Vi-Jon Glitter Nail Polish Remover Gel

Press Sample

You may remember the review I did for the other Remover Gel by nail-aid about a month ago, where I was not impressed. Manna's Manis also did a review right around the same time, with the same result.

We're both reviewing a new product and our posts are both going live at the same time. You can check her review here --> http://www.mannasmanis.com/

Below is a long read, but well worth it for the details - here we go!

Vi-Jon contacted me via email after reading my nail-aid remover gel review and offered to send a sample of their brand of Glitter Nail Polish Remover Gel for me to try. The package arrived super fast and the first difference I noticed is that it comes in a nice box and is in a tall bottle with a flip top cap. Definitely a space saver and I won't have to worry about getting the lid back on with remover gel all over my fingernails or having to leave it sit open until I'm done and risk evaporation. Very clever and convenient packaging!



Ok, I thought. This is different or maybe they're trying to look different? See, I was still skeptical after my first experience. I'll try anything once though, well almost anything!

To prep, I painted my thumb nail with the same exact Sindie Pop polish as used in the other review, two coats w/topcoat. I let it dry for about an hour so it was nice and firm/undentable.
Time to remove!
I squeezed a small amount of the Glitter remover gel onto my nail and then used a clean up brush to even it out across the nail. While I was doing this I smelled a very pleasant aroma and wondered where it was coming from. It was the gel!! It smells like yummy coconuts on a hot summer day!

I had totally expected a chemical smell because it contains acetone, but it also contains coconut oil! Love me some coconut oil, it's such a great moisturizer, hair mask, cleanser, well it's great and will actually be moisturizing while this stuff is on. I'm good with that!
I proceeded to smooth the remover gel over the nail to get a good thick layer of coverage, about the same amount as what I had used in the other review. The gel feels slightly cold on the nail but it's not unbearable and didn't bother me.



The instructions on the bottle say to wait only two minutes and then remove but....I wanted to do it exactly like the other test so I set the timer and waited a full four minutes and then removed it.

And it actually removed it all in one swipe! This thing works!



Will ya look at that? And here I had lost hope of having a viable alternative to foil and cotton/felt method. And look at my skin! Also, if you really wanted to skip the hand washing with this product you could, but I'd advise to always wash after handling chemicals. After removal there is no sticky or gooey feeling. No flaky or dried out skin. This stuff is awesome!

I'm super happy with this product and wanted to really push it to the max to see just what it could do so....

I already had three coats of a cream flakie on with two coats of topcoat. I topped that with Lynnderella's "It" Ghoul which is a very opaque microglitter packed with larger hex glitters. I could have just used one coat but, nope. Let's raise the bar and use two! And we'll top it with Gelous and Seche Vite too, cause we can. So what do we have now...EIGHT layers of polish that this gel will have to get through!

Oh and that's not all - I'm following the instructions this time and going with a two minute timer. -smug head nod-



Not only did the Glitter Remover Gel remove all of my polish but it did so in about three minutes!

If you're not convinced yet - how about price point? I checked at my local Walmart store and it's only $2.97 which is quite a bit less than the other brand at $7.

Vi-Jon is the largest manufacturer of Private Label Personal Care, Health, & Hygiene in the United States. In the category of Nail Polish Remover, Vi-Jon produces over 85% of all polish removers sold in the United States.

They know what they're doing and have impressed me with their product!
Don't forget to check out Manna's review on the Vi-Jon Glitter Nail Polish Remover Gel - she's doing some comparisons as well!

Nail-aid Remover Gel: Does this thing really work?!

When I found this new remover gel by nail-aid at Walmart, I immediately had the idea to do a blog entry inspired by Bunny from Youtube (grav3yardgirl). She's awesome and I love watching her videos!
This is, for the most part, a pictorial review - if you have any questions feel free to ask in comments and I will edit in the details!

The pink jar and yellow jar have the exact same ingredient list other than red colorant in the pink jar, so I only bought the yellow jar. I then submitted a contact form on the nail-aid brand website a week ago to ask if there were different percentages of each ingredient and have not yet heard back from them. As far as the ingredient list on the jars, these look like the same formula packaged two different ways - one pink and one yellow. The instructions on the jar are also the same except for step 2, which is a difference in the length of time to let the gel sit on the nail (45 seconds vs. 4 minutes).





Let's try a much more dense glitter shall we? This is two coats for full coverage, it's glitter packed!



You can read more and see product photos at http://www.norubgel.com/, unfortunately, they do not list the ingredients on the webpage. So here they are for the yellow jar:
Acetone, Water, Carbomer, PEG-15 Cocamine, Linoleic Acid, Dimethicone

The pink jar is the same exact list, except for a red colorant which is at the end of the ingredients list.

I emailed the address on their no-rub webpage since I had not gotten a reply from the brand website, and within a few hours I had a response from Jeff about the ingredients and formulation:

"YES. The ingredients are almost the same as you note, but the proprietary formulation differs. "

He didn't say how the formulation differed or offer any other details, but there you have it.

I found the formula to be super sticky, so you'll definitely want to use a paper towel to wipe and immediately wash your hands with warm soapy water. I found that I really needed to scrub and washed my hands twice, once with a foaming sugar scrub.

I would not recommend this product for a few reasons: It's not effective for heavy glitter polish. I had to wash my hands aggressively to get the sticky film off. And that made the whole removal process take longer than using a peel off base coat, a scrubby tub (better known as the A.V.) or the foil method.

Thanks for stopping by!

Questions I've received!
Q: which one did you try or did you try both??
A: I only tried the yellow jar since the ingredient list was the same with exception of the colorant. I did not feel the need to have them both.

Q: What does it smell like?
A: chemically and sharp - similar to other acetone removers.

Q: What does it feel like?
A: The gel is a lot like an aloe gel in texture. When worn it felt really cold on my nail and after wiping it off, it had a sticky feel. You'll definitely want to wash your hands after use.

Q: So....do you like it better than just regular remover? It seems like it takes just as long.
A: I kind of have mixed feelings about it! I think I may prefer it over the foil method since the gel doesn't need foil to work - so that's less trash/mess to deal with. That is really the only advantage I can quickly think of.
I often use a peel off base coat, so I don't use the foil method very often, but for my non-swatching hand where I use regular base coat, I've avoided glitters - I may start wearing them again since discovering this though! I think I want to experiment with leaving it on longer, and see if it works better than my above experiment for the high density type glitter polishes.

Q: Do the different yellow and pink jars get the same result?
A: I didn't purchase the pink jar to try, but I have seen a review of it and based on that blogger's photos, it looks to me like the results are similar.

Q: Does the remover gel also remove gel polishes?
A: A dear reader, Libby, wrote in to answer this question for us, as I don't have experience with gel polishes.
She says, "I had great results and would do it again."
Libby sent a breakdown and photos to me to illustrate each step and I have to agree, it worked really well for gel polish removal! Thank you Libby!