How can I remove a pool of red nail polish from my beige carpet?
Kyles from Adelaide, South Australia
OMG! Windex or Window Cleaner (I didn't have the brand name one) works like a charm. I looked on this site yesterday, went home and tried it and it worked. The nail polish was courtesy of my 14 year old daughter, no comment :) Don't know how old it was, but definitely more than a few days.
By Naaznin
Cheers for Windex! I panicked when my two year old son got into nail polish, he was trying to be like mommy and have pink toes. My hubby just put brand new carpet in the room 6 months ago. With the help of Windex I will never have to admit to what happened. I understand accidents happen, but they are always on my watch. (06/13/2007)
By amy.
OMG thank you sooo much! My mom had just had our carpet cleaned and my bright red toe nails needed a touch up (not a good combination). I dripped one dot of red nail polish on our gray carpet. I grabbed the Windex right after I read this and got the stain out before my mom even found out. (06/13/2007)
By jeNNie
I got bright coral nail polish on my beige carpet and I used water and nail polish remover and it came out pretty well. It was a fresh stain so it came out easier. I just mixed the two and scrubbed with a towel. (06/13/2007)
By Lydia
We thought about using nail polish remover, but was scared it would take away the color of the carpet. So we tried Windex and it took it away, almost most of the way. (06/21/2007)
By abcdefg
Windex worked great. I used it on bright pink nail polish that had dried on my carpet for 3 days! It got the whole stain out completely. Thanks! (07/03/2007)
By Jen
Amazing tip re the Windex. My 3 1/2 yr. old decided to spill purple nail polish on the carpet in the living room (as well as covering herself and my 21 month yr. old boy). We tried acetone nail polish remover, but the Windex worked much much better. The oxyclean turned the stain pink! I am definitely going to pass this info on to my friends. (07/14/2007)
By Momof4
Windex, a hard plastic scrub brush, and some deliberate elbow grease got it all out. I thought I had put the cap on some dark nail polish but when I lifted it it dropped all over beige carpeting. I heavily sprayed Windex and then scrubbed and scrubbed and it's all gone. There was almost a whole bottle of polish on the carpet and it's all gone, whew! Cool stuff! (07/25/2007)
By PUddums
The Windex worked really well, but once you get some WD40, it works even better. Just whatever you do, DON'T USE NAIL POLISH REMOVER! That was my mistake and just made a hot pink mess all over my new light beige carpet. But the Windex & WD40 worked like a charm :) (07/30/2007)
By Anna
Yep, Windex does the trick. After I scrubbed, I just soaked up the blue Windex with a rag from the carpet and all was new again! (09/30/2007)
By Canadian mom.
My 2 yr. old decided to paint her toe nails and managed to get at least half a full bottle of dark red polish all over our cream, twist pile carpet! I tried your tip of the Windex and WD40 (I didn't have actual Windex so I just used the one I had in the cupboard which was Ajax window cleaner). After a lot of hard work scrubbing and washing it's 99% out. I will see how it looks after it has had a chance to dry. Now I have to find out how to get it off her pretty dress, oh and explain the smell of WD40 in our bedroom to my husband! I love the internet, it has just saved me a fortune in carpet cleaning and insurance. Thanks so much. (10/23/2007)
By Linzi
I read all the postings and tried glass cleaner, similar to Windex, what was in the house, and WD 40. It worked amazingly well. Actually, my wife spilled the red nail polish on a tan carpet last evening and we tried first with polish remover...WRONG. It only spread the stain. Today in the morning, about 16 hours after the spill I got it almost out of the carpet.
By Daniel
Windex perfect! Bright red, tan carpet, toothbrush. Gone. (11/23/2007)
My little sister tried to paint her nails when I was babysitting her and she got it on the beige carpet. Well, first I tried nail polish remover and it didn't work at all. Then I tried the Windex and that didn't really work either. But then I tried rubbing alcohol and hairspray, and it came right out. The smells were bad, but at least it worked, right? (12/01/2007)
By josie.
I just spilled red nail polish on my parents beige carpet. I tried blotting it up with baby wipes and paper towels. Then I found your site and decided to use some Windex. That broke some of it up so I got out the hairspray too (the only kind I had was the expensive John Frieda, but I guess it's cheaper than new carpet!) and soaked the carpet.
