10 Unusual Uses for Nail Polish

Intro: 10 Unusual Uses for Nail Polish

If you're anything like me you have bottles of nail polish building up in your desk drawer from years ago.  What you might not know is there are plenty of ways to put that nail polish to use besides just decorating your fingers.  Here are 10 new uses for nail polish that will help you with day to day tasks around the house!

STEP 1: Smudge Proof Lables

Prevent ink from running on your labels.  Coat the labels that identify your garden plants, or the labels that distinguish your shampoo bottles with clear nail polish.

STEP 2: Seal an Envelope

Ever see that episode of Seinfeld where George's fiance dies from licking too many wedding invitations?

Avoid licking that gross glue on the back of an envelope.  Just seal it with a little bit of clear nail polish

STEP 3: Threading a Needle

It can be a pain in the butt trying to thread a needle!  I know I have had my moments where I've had to walk away from projects because it gets too frustrating.

A quick fix for this is dipping the end of your thread in a small amount of nail polish for easy thread-ability.

STEP 4: Prevent Costume Jewelry From Tarnishing

Ever get those green rings on your fingers from wearing a costume ring?  Paint a thin coat of clear nail polish on your costume jewelry to prevent tarnishing.

STEP 5: Keep Laces and Rope From Unraveling

You may have heard that burning the ends of cut rope prevent it from fraying.  Nail polish works just as well!  Just coat the ends of your shoe laces or rope with clear nail polish (or colored nail polish for some fun) to prevent any fraying.

STEP 6: Tighten Loose Screws

For an extra hold, coat your screws in nail polish.  After setting the screws let the polish dry.  This should give you added durability.

STEP 7: Color-Code Objects

Color code objects to easily distinguish them.  I color coded my keys with nail polish so I can quickly figure out which key is for my front door!

STEP 8: Mark Levels in a Bucket

Mark levels on measuring cups or buckets.  For your cleaning bucket you can mark how much soap you need and another level for how much water you need.

STEP 9: Rustproof Metal

Apply clear nail polish to metals that are vulnerable to rusting, i.e. in the bathroom or outdoors.

Some Ideas:

• Shaving Cream - If you shaving cream can creates rust rings on your bath tub, apply a thin layer of nail polish to the bottom.
• Screws - in patio furniture, or the toilet
• Car Paint - keep chipped car paint from rusting by coating the damaged areas with nail polish.

STEP 10: Liquid Bandaid

I heard this one from Scoochmaroo!  She uses clear nail polish as a liquid bandaid.  Apparently its the same thing...who knew!

Comments

[sukdevduari1991]

How remove faviquick from byke oil tank

[Fred4]

Coat inside of rings for gold allergy.
Touch up paint for your vehicle.
Other comments about cut rope, a lighter may work better.

[mjlavender]

Back in the day, we used clear nail polish to stop runs in pantyhose. :)
On early computers I color coded the cords with different colors of nail polish to coordinate with the plug in on the computer tower.
I've given away my age with those uses!
But here's one I didn't see mentioned - I once coated a bar of soap with clear nail polish and left it in the shower as an April Fool's joke. "Hey! No suds? What the ... ??" LOL

[jantinew]

Nailpolish is also handy if you are allergic to nickle; coat the nickle with transparant nail polish where it touches your skin to avoid skin irritation. for me this works well on the back of nickel buttons (jeans etc) and on earrings or necklaces.

[MontyF1]

mabe a stupid question can you use superglue to fix a loose tooth crown or what can i use

[kathynv]

I know that this is not a prompt reply, but I just saw your question. Be sure that the glue you are using does not generate too much heat while curing before using it in your mouth. You could do great damage to the roots of your teeth because of too much heat. I would check while gluing a couple of pennies together while I held them. If the pennies get too hot to hold, then I'd avoid using the glue in my mouth. Good Luck!

[Flying Ace]

I have BUT only for cosmetic purposes. You cannot eat with it because the glue cannot hold up to the pressure. Stores sell adhesive for temporarliy holding the crown untill you can see a Dentist.

[QazW2]

acetone is the solvent, it evaporates as the superglue hardens and likewise acetone (nail polish remover) can be used to unstuck things stuck but wasn't suppose to be stuck.

with these corrections i still agree doesn't sound like a good idea
as to toxicity, I heard that surgeons at times use superglue in place of stitches (TOTALLY RUMOR --- PLEASE RESEARCH BEFORE USING OR QUOTING AS A FACT)
although there have been numerous incidents of accidental super-gluing of body parts which only ill effects were the ripped skin when they didn't wait for nail polish remover to be applied. no one ever died due to this (although not sure if anyone died of embarrassment from where their hand got stuck) :=\

[Una]

Superglue was actually invented for field surgery. Which is why it bonds skin the way it does. And there is a such thing as surgeons adhesive, but I don't know the ins and outs of that product.

[Dawsie]

I used superglue once to glue a cut along my hand and thumb was over a 3 hour drive to hospital had no problems with it it even healed without a scar and the Dr was pleased with my quick thinking as it had needed stitches but by the time I was able to get to him it had healed enough that he left it alone and just wrapped it up :-)

yes superglue is used in surgery, but it's a special hospital grade glue and used when doing bone work with adding metal to bone, my back surgen used a special type of superglue bond when I had my back surgery 13 years ago.

[Sgmeng]

You need to check your facts! Yes, super glue is used to close skin incisions after surgery. It heals well with less scarring than stitches or staples. It is also used some times to repair wounds of childbirth. It is a medical grade superglue superglue nonetheless.

[MommyJackson2005]

Side note: Men in the construction industry have a habit of using whatever is close to fix a wound to avoid loosing hours. ex. my husband used plumbers glue instead of going to get his finger stitched. He wound up in er later that week with our son and the doc told him that it was the best thing he could have done other than stitches because the glue has alcohol or something in it that killed the germs. Who knew?

[mmiles12]

Superglue is methacrylate polymer dissolved in acetone. Acetone is the same thing as nail polish remover, and as a metabolic product, is not toxic to the body. Methacrylate does have slightly neurotoxic effects, so liquid sutures used in a medical environment now contain a slightly different polymer, mostly to belay any consumer freakouts. Before that was developed, superglue was what was used. The only people in danger of methacrylate toxicity are those who see constant occpuational exposure (methacrylate manufacturing or those running gel electrophoresis on a daily basis). Toxicology is a measure of dose, not identity.

[Flying Ace]

We have used it for sealing cuticle cuts at the fingernail. Been doing so for years. Keep in mind, just recently, a woman at work did this but did not let it dry enough then forgot and rubbed her eye thus getting it in her eye. One must be careful if using this and it is not for large or deep cuts. If your not comfortable, find a bandage instead.

[Una]

There is a tooth cement sold at the pharmacy or pharmacy department of your local store designed for this. However I believe it is only designed to be temporary until you can get to a doctor.

[Una]

No. Please don't.

[evie28]

NO! Super glue is not to be used in your mouth! They sell kits in the drug store (tooth care aisle) that will have a compound to temporarily fix a crown until you can get to your dentist. CALL YOUR DENTIST!

[Nick Brits]

Hi there , if you use superglue for the loose crown , use a good quality one .

[MommyJackson2005]

They make a temporary dental kits to fix that stuff. If you are short on cash, the dollar store even carries a cheaper version.

[kathynv]

Love this Instructable, and can confirm that they work as written. Thank you for compiling this list and publishing it. I'm sure that most people will find it very helpful.