Acetone isn't working?

[HoneyBonnieBunny]

Ok ya'll another question ^^''
So I got some straight acetone to remove symbols and eyes from bait ponies. It's kiiind of working, but not as well as I had thought? The cutie mark is gone but it left green residue that i just can't get up, and the black and whites of the eyes won't come up either. Am I just not scrubbing long enough?

[DreamvalleyMLP]

It probably has something to do with the product you're using. I used to go for nail polish remover with acetone to remove dirt and paint, but while it wiped off the paint it also left traces of it on the plastic. Like the plastic had soaked up the paint. There was no way to remove the ingrained paint residue, and the pony was left with permanent discoloration spots.

Strangely enough, and against all customizer's advice, my all time favorite product to remove factory paint and stains is acetone-free nail polish remover (see picture). It works wonders for me, much better than the standard acetone nail polish remover. Mind you, only that particular one does the trick for me, so I'm sticking with it. Other acetone-free removers didn't always have the same result. I found out by trying several products/brands, hoping for the best.

Try out different products, I'd say.

If the paint doesn't come off right away with one clean swipe, and you have to scrub long, it's probably a bad sign.

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[NightGliderSA]

Are you using 100% acetone? Because in my experience nail polish remover containing acetone is just not the same thing and not nearly as effective. It 'smears' rather than wiping the symbol / eye paint off almost immediately. It's also a good idea to keep on changing your cotton wool ball for a fresh one.

[Safflower]

The only thing I can think of besides what others have mentioned is that the pony has different plastic? Like McDonalds, G1 Petites, Mommy Charms, G3 Divine n Shines, and more have different plastic than regular and may react differently than normal G1 through G4 vinyl. What pony are you using?

[Princess_Luvlee]

It's very wasteful, but i always hold the swab to the paint (to soften it & this technique i learned for glitter nail polish on my nails) and then wipe firmly ONCE. One swipe and then get a fresh swab.  When i don't use this technique the color i remove in the first swipe gets redeposited in the now weaker vinyl structure. 

I have a friend who only uses magic erase cleaning sponges and swears theres no better way to remove the paint without compromising the vinyl. 

Haven't tried it myself cuz im used to my wasteful way.

I pour a small amount of acrtone into a dish & place my swabs in it so i can work quickly, picking up a fresh swab one after the other.  I dont place used swabs back in the dish or it tints the acetone.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Which pony are you working on?

[banditpony]

Are you using 100% acetone? Because in my experience nail polish remover containing acetone is just not the same thing and not nearly as effective. It 'smears' rather than wiping the symbol / eye paint off almost immediately. It's also a good idea to keep on changing your cotton wool ball for a fresh one.

^ This

However, Acetone isn't going to remove stains. It should remove the white/blacks of eyes though.

[HoneyBonnieBunny]

I've been working on 2 g3s and a couple of g1s, but I did go out and get some 100% acetone from home depot. It's still hard to completely get the eyes up (paint in stuck down in the crevices of the mold), but it definitely works way better than the stuff I got from the beauty shop. Thank ya'll for the help! ^^

[Snapdragon]

I agree with Princess_Luvlee's suggestion; pushing down on the swab, holding it for a moment then swiping away in one, fluid motion. If you do it too fast, you don't give the acetone a moment to eat into the paint, it just smears it around, and sometimes stains the plastic. Also, unfortunately, sometimes the paint has already stained the plastic underneath, and you won't know it until you remove the paint on top! So if you see stains that are roughly in the shape of the paint you just removed, that could be the cause.

I do often have trouble getting the last little bits of paint out of eye crevices, because some of the eye-molds are very well defined! My cotton swabs are just too blunt to get in there and scrape it out! In that case, I'll resort to wrapping my toothpick in a bit of cotton from a cottonball I ripped apart, and try to make a sort of super-pointy cotton pick to work on it. If that doesn't help, I'll wet a wooden toothpick with some acetone, and scrape as much of it out as I can! It helps if you let the acetone soak in from a larger pad, then take the toothpick and go in to try and scrape it out once it's soft.

Always before to wash off any remaining acetone when you're done with the pony, like a full bath to be safe! If there's any left on it when you go to paint, it can make things wonky, and acetone that soaks into plastic can keep working for years! :O

[aintnobuffalo]

Do you have a picture for us, perhaps? Its hard to tell if its just not the best acetone that you're using, if its something to do with the wiping motion, or if its just staining underneath without a picture. My guess is that it's one of the three. I like to use a pinching motion with a cotton ball to get up paint and use ONYX Professional 100% pure acetone nail polish remover.