Review: Nail-Aid NO-RUB Power Gel Acetone Remover for Glitter Nail Polish, Nail Art and Stubborn Dark Polish

Purchased by Me 

You all know I'm a sucker for gimmicks. So when some of you mentioned to me that there was a new "no-rub" remover designed to remove glitter polishes, well, you know I had to find it! I picked up the new Nail-Aid No-Rub Power Gels at Walmart about two weeks ago (as far as I know, they're only available at Walmart stores for $3.88, and via the No-Rub website for $7) and I've since tried both formulas several times, with a variety of different polish combinations.

So do they work? Let's see...

NEW Nail-Aid NO-RUB 1st Acetone Power Gel
Two formulas: Stubborn Dark Polish and Glitter & Nail Art
(retail: $3.88 each at Walmart stores; $7 each via the No-Rub site; 4.6 oz each)

Nail-Aid NO-RUB 1st Acetone Power Gel for Glitter & Nail Art

Made in USA

Nail-Aid NO-RUB 1st Acetone Power Gel for Stubborn Dark Polish

Made in USA

Comparison of ingredients:

PINK JAR: Acetone, Water, Carbomer, PEG-15 Cocamine, Linoleic Acid, Dimethicone, Red 33

YELLOW JAR: Acetone, Water, Carbomer, PEG-15 Cocamine, Linoleic Acid, Dimethicone

As you can see, the only difference in the listed ingredients is the addition of dye to the pink jar formula. I obviously don't know if the proportions are different from formula to formula, but I CAN tell you that both formulas seem to work exactly the same for me.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial for the yellow jar formula (for dark nail polish):

Polishes used for this example: 

Two coats Sinful Colors Mesmerize (dark purple creme)

One coat NYC Grand Central Station (clear top coat)

When you dip your finger into the pot, the texture of the gel is very much like aloe vera gel. It's thick, but also goopy and prone to drip, so you must be careful to keep your fingers away from furniture, etc. while using this product. 

Per the instructions, you must let this product sit on your nails for 45 seconds.

Then, you "press a paper towel over your nail and just wipe off." The photo above is what my nail looked like immediately after one wipe with my paper towel. As you can see, this removed 99% of my polish in just that one wipe, but it did not remove the last traces of polish from the harder-to-reach sides of my nail bed. I had to go back over those areas with my paper towel to remove those last little traces.

Also, you can see that this product does leave a little bit of dried gel behind (see the little white spot on my nail), but you will be washing your hands after use (with soap and water as directed), so that will come right off. 

Here's a step-by-step tutorial for the pink jar formula (for glitter and nail art):

Polishes used for this example: 

Two coats Sinful Colors Mesmerize (dark purple creme)

One coat Nyx Girls Buzz Worthy (micro-glitter in a clear base)

One coat Sinful Colors Twilight Twinkles (gold metallic shards and holographic bar glitter in a clear base)

Two coats NYC Grand Central Station (clear top coat)

NOTE: I wanted to illustrate to you how this works using the same amount of coats that I would use in a typical glitter mani. I often apply two coats of a base color, two different toppers, plus at least one coat of top coat (usually two), so I did that for this tutorial.

After dipping...

For the pink jar (glitter and nail art removal), you are instructed to leave the product on your nails for four minutes. Then you "press a paper towel over your nail and just wipe off." The photo above was taken just seconds after I pressed and wiped with my paper towel. As you can see, it did remove the majority of my manicure, but I did have some residual glitter and some traces of polish in the harder-to-reach areas on the sides of my nail bed. I had to go back over these areas with the paper towel, and that did help. But I did have to use my nail to scrape the remaining glitter off--it did not come off with the paper towel.

I have tried this product with several different types of glitter polishes, and I have encountered varying degrees of residue after removal. Bottom line, there is always a bit of glitter residue left behind for me. Sometimes there's a bit more than what you see above, while at other times, there's only one or two pieces of glitter remaining. It really seems to depend on the type of glitter polishes you use, and the other polishes you're wearing with them.

