• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Help At My Home

Help At My Home

Helpful Tips and Guides for Your Home

  • Buying Guides
    • Best Air Compressors
    • Best Home Garbage Disposals
    • Quietest Fan For Sleeping
    • Best Deer Fence
  • About
  • Show Search
Hide Search
How To Get Nail Polish Out Of Carpet
We select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support the site.

How To Get Nail Polish Out Of Carpet

06/20/2021 by Len S

Painting one’s nails is a weekly ritual for many people. It’s common to keep a bottle of nail polish remover on hand to clean up any mistakes, but what about big mistakes? Recently, I had a nail polish spill and it left my carpet in an awful mess.

I was lucky that I was able to use my nail polish remover to get my carpet looking like new. It’s important to act quickly when you have a nail polish spill. If you wait too long, the polish will start to dry and it will be much more difficult to remove.

Table of Contents show
1 Hair Spray and Rubbing Alcohol
2 Nail Polish Remover
3 Nail Polish Remover Alternatives
4 Goof Off

Hair Spray and Rubbing Alcohol

The safest way to remove nail polish from a carpet or rug is to spray the hair with normal, aerosol style hair spray immediately after your spill. Give it a good spray, about 5 seconds, and then sprinkle the area with rubbing alcohol. If you don’t have rubbing alcohol you can try hydrogen peroxide, which isn’t quite as effective but it’s better than water.

Blot and dab the area with a clean, white cloth until you have most of the nail polish color removed. If the area starts to dry you can repeat the process as many times as necessary until the color is removed.

Just make sure to keep using clean rags or the clean sections of your white rags so you aren’t adding the nail polish color back to the carpet.

Nail Polish Remover

Nail polish is an important staple in most people’s beauty routines. It can be a serious dilemma when you get nail polish on your clothes, but for some reason, people don’t often worry about getting nail polish on their carpet. You probably have some nail polish remover at home, but don’t worry too much — there are other ways to get it out of your carpet. Nail polish remover is the simplest, easiest way to get nail polish out of carpet. The remover will dissolve the polish, so you just need to blot it with a cloth and then rinse it clean.

After you’ve had a spill and you’ve cleaned up the mess, use a cotton ball or cotton swab to apply nail polish remover to the area of the spill.

Use a light circular motion to work the remover into the carpet. Continue doing this until the nail polish is gone. It’s a good idea to use a cleaner on your carpet after a nail polish spill. A cleaner will help remove any leftover polish from your carpet and will refresh it.

This method is effective, but not as good as hair spray and rubbing alcohol because the nail polish remover is a good deal harsher than those and has a higher chance of damaging the rug. Plus the nail polish remover can leave strong spells on the carpet.

Nail Polish Remover Alternatives

You can also use white vinegar to coat the area with the nail polish and then blot it dry. The vinegar should dissolve the nail polish. You might need to shampoo the carpet, but make sure to use a colorless shampoo if you want to get the nail polish remover out.

Make sure you stop the polish from drying, and wear gloves. Pour baking soda or kitty litter on the stain, spread it out, then pour vinegar on top. (Note: Some types of carpet may bleed when saturated with vinegar. You may want to test a hidden area first.) Allow to sit for at least an hour, then vacuum it up.

If you can’t get it up, try using a commercial carpet stain remover.

Goof Off

You can also try “Goof Off” which is a cleaner for all kinds of stuff. I just dabbed a little on the stain with an old white rag and let it sit a few minutes and then rubbed vigorously. The nail polish came right up and you couldn’t even tell it had been there. Just make sure you use “Goof Off” or “Goof Off Household” and not “Goof Off 2” or any other kind.

I hope these tips will help you the next time you have a nail polish spill.

Filed Under: Furniture Last Modified: June 20, 2021

Primary Sidebar

Table of Contents
1 Hair Spray and Rubbing Alcohol
2 Nail Polish Remover
3 Nail Polish Remover Alternatives
4 Goof Off
About Our Site And Expertise

Recent Posts

  • Which Sodastream and Soda Makers Have Stainless Steel Bottles?
  • Which Sodastream and Soda Makers Have Glass Bottles? [2024 Update]
  • The Quietest Fans For Sleeping and Working At Home
  • Branch Ergonomic Office Chair Review (Update: 3 Years Of Use)
  • Are Wera Screwdrivers Worth The Money?

Categories

  • Air Purifiers
  • Baking
  • Bathroom
  • Bedding
  • Cars
  • Children
  • Coffee
  • Computers
  • Cooking Equipment
  • DIY
  • Food and Drinks
  • Furniture
  • Garage
  • Garden
  • Glue
  • Health and Wellness
  • Home Appliances
  • Home Improvement
  • Kitchen Appliances
  • Kitchen Tools
  • Laundry
  • Lighting
  • Linens
  • Mattresses
  • Organization
  • Outdoors
  • Security
  • Storage
  • Tools
  • Water Filters
  • Work From Home

Links

  • Affiliate Disclosure

Archives

  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • September 2023
  • April 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018

Copyright © 2025 HelpAtMyHome.Com

  • Affiliate Disclosure
  • Le Creuset
  • Coway AP-1512HH Mighty
  • FIOS Battery Beeping?
  • Best Wire Strippers