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How to Clean Nail Polish off Wood Flooring

I get asked questions about how to clean nail polish off of things all the time!  I have gathered the questions and I thought I’d try to tackle the a few of the most commonly asked questions, starting with hardwood & laminate floors.

Question:  I am wondering if you know of any way to get nail polish off laminate flooring? My twins decided one day to dump a bottle on the floor and smear it around. I found it pretty quickly, but it dries so quickly that it is just a big mess. I have to cover it with a rug. I have tried a few things and asked many many people but no one has any ideas. I am thinking we may just have to replace the floor. I thought there is no harm in asking you.

Answer:  I can honestly say that I’ve never had this problem before, I’ve had someone spill nail polish on my tile floor, but never my wood flooring.  So I started by doing a little “Googling” and came across this forum that gave me a couple ideas, then I set out testing my theories.

In order to test the theories first I had to “spill” some nail polish.  As much as I believe in what I do, I didn’t think my husband would appreciate me painting nail polish on our floors so I grabbed a piece of our leftover flooring and painted that.  I painted 3 separate spots because I wanted to try out three different ideas.

Armed with these cleaning products I set out to find the answer to this reader’s question.

#1: De-Solv-It

De-Solv-It is great for cleaning up all kinds of messes so I figured, why not try it on nail polish?  I sprayed the De-Solv-It on the nail polish and let it set for a few minutes.  Then, using a piece of felt, I attempted to scrub off the color.  I was actually surprised that a little color came off and thought, this must be the answer!  However after a few more minutes of scrubbing (and I mean really scrubbing) I gave up because the polish wasn’t really coming off.  I managed to get some of the color off but it was not a complete success.

Just for kicks I also tried the WD-40 on this same spot because it is also a greasy product, but I had no luck.  Trial #1= fail.

#2: Hydrogen Peroxide

Next I tried hydrogen peroxide.  Online I had read that a 50/50 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide would work but I really hate to dilute a good thing so I thought I’d try the full strength hydrogen peroxide, and then if I worked then I would try diluting it.

First I soaked a piece of felt in the peroxide and let it sit on the nail polish for a couple minutes.  Then I scrubbed… and scrubbed… and scrubbed.

The hydrogen peroxide didn’t even touch the nail polish stain, after a couple minutes of scrubbing this is all the color it took off!  Trial #2= epic fail.

#3: Rubbing alcohol

At this point I was beginning to think I ‘d have to write a post and say, “The answer to getting nail polish off wood flooring is… still unknown!”  But I had one more thing to try, the rubbing alcohol.

First I soaked a piece of felt in rubbing alcohol and laid it over the polish stain, just as I had done with the hydrogen peroxide.  After a couple minutes I began scrubbing and something magical happened, the polish came right off!  I barely even had to scrub and the polish came right off!!!

I was able to get up all of the polish without even really “scrubbing” and the best part is that rubbing alcohol is also great for cleaning and sterilizing so now the wood flooring is probably cleaner than it was before!

So the answer to getting nail polish spills of hardwood and laminate flooring is: Rubbing alcohol!

Did you know this is one of my most popular posts!? To see more cleaning hacks that people love, click on the titles below:

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  • How to get Nail Polish off Wood Floors
  • How to Clean your Dyson
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  • DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent and WHY it works so well

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About Anna

"Hi, I'm Anna! Wife, mother, child of God, and the founder of Ask Anna. I have always enjoyed cleaning, organizing, decorating and helping people, so I've put that all together on the pages of this blog. I truly hope my tips help you in your home and make sure to contact me if you have a question!"

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Comments

  1. Caitlin Read says

    August 9, 2012 at 10:02 am

    Did the rubbing alcohol take the shine/polish/lacquer off of the flooring?

    • Anna says

      August 9, 2012 at 10:58 am

      I don’t have a shine on my floor but it shouldn’t. If you have real hardwood floors and it takes the wax layer off it would be easy to just re-wax that spot. 🙂

      • Barb says

        June 4, 2018 at 7:36 am

        I used the alcohol on my highly polished engineered hardwood and it took the polish off but did not affect the shine. Great solution to my very upsetting problem. Thank you so much,

    • Jason says

      October 4, 2015 at 9:58 am

      The answer is yes. It will take the finish off. Just happened when I used the rubbing alcohol.

    • Susan says

      March 4, 2018 at 10:01 am

      This worked great and didn’t damage my wood floor!

