How To Remove A Fresh Nail Polish Spill From Your Carpet
They say necessity is the mother of invention and that it does the work of courage. I'm not a chemist, but I'm thankful a courageous superhero created Powerizer Complete because, on August 13, 2019, I joined the clumsy-girl-walk of shame for spilling nail polish onto my carpet.
Here is a happy ending to a story of a woman in distress and how Powerizer came to the rescue. It all began one morning while preparing to walk out the door. I decided sandals would be the best footwear for a summer day. It became apparent there was no time for a pedicure, and my toenails were less than fabulous. What's a girl to do? Easy, apply a fresh coat of paint. With the bottle shaken, my matching color sat opened and was placed center, atop a vogue magazine creating a barrier between it and the carpet below because this wasn't my first go around. Somehow while reaching for a Q-tip, it was tipped off the magazine. Unaware the paint quickly spilled to reveal a splatter at least 3 inches long and a puddle bigger than the bottle. Yes, inappropriate words echoed the room; one immediate reaction came to mind, PowerizerIt!
That's when the miracle began. Let's walk through the steps it took to remove the nail polish stain from the carpet. There was no time to capture before and after pictures; this was an emergency. There was no time for lights and camera, only action. So, we decided to recreate this same miracle in the Powerizer test laboratory
We love Powerizer Complete because it's made from plant and mineral-based ingredients and in this instance, nail polish remover wasn't the best option. Unfortunately, replacing carpet is not always an option either, so this is exactly why Powerizer is the only thing you need for clean.
To recreate and lift this nail polish stain completely, here is what we used:
- Two (2) 1'x1' cut to size Home Depot carpet squares to recreate the stain again
- Powerizer Complete (we used it in the powder granule form)
- One (1) bottle of Bright Nail Polish We used Essie's Watermelon # 264
- One (1) bottle of Dark Nail Polish We used Sally Hansens INSTA-DRI in Black to Black #573
- One (1) Hand Dish Scrub brush
- One (1) Metal spoon to help scoop paint from the carpet
- Two (2) white terry cloth washcloths
- Water for saturating the stain throughout the process
- Up to Three (3) microfiber cloths for cleaning carpets for absorbing excess detergent and water
To create the stain we took the brand new carpet square and poured the Watermelon color nail polish onto the carpet, creating a similar splatter and quarter size puddle stain.
Immediately after, we poured Powerizer Complete on to the stain in a powder form to cover every inch of the paint thoroughly. There is no measurement other than taking your scoop and pile it onto the entire stain so that no paint color shows through.
Pour enough water to wet the powder to activate the detergent.
Begin to spread the powder into the stain and remove clumped detergent with the paint color clinging to it with the metal spoon. Add more detergent and more water repeating until you feel its no longer lifting quickly with the detergent clumps.
The next step is to pour more detergent on the wet paint so that it is covered completely again.
Place a washcloth over the detergent covering the spilled paint. Next, pour water onto the entire surface of the washcloth. Press the soaked wet cloth down into the fibers of the carpet. By doing this ensures the detergent below stays put and helps to release as it dissolves completely over time. Powerizer continues to work for up to eight (8) hours.
After 4 hours we saw the Bright Watermelon Pink start to lighten to an orange. It began to neutralize the stain.
The game begins to let Powerizer perform its magic. The Carpet Angels were in agreement that with the help of Powerizer, replacing the carpet shouldn't be necessary. Special protections were included in the formula, so the fibers do not fade. They knew that Powerizer could quickly neutralize the nail polish odors as well. Angels circled above to send Oxygen activating the percarbonates for the next 8 hours. They fought long and hard to lift the stains. When finally the battle came to an end, a final rinse was all that was needed.
After coming back the next morning, the stain was mostly dissolved. We placed the carpet in the sink to begin a rinse. In the above picture, you will see the water runoff from the carpet stained with Watermelon nail polish revealed a faint pink color rinsing away from the fibers.
The Black paint stain surprisingly still had lots of paint sitting on the carpet. We applied a last scrub of the fibers using the cloth it was covered with and rinsed it in the sink, and surprisingly all the paint cleaned away.
For carpet tacked down to the floor, it's not so easy. Here are the steps for lifting stains after a long soak.
1. Use a Powerizer Ultra Plush Microfiber Cloth to dab and twist to lift the stain or lay the cloth on the wet area of the carpet and step into the stain to absorb the leftover residues.
2. Wring the fabric in the sink
3. Add more plain water to the carpet
4. Place the damp microfiber cloth back onto the carpet to cover the wet area again
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 as often as needed until the water lifted wrings clear into the sink or bucket.
After the carpet has dried, check the carpet for speckles that may have been overlooked and snip them off using a sharp pair of scissors if needed.
The final results were surprising. We witnessed Sally Hansen's Black to Black nail polish lift ultimately. The original spilled color being the inspiration for this blogs was L'Oreal's fuchsia polish and also lifted completely. However, the Essie Watermelon color left behind a faint pink tint to the carpet. We do not believe the discoloration in the rug was a result of Powerizer, instead, it's more likely that a pigment, dye or a chemical in the formula may have reacted causing a lightened effect. The moral of the story is to avoid painting your toes while sitting on the carpet. And when accidents happen, act fast and be sure to keep Powerizer by your side.
