- Window cleaner
- Rubbing alcohol
Blot the Stained Area
Using one of the cleaners above, blot the stained area with clean cloth the same way you did with the towel. Regularly switch to a fresh portion of cloth to prevent spreading.
If need be, add more nail polish remover and keep dabbing up until there’s no more stain left.
Rinse Your Carpet With Warm Water and Dry It
Get a clean cloth or sponge and a fresh bowl of warm water. Rub the spilled area gently until the stain has disappeared completely. You can repeat the process
as many times as possible to achieve perfect results. When it comes to drying the carpet, soak up the water with a clean towel and blow your fan directly at the wet spot. Don’t worry if there’s no fan around. You
Can always get a bunch of paper towels, place them on the damp carpet, and put something heavy atop it. Then, let it rest for about 30 minutes.
How to Get Dried Fingernail Polish Off Your Carpet
There’s no need to worry if the fingernail polish on your carpet has dried. You can still follow these effective steps to remove nail polish from your carpet
Scrape As Much of the Polish As You Can
Using a blunt knife, spoon, or your bare fingers, pick out or scrape as much of the dried fingernail polish as possible. Scrap off the excess nail polish so it is easier to clean the remaining polish.
You can also use scissors to trim out the surface layer of the polish, but take care not to trim too much. A noticeable mark is likely to be left on the carpet if trimmed too deeply.
Vacuum the Spilled Spot
After scraping, suck up or vacuum all the remaining flecks of polish that got stuck in the carpet fibers. Vacuuming gives you a clean surface where you can work while also making it easier to dissolve the polish stained into the carpet. It is particularly important to vacuum if you trimmed out the polish with scissors because streaks of carpet and fingernail polish will get wedged in the fibers.
Blotch the Stained Spot With Cleaner to Eliminate the Stain
Dampen a clean rag with your preferred nail polish cleaner. Press the rag gently into the nail polish and dab the stained spot to loosen the nail polish and remove it.
Switch to a fresh segment of the rag to avoid spreading the stain. Add a more generous amount of nail polish remover in order to keep the tarnished area damp. Blot continuously until the stain disappears.
Wash Your Carpet With Warm Water
Fill a clean bowl with warm water and add a little amount of either carpet cleaner, dish-washing soap, or laundry detergent. Dip a clean sponge in the bowl and gently rub the stained spot. Go on until the cleaning product fades away and the polish is no longer visible.
Rinse Your Carpet With Water and Dry It
Using a fresh towel or sponge and a clean bowl full of warm water, rub the stained area gently until all the soap is gone. Afterward, blot your carpet with a clean towel in order to soak up as much water as possible.
Set up your fan so it points directly at the wet patch of the carpet. If a fan is not readily available, stack up some paper towels on your wet carpet and place a heavy object on top. Leave it to rest for one hour.
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Wrapping It Up!
It is important to always do a spot test of any of these nail polish removal treatments on a less visible portion of the carpet. This helps you see what happens to the rug or cloth upfront before proceeding to get nail polish off your carpet.
Do not use any method if you notice that the color from the rug wipes off on the cloth, or you may end up damaging your carpet. Please share this article if this step-by step guide on how to remove nail polish from carpet works.