  2. Amy @ 20 Minute Mom says

    August 9, 2012 at 11:30 am

    Love it! Rubbing Alcohol has saved me a number of times with permanent marker but I’ve never tried it on nail polish 🙂

    • Anna says

      August 9, 2012 at 11:36 am

      Good to know! I’ll have to try it on that too!! 🙂

  3. Anne Marie says

    August 9, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    This is great to know – I would never have guessed rubbing alcohol.

    • Anna says

      August 9, 2012 at 1:33 pm

      It was kind of a lucky guess. 🙂 That’s what makes my job fun!

    • Bobbie says

      June 23, 2013 at 8:24 pm

      Just tried the alcohol and it worked!!! Thanks for posting your results.

  4. Deb Muth says

    August 9, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    Great investigative work !!! I wanted to ask, though, if the rubbing alcohol removed any coloring of the flooring?. Your picture makes me think that the alcohol may have worked a little too well. Was that a problem?

    • Anna says

      August 9, 2012 at 9:46 pm

      Nope, not at all! I did the rubbing alcohol last so what you see it all the grease and grime from my other trials! The rubbing alcohol left it perfect and clean! 🙂

  5. sue shantz says

    August 9, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    what about goof-off. I cleaned dried on oil paint out of brushes with this. I am just wondering.

    • Anna says

      August 9, 2012 at 10:47 pm

      Goof-Off and De-solve-it are basically the same thing. It took the color off but it was a lot of scrubbing to get just some of the color off.

  6. abeer says

    September 30, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    can you use any rubbing alcohol?
    does it make any damedges?

    • Anna says

      September 30, 2012 at 9:31 pm

      I didn’t have any damage on mine. I’ve used it on a few different types of wood with no damage to any of them. 🙂

  7. Brittany Kelley says

    March 1, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    Dear Anna- Thank the lord above for your website and post on how to get nail polish off laminate wood flooring! I have tried EVERYTHING to remove some spilled nail polish (note: do not try to paint your nails after a few glasses of wine!). Nothing could get this darn nail polish off, and my boyfriend mentioned it EVERY DAY. Finally, I tried your rubbing alcohol remedy and BOOM, GONE!! Thank you thank you thank you. As a tip, be sure to use a scrubbing brush or tool, this worked wonders when used with the rubbing alcohol!

    • Anna says

      March 1, 2013 at 10:38 pm

      Awesome!!! I’m so glad I could help! That’s good advice, I won’t try to paint my nails after wine. 🙂

  8. MJ says

    March 25, 2013 at 7:51 pm

    Thanks!! I had gotten BLACK nail polish on my bedroom dresser. My dresser is very dark so it’s not easily noticed, but still. I lost hope. Then I found your site and tried the rubbing alcohol. It worked!! And to answer peoples questions about the finish; maybe try in a place on your furniture that wont be noticed to see what happens. My finish DID get dulled but it didnt come off completely, in fact I just used some furniture polish on the dulled area and it was almost as though the nail polish accident had never happened! Thanks!

    • Anna says

      March 25, 2013 at 9:10 pm

      Awesome!! I’m so glad you were able to finally get it off. 🙂

  9. Jamie says

    May 8, 2013 at 6:42 am

    I LOVE YOU!!

  10. Cecilia says

    June 25, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    At last!! Thank you so much!! I was desperate since my cat throw to the floor my make up bag with lots of nail polish in it and one broke and spill all over the wooden floor, I’ve tried different stuff and nothing worked, but this was simple and effective. The only thing I had to rubbed a little since it was a big stain!
    Thanks a lot!

  11. Katherine Mundt says

    June 27, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    I spilled top coat all over my floor and I haven’t told my parents yet because they are going to kill me! I don’t know how long it’s been there because I found the bottle open on the floor and my chapped stick was stuck to the floor. I tried getting it off with running alcohol but nothing has happened! Should I try again? I used paper towels to try to scrub it so should I use something slightly rougher?

    • Anna says

      July 22, 2013 at 11:56 am

      I’m sorry I’m just getting this, were you able to get it off or do you still need help?