By Heather
When my friend and I were doing our nails, we spilled and made a huge red stain. We tried everything you guys told us, including rubbing alcohol, hairspray etc. But we discovered, Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain Remover. It worked, but after using the whole can. (12/08/2007)
By Natalie
Windex ruined my carpet. It spread and I had to spend 1,000 dollars just to fix it. I'm pretty angry. (12/22/2007)
By Lauren
In my white carpet there was a deep red stain that dried there for almost 2 weeks. I tried nail varnish remover and it didn't do much. So after coming here I tried Windex and I'm happy to say that the stain is completely magically vanished. (I used a thick bristle scrubber brush and paper towels. It really works!) (01/01/2008)
By Bill
I was skeptical but Windex does work. Just keep scrubbing! (01/11/2008)
By Hailey Strobel
We first tried nail polish remover but after a few minutes we used a carpet spot cleaner we had in the house called "Folex". It worked like a charm and now after 5-10 minutes of spot treating, dabbing and rubbing slightly, we removed the stain (yippee!). I bought this at Canadian Tire for around $10 and have used it on vomit and baby stains on light beige carpet. Worked for me! (01/12/2008)
By S. Love
Okay I spilled half a bottle of bright pink nail polish about 3 hours ago on my beige carpet and on a black leather ottoman! I tried the Windex idea with the scrub brush but had no luck. A friend suggested SHAVING CREAM and I am amazed to say it worked! The nail polish is gone! Of course use the regular white kind with no dyes if you can. But, I started off using the Skintimate brand that has a hint of pink color and it still worked getting a lot of the polish out- so if that's all you have then use it. But since our carpet is beige I ran to CVS and bought Gillette white regular shaving cream w/no dyes & it worked like a charm getting out the rest of the pink residue.
Get as much of the nail polish up as you can when wet w/ a paper towel. Then spray the shaving cream on the stain and agitate it into the carpet. Let it sit for a few minutes and then scrub the heck out of it with a rag- you will see all the pink polish coming up on the rag. Repeat this as many times as necessary (I had to do this at least 6 different times). When done, use a rag with cool water on it and scrub the rest of the residue up.
Now, does anyone have any idea how to get pink polish off black leather? I have tried 100% acetone which works but is taking off the black shine and making it very dull and weird looking. I tried rubbing alcohol- really took off the black. I tried hydrogen peroxide- no luck at all. I even tried the shaving cream- no luck at all. HELP! (01/21/2008)
By Ashley
Just do not use shaving cream. Although some say it works, it left a stain on my carpet which now looks like I had a bleach accident all over my beige epitonte $2000 carpet. I wasn't very happy. Yet I can say that a strong serge of carpet blast managed to get most of the polish out. I can't say the same for the shaving cream. (02/01/2008)
By Samantha
I just tried shaving cream on nail polish on my beige carpet with a stiff brush, I really scrubbed hard w/the stiff bristle brush! What a great job. I can't believe that "shaving cream" worked w/ a lot of elbow grease using the stiff bristle brush. Nail polish all gone! Thank you so much. Carol (02/16/2008)
I used a combination of all these tips and it got the stain out, I started with nail polish remover and "Off", then I read the shaving cream tip and used that, a lot of hot "almost boiling" water, and scrub scrub scrub. (02/20/2008)
I spilled red nail polish on my carpet and used shaving cream to take it out and to my surprise the nail polish came out. It really does works! (02/21/2008)
By Patty
Hey! Thanks for your tips! I spilled pink fingernail polish on my tan carpet and your tip for shaving cream worked! Took it right out! (02/27/2008)
By Julie
It worked! My daughter spilled dark red nail polish on tan berber carpet. I tried nail polish remover. The remover didn't work, but shaving gel did! THANKS! (02/28/2008)
By missy b
Nothing is working! I've been using shaving cream, hairspray, oxyclean, my spotbot! The works, how long did it take you? I've literally been working for hours!
(b)Editor's Note:(/b) Did you try Windex? (03/14/2008)
My little sister just spilled RED nail polish on my mothers BEIGE carpet. And she was FURIOUS! But after getting some helpful advice from some of the comments that people have sent, my mother tried rubbing alcohol, spot shot, shaving cream gel, windex, nail polish remover, she tried it all. And it seriously worked! She wasn't sure which one actually worked, but try them all, because the stain is actually gone! (03/20/2008)
By Brianne
Thank you, I had very very bright pink polish spilled on my rug. We tried the finger nail polish remover and it did not work at all. So after reading these comments, I tried the shaving gel and Windex w/ vinegar. And yes, it is gone even after sitting all night. Thank you so much. (03/25/2008)
By Lori
I can't honestly believe that the shaving cream worked. I didn't have any gel, but I used the regular shaving cream and after applying it 4 times and rubbing the cream into the carpet, the purple nail polish was out of the carpet! Thanks for the tip. (03/28/2008)
By Joanna
Wow! Thanks so much for the helpful tip. My 2 1/2 year old daughter tried to paint her own nails and ended up getting hot pink polish on my carpet. Thank goodness for the shaving cream that I had in my shower...it was a life saver! (04/01/2008)
By Brooke
Wow! One of my 2 year old twin girls decided she was going to try and paint her own toe nails. The shaving cream really does work.