I could probably write a short novel about my experiences with these two products, but since this post is already so long, I'll condense into some bullet points:

• This product is COLD. I mean, it feels very, very cold on my fingers, to the point of being painful. I thought I was the only one who felt this coldness, but I have since heard from some of you on Instagram who also experienced this extremely cold feeling while waiting the four minutes before removal. I have thin nails, so that MAY have something to do with it. But I honestly can barely get through the four minute waiting period for glitter removal because it just feels so cold on my fingers, to the point of being painful. Your results may vary, of course, and I have seen some reviewers who haven't mentioned this at all, so it could just be something that only certain people experience. I can get through the 45 seconds required for dark polish removal just fine, but anything longer than that and I start to feel painful coldness.

• Do NOT--I repeat--do NOT put this jar up to your nose to sniff it. I made the mistake of doing this so that I could describe the scent to you, and the fumes were so strong that I could feel a burning sensation on the back of my throat after I inhaled (and I'm guessing I killed some brain cells as well!). This stuff contains a lot of acetone, so please learn from me and do not attempt to smell it. I assure you, you'll be able to smell it once you start using it. And it smells exactly like pure acetone.

• As I mentioned above, this product can be messy. When you quickly dip your fingers in and out of the tub, a lot of gel adheres to your fingers, so you can easily drip blobs of gel onto anything in the immediate area while you're waiting for removal. You really have to be careful and position your hands over a paper towel, paper plate or anything that can protect your furniture, carpet, etc. while you're waiting for this product to do its magic.

• I've tried these removers in various combinations of polish, and I honestly cannot distinguish any difference between the two formulas (see ingredient comparison above). They seem very, very similar to me in terms of performance. The key here is the amount of time you wait before removal. For NON-glitter polishes, I find that 45 seconds to 1 minute does the trick just fine. But just FYI, I always have little traces of remaining polish on the sides of my nail beds that I have to go back in and remove with my paper towel. For glitter polishes, you absolutely have to wait the recommended four minutes before removal, or it's just not going to happen. Even after four minutes, I have consistently found lingering bits of glitter on my nails, so this product does not remove everything (for me at least) when it comes to glitter manicures.

• Speaking of paper towels, do NOT vary from the instructions here. Use a paper towel for removal. Do NOT use a cotton ball or cotton pad. Why, you ask? The cotton will shred and meld onto your finger and create a giant, sticky mess. Trust me on that one. Use a paper towel for removal or don't use this product at all. You've been warned.

• Does the Nail-Aid No Rub Power Gel work for removing gel polishes and nail glue? I have not personally tried this on either product, BUT, I have heard from several of you that it is quite effective at removing both gel polishes and nail glue. So that's definitely something to consider if you use either one of those products. 

• Do I like this better than traditional polish removal, the Target Up & Up or the Foil Method? I do not like the cold, painful feeling of keeping this product on my fingers for over a minute (you need at least four minutes for glitter polishes), so for glitter removal, I still prefer the Foil Method or the Target Up & Up (plus, I find the Foil Method to be more effective in terms of removing every last trace of glitter polish with very minimal effort). But I do like the Nail-Aid No Rub Power Gel for removing dark, non-glitter polishes, because it's quicker than all of the other methods, and dark colors don't transfer to my skin during removal. 

FINAL VERDICT: Will this become a new staple in my polish removal arsenal? I'm not sure. I do like how quickly and easily it removes my non-glitter polishes, so I can see myself repurchasing specifically for that purpose. But this product feels so cold on my fingers that leaving it on for over one minute (to remove glitter polishes) is too uncomfortable for me personally. So even though I like how this product removes MOST of my glitter manicures (not all), it's just not worth it for me in that capacity. But again, your results may vary, and if you do not like the Target Up & Up, the Foil Method or peel-off base coats for removing glitter manicures, this could possibly be a nice alternative to at least remove the bulk of your glitter manicure, if you don't mind going back in afterward to remove any lingering traces of polish. I can definitely confirm that it's a great way to at least expedite the process of removing glitter manicures (if the coldness doesn't affect you like it does me), but I don't think it's a miracle product that removes absolutely everything, all in one shot.

I hope this review helps give you a better idea of what these new products have to offer, and I hope this helps you to determine if this might be a good fit for you and your polish removal needs. If you already own either one of these formulas, I would absolutely LOVE to hear about your experiences.

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.