  12. Krystle says

    July 3, 2013 at 9:27 am

    I know this post is almost a year old, but it saved me today! My absolutely wonderful two year old little boy dropped a brand new bottle of glittery nail polish on our kitchen floor today, and I was contemplating how much it would cost to replace about 8 planks of flooring when I came across your post. I had already tried all-purpose cleaner, WD-40, and scraping up what I could with a (gasp) butter knife. While it didn’t get everything that was in the grain, it’s about 90% better and I plan on doing one more pass later today. I plan on posting about this little “adventure” on my blog soon, and will definitely link back. Thanks again!

  13. anna hudson says

    August 15, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    hey do you know how to get stained hairdye off walls and white tile floor? thank you

    • Anna says

      August 28, 2013 at 8:25 pm

      I’ve never had to get it out before but I asked my readers on Facebook and here’s a link to their responses: https://www.facebook.com/askannamoseley/posts/520298148044886

  14. shanelle says

    August 19, 2013 at 9:56 am

    Oh my. Just tried this on my antique wood floors and it took all the finish off as well as some of the stain :\ Just a word of warning to anyone out there with older flooring. Now I have to figure out how to fix this without letting the hubs know!

  15. Sandra says

    August 22, 2013 at 3:41 pm

    We just tried your rubbing alcohol method to clean up a bottle of nail polish that had spilled on my daughter’s laminate floor. I don’t know if different nail polishes contain different ingredients, but this method didn’t do anything. Not a speck of it came off. Going to try polish remover now. Wish us luck!

  16. Terry A. says

    September 25, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    Thanks so much for this!!! It works Great!!

  17. paris brown says

    October 29, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    Hi anna,

    Firstly what a great post!! I am having real drama getting off plaster from laminate floor? it looks clean then dries cloudy white? any ideas please?

    • Anna says

      October 29, 2013 at 8:06 pm

      I would try cleaning the area with rubbing alcohol, it’s great at cleaning “cloudy” things. 🙂

  18. Lacey says

    November 14, 2013 at 8:50 am

    It wont get the glitter up though

  19. Christie says

    November 25, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    100% acetone also gets finger nail polish off laminate wood flooring

  20. stacy says

    December 27, 2013 at 10:05 am

    I tryed this on the floor in my daughters room and it did not remove any of the nail polish but then again those stains have been there atleast for 6 months i have yet to find anything that will get it up

  21. Sonya says

    December 29, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    Just tried this and thought I had hit pay-dirt. It was bringing it up slowly then all of a sudden the entire finish of the hardwood including stain came off in one rub. I think that the alcohol softened it all up.. I think the nail polish was a better look.

    • Anna says

      December 30, 2013 at 9:00 am

      I’m so sorry! I think in the future it would be best to let the floor dry in between taking off layers. But for this situation Minwax makes great stain pens the work well for covering lots of blemishes on wood floors. I use them in my own home! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DI7ZK/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0000DI7ZK&linkCode=as2&tag=askan01-20

  22. Kelli says

    January 14, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    I tried this but it took forever to get off. After an hour and a half of scrubbing off my entire bottle of nail polish off of the hardwood floor and wood table, I switched the Goof Off. All came off in 10 minutes. Definitely recommend that instead.

    • Christine Coltman says

      October 4, 2015 at 8:19 am

      Thankyou but what’s in the “Goof off” as I doubt the Uk sells it by that name. 🙂

  23. S Godbold says

    January 30, 2014 at 7:51 am

    We tried all of the above and none of them worked. My husband finally tried using Bug and Tar remover for use on auto. (It is made so as not to harm the clear coat on autos so we figured it would not harm the finish on our hardwood floor). After spraying the foam on the nail polish and letting it set for and hour the polish came right off!

    • Anna says

      January 30, 2014 at 9:34 am

      Awesome! That’s a great tip! I’ve never heard of that stuff, I’ll have to check it out. 🙂

  24. jnaya jackson says

    January 30, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Thank you for telling me that alcohol is the ansewer i am so happy that my mom do not have to pay to get it up

  25. Chelsea says

    February 18, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    What brand of rubbing alcohol did you use? I tried Isocol and it isn’t working

    • mreynolds says

      February 18, 2014 at 6:03 pm

      Hey Chelsea,
      this is Monique, Anna’s assistant. It looks like she just used the up and up brand which is Target’s off brand!It is 91% too! Hope this helps!

  26. Gina says

    May 9, 2014 at 8:05 am

    I Tried the rubbing alcohol. It ruined my wood furniture. Had to sand and stain.