Thanks (04/14/2008)
By Krystal
I tried shaving cream, that didn't work. I tried my carpet cleaner with the spot remover, that didn't work. Then I tried the miracle cleaner, WINDEX! That was a life saver! Just be patient with it, it takes a lot of elbow grease. (04/17/2008)
By Nicole
Thank you, you are a life saver! My 13 year old just spilled red nail polish on my bedroom carpet. I thought there was no hope, next to getting new carpet. At first I had her try the nail polish remover, to no avail. Then I decided to google it. First used the shaving cream, then Windex with a warm wet rag. A little bit of elbow grease, and I was skeptical, but it worked very well, can't even tell it was there. (04/17/2008)
By Stacey
I tried nail polish remover at first and got frustrated that it did not work. I read most of the feeds from above, sent my husband out to buy hair spray and shaving cream. I was desperate. While he was gone, I tried the Windex and Spot Shot and to my surprise, it came out. Thank God for people like you guys out there. (04/19/2008)
By Beth
OMG! It works. I didn't even think to look on the Internet until a couple of hours after my daughter spilled dark purple nail polish on the carpet (thank gosh it wasn't black, like it usually is). I didn't have any shaving cream, and hardly any Windex left, but I took what Windex I had left, and gave it a shot. I'm so thrilled. I hope it looks as good in the morning, with the light of day. Then I won't have to tell the Landlord a thing! Thank you so much all! (04/22/2008)
By Jonni
I spilled Chrome Green nail polish on white carpet and I first used nail polish remover, which didn't work. Then soapy water which worked a little. Then we used hairspray, hydrogen peroxide, and windex, and it worked! (04/27/2008)
By Briana
I am one week from a move out inspection, when to my horror I saw a big nail polish stain on the carpet where my son was playing with the bottles that I couldn't even open. Alternating shaving cream and window cleaner worked so fast. I was thrilled and amazed. Thank you so much. Now I can get that security deposit back. (05/05/2008)
By HOORAY
WOW! Thanks! Jenwa knocked over nail polish onto out new beige carpet just before we were moving. The spill was about two feet long and DARK PURPLE! We first put nail polish remover on it, then windex, then shaving cream, and rub with hands. Then we added a little bit of tide, used club soda to help pull the satin and with a brush we used elbow grease! Spent about an hour on it, and YES the polish was gone. THANKS SO MUCH! (05/11/2008)
By crystal and jenwa
(Sent in by email) My sister spilled the whole bottle of sky blue nail polish in the carpet (about 2 feet long). Mom was so panicked, so my dad and I went to google search for help.
Believe it or not, nail polish remover plus shaving cream and windex will work like magic. It cleaned out the sky blue nail polish in just 10 minutes. Thanks google and the people who post the info on Google.
Brian (05/17/2008)
By ThriftyFun
I just want to say thank you to everyone on this site! I knocked over a bottle of bright pink polish, and the lid was not on it so it spilled all over my very light carpet. I completely panicked, until I found this site. I used a combination of windex, shaving gel, hydrogen peroxide and warm water. I scrubbed for about an hour, but it all came up. THANK YOU! (06/01/2008)
By Gina
WOW! I've had a couple of huge burgundy nail polish stains in my carpet for the last 8 weeks. I tried the remedy listed below: shaving cream, peroxide, windex and nail polish remover. It's AMAZING! The stains came out, even after 8 weeks! Thank you SOOOO much! (06/06/2008)
By Lasaundra
I spilled BRIGHT RED sparkly nail polish on the off white carpet and only 1 thing worked. We tried so many things but Resolve finally worked! I was happy because that way I didn't have to buy my mom a brand new carpet. (06/17/2008)
By Callie
(submitted via email)
OOPS! I just spilled red nail polish on the carpet in my parents room. I used this concoction and scrubbed it, which faded a little but not much. I suggest you use hairspray and water, then dab it.
