How To Remove Nail Polish From Ponies?

[ponies4me]

I am in need of some help.

I have a group of ponies from when I was a child. I created my own custom ponies using nail polish instead of actual paints. They were great at the time (for a 9 year old's art level), but it has been 17 years since they have been painted and they are now sticky, gross, and just hard to look at. They desperately need a makeover.
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

I am wanting to remove the nail polish while preserving the manes and tails, at least those that are still nice enough to stay on the ponies. Will nail polish remover hurt the color of the hair? Will it damage it? How should I go about removing the nail polish? Thanks!

[mlp4me]

Wow, you were quite the artist. I would suggest soap and water first with a rough bristle scrub brush. You will most likely lose any underlying symbols that the nail polish adhered to. Some of it may come off easy... Then I would move onto acetone as a last resort. Acetone will take everything with it (including eye paint so be careful!). Most probably are stained though the plastic from the polish. Good luck!

[Strawberry Swirl]

My first guess would be just use nail polish remover, but I can't say if that'll keep their eyes + symbols intact. 
Good luck anyway!

[Katika]

Nail polish remover is strong enough to remove G1 blush, eyes and symbols (I can't say how durable the glitter is against it, since I've never tried it, but considering how easily G1s lose glitter, I'd say it'd take the glitter, too).  I don't think it was until G3 and G4 that the paint used on ponies needed pure acetone to remove it cleanly (nail polish remover will just smear this paint around into an ugly blob).

I agree that the colors in the nail polish likely will leave stains on the ponies once you do get it removed.  If you happen to get some in their hair, it shouldn't cause much trouble (in my experience), but it may dry it out a bit.

[hathorcat]

Wow! Thats some real creativity going on there. You could give rubbing alcohol a shot unfortunately I am saying that while thinking that it probably wont work. Acetone is hands down the best bet as it will shift the nail polish. But unfortunately often the pigments in nail polish will soak into the pours of the plastic and change its colour. So  you may need to go with acetone and then once the actual paint is removed, change it up to sun fading and hope.

The acetone will remove the eyes and symbols (so you will need to be careful around the eyes and accept the symbols are no more). As for the hair dont soak it in acetone as it can cause hair to become brittle but getting a small amount on is not going to cause you too many headaches.

Good luck! Cant wait to see the results.

[ponies4me]

Wow! Thats some real creativity going on there. You could give rubbing alcohol a shot unfortunately I am saying that while thinking that it probably wont work. Acetone is hands down the best bet as it will shift the nail polish. But unfortunately often the pigments in nail polish will soak into the pours of the plastic and change its colour. So  you may need to go with acetone and then once the actual paint is removed, change it up to sun fading and hope.

The acetone will remove the eyes and symbols (so you will need to be careful around the eyes and accept the symbols are no more). As for the hair dont soak it in acetone as it can cause hair to become brittle but getting a small amount on is not going to cause you too many headaches.

Good luck! Cant wait to see the results.

I'm glad I asked before soaking them in a bowl of acetone. I would love to keep their original hair in tact and just re-do their eyes, blush, symbols etc. Thank you so much!



And thank you to everyone for all your help! I really appreciate it! I didn't think the polish colors might seep through the plastic. I will have to see if it does! I plan on re-dying some of these and creating customs the RIGHT way. I am smacking my child self as some of these were perfect at the time and should have been left alone. (Darn you, 9 year old self!)

Post Merge: January 25, 2015, 05:06:34 PM

Wow, you were quite the artist. I would suggest soap and water first with a rough bristle scrub brush. You will most likely lose any underlying symbols that the nail polish adhered to. Some of it may come off easy... Then I would move onto acetone as a last resort. Acetone will take everything with it (including eye paint so be careful!). Most probably are stained though the plastic from the polish. Good luck!

Haha,  I remember painting Moonstone dark blue and thinking she looked amazing when I was done with her. Now when I see her I just cringe. Poor thing. I hope I can restore them or at least make them look like a true custom. Thank you for the suggestions!