Review (5/5): Works surprisingly well
I've seen these steamer machines that are used to remove gel nail polish and while I've always wanted to try them, I was very skeptical and unwilling to spend the money on a gadget that may or may not work. But, removing the gel polish is the worst part or the thing I hate about gel polish: it's time consuming and so hard on the nail bed. I've seen mixed reviews online about gel polish steamers but I finally decided to try one.
This gel polish remover machine actually works. It was easy to put together and I was able to completely remove my gel polish in under 20 minutes. First and most important is to file the top layer of gel down first with a nail file before using this device. I was not able to get the gel polish offf without filing the surface first. I put about two capfuls of 100% acetone (you can use less) into the little tray and turned the machine on. Once it beeps, you can stick your fingers inside. It gets a little hot but it's not painful. After five minutes the machine will beep and I am able to scrape off most of the gel polish. I have to do a second round to get certain areas that just won't scrape off. And when I say scrape off, I mean easily scrape off not scraping and hurting the surface of the nail. I guess I should say push off the gel polish to remove it. I leave the remaining acetone in the tray and either reuse it or dump it. I would say this is easier than using aluminum foil or plastic nail caps because you do the whole hand at once. With foil or plastic caps, I never get my whole hand done at once. This was easier and I didn't use any cotton balls and I used less acetone.
The device is a little pricey. It's basically a warming plate fitted inside a contained area with holes to place your fingers. It's worth the money to me because I hate the process of gel removal. I like that the company provides four replacement plastic pieces for the nail holes. It took me a while to figure out what the replacement pieces were for but after reading one of the reviews I now realize what it's used for. There is also a second plastic tray to put the nail polish remover or acetone in. My only criticism is that I wish the device was smaller as I have a lot of nail stuff and this will just add to it all. It's not the fanciest looking device but it does the job.