Holly (06/17/2008)
By Jess
OMG its worked. I had already got the majority of the black nail polish out with nail polish remover (though I suspect it sort of just diluted it (as well as blotted out with paper). Just now I used shaving cream first, dabbed it into the stain with fingers, then added Orange Power cleaning spray, sprayed on as a foam and dabbed in with fingers. Gave it a a few minutes and then saturated it with near boiling water and rubbed with a towel and then stood on the towel to absorb water.
The stain was mostly gone by then, but I added more Orange Power and shaving cream to some areas, and repeated the process. I'm sure that the carpet is not quite as it was (a bit roughed up and very very barely visible discoloration, but nothing more than the rest of the carpet has got). At least I won't have to pay a grand for it to be replaced by the owner now! Woo hoo. Thanks everyone! (06/23/2008)
By Jen
I just spilled Quick Dry Bright red nail polish in my light gray carpet and I applied Gillette Fusion shave gel and it got it right out with a little help from a hot wash cloth. Thank GOD...otherwise I would be out my deposit. (07/07/2008)
By Bria
I want to thank everyone before me who got nail polish on their carpet. I didn't know what to do until I read these feeds. I just want to know who even thought of shaving cream on their carpet?
Thanks Everyone! (07/10/2008)
By Megan
Shaving cream + nail polish remover + windex and scrub with a toothbrush. Total magic! Thank you! (07/12/2008)
By Chris
I spilled hot pink nail polish on my carpet. I tried using spray & wash and that didn't work. Then I used scrubbing bubbles, and it pretty much came right up. Now there isn't a spot at all. (07/31/2008)
By Cassy
Shaving cream and warm water is all I had to use. My daughter spilled red nail polish on brand new cream colored carpet. You have to really scrub, but it came right up. (08/19/2008)
By tonia
Shaving cream (or gel), it worked awesome! It was the ONLY thing that worked. (08/22/2008)
I spilled an entire bottle of bright pink nail polish on my favorite rug. My friend's parents got it for me as a birthday present from Turkey. I was devastated that I spilled the nail polish on it. I figured I'd pour nail polish remover on it because either way it was ruined. BUT the remover didn't take it off nor did it stain my rug. My cousin looked on this website and told me to use shave gel. I was thrilled because the shave gel actually worked. WHO KNEW! Shave gel! (08/30/2008)
By Cortney N
Thank goodness for shaving cream. I spilled bright pink nail polish on a white berber carpet, and no acetone nail polish remover barely made a difference. Shaving cream worked extremely well. I just rubbed it in with my fingers, let it sit, and blotted it out with hot water and a rag. It worked! (09/01/2008)
By Kirstin
Wow! I just spilled red nail polish on my carpet. My sister looked up "nail polish on carpet" and got your site. Thanks a lot! (09/07/2008)
By Natasha
Our 16 month old daughter just broke an entire bottle of pink nail polish on our brownish carpet. Nail polish remover did nothing, I googled and came upon this site. I used shaving gel with a few squirts of windex and within 15 minutes it looked like nothing was ever spilled on the carpet. AMAZING! THANK YOU ALL! (09/07/2008)
By James in NY
Thank you. All you need is a damp cloth, window cleaner, hairspray and mousse. Thank you! (09/19/2008)
By Guiltynailpolishspiller#1
All this info was great, however, I used polish remover first and rubbed with toothbrush, only to make a big smear. Then I sprayed Resolve Multi Fabric cleaner (not carpet cleaner), rubbed it with toothbrush and poof, it's gone. (09/25/2008)
By gloria
I spilled bright fuchsia nail polish on my zebra-skin rug and thought it was ruined, but I got online and found this website and it saved my life! I used nail polish remover first and it smeared, so I used resolve carpet cleaner and it kind of helped. I finally used shaving gel and a warm washcloth and it came right up! Thanks so much for the help! (10/01/2008)
Oh my word! I can't believe that shaving cream actually worked. Have just spilled my lovely plum nail varnish all over my cream carpet in my rush to go out, and thought I was done for! Read the posts here and now it's gone! Magic! Thank you so much! (10/10/2008)
By Sarah
So, it's 2 weeks before we're moving to our new apartment, and of course I spill hot pink nail polish all over our perfectly maintained beige carpet. I thought I could kiss my security deposit goodbye until all of you genius' informed me of the shaving cream + windex remedy. This worked out amazingly! No more hot pink carpet stain, hello security deposit! Thank you all so so so much! (10/12/2008)
By Emily
My husband and I just bought a new house with brand new berber carpet. So of course I spill HOT pink nail polish on it. I tried nail polish remover first didn't work. I found this website and used shaving cream and windex and BAM! the stain was gone. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! (10/15/2008)
By Heather Ann
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