  27. Kathy says

    May 18, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    Just got through cleaning up a nail polish spill on my beautiful satin finish hardwood floors with the rubbing alcohol as you suggested. It was amazing, cleaned up like a dream and did not hurt the satin finish one little bit! I am so relieved….thank you so much for doing the research !

    • Anna says

      May 19, 2014 at 8:28 am

      Yay, that’s so awesome! I love getting comments like this one. 🙂 Thank you!

  28. Shelia says

    May 24, 2014 at 3:03 pm

    I tried the Rubbing Alcohol, but it was 70% & it did not work. I am going to buy 90% & see if the strength makes the difference.

  29. Jenna Rickard says

    July 9, 2014 at 6:26 am

    Hey Im Jenna, and I let my ex bff come over and she spilt all my nail polish on the floor. And broke my glasses. So I told her to look it up and she did and we found you can also use conditioner but it takes like five minutes. So then I did another search the bight after when she spent the night again and spilt it, and it said to use nail polish remover and paper towels, it didnt work. So then I JUST dound your sight and found the alcohol thing and Im about to tryit wish me luck!

  30. Rachel says

    July 31, 2014 at 6:46 pm

    Just did this on my hard wood floor after a whole bottle of nail polish fell on the floor and broke! It worked great!!! Nothing happened to the floor! Thank you so much!

    • Anna says

      July 31, 2014 at 8:41 pm

      Awesome! I’m so glad you were able to get it up!! 🙂

  31. Patricia says

    August 10, 2014 at 10:03 am

    Rubbing alcohol will also completely remove fresh ballpoint ink. I was on a plane flight a few years ago and my ballpoint pen got a blob of ink on the cuff of my oxford cloth shirt 🙁 The only solvent I had with me were Purell alcohol hand-wipes, so I tried one and with a couple of minutes’ blotting and scrubbing with it, the ink was *gone*! I was amazed.

  32. Kay says

    October 5, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    I just about freaked out when I saw a big circle of bring red nail polish on my hardwood floor! I ran to the computer & searched for a way to remove it. I stumbled on your page and Ta Da! Rubbing alcohol removed the polish without harming the floors in minutes. Thank you!

    • Anna says

      October 5, 2014 at 5:57 pm

      Awesome! I’m so glad! 🙂

  33. Amanda Savage says

    February 10, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    Thank you! I just had a panic attack when my daughter dripped black nail polish on my wood floor! I never would have thought of rubbing alcohol.

  34. toni says

    May 8, 2015 at 12:36 am

    I also tried rubbing alcohol but I’m prett . Impatient and didn’t want to scrub so I thought of the trick we All used when we were young and I got some clear polish painted the spilt red polish on my floor and wiped it right up after I got all red up I mopped with Lysol and bam no sign at all that my two year old daughter slung red polish all over my new hardwoo . Hope this helps some one

  35. Abby Troutman says

    May 11, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    No offense, but I tried it and nothing came off at all! I used nail polish remover and it worked really well!

  36. Stephanie says

    August 25, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    Just used the rubbing alcohol! Thanks so much! (My almost 4yo son tried to paint his nails while in time out!)

  37. Amanda says

    August 29, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    Thank you!!!

  38. Alycia says

    September 26, 2015 at 8:27 pm

    My daughter was painting her nails and splattered pink polish on the my salons laminate flooring… Eeek. Found this site and decided to use a little hairspray & a sponge. Davines’ More Inside product, ‘This is a
    Strong HairSpray’. Has extra moisturizing factor. Worked great and quick! #donewithdavines #styleslanger

  39. Christine Coltman says

    October 4, 2015 at 7:48 am

    I really did’nt know where to turn when I saw the Nail viarnishw. ooden floor. I knew Acetone was a no no, bbut what else?………Then I googled it and now I have the answer. ” rubbing alcohol”. Thankyou Anna for you’re time and hard work in the making of this web page.

  40. Ellen says

    November 27, 2015 at 2:59 am

    I used Coconut Oil and a soft rag. Worked with little effort and no damage to the floors. BONUS: Beautiful shiny floors.
    -ellen

  41. Deirdre says

    December 23, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    how can I take nail polish glitter off of hardwood floor?

    • Bethany Davis says

      January 4, 2016 at 1:29 pm

      Hi Deirdre! I’m Anna’s assistant, Bethany. I sent you an e-mail with the answer to your question, so be on the look out for it. 🙂

      • Missy bonaguide says

        January 6, 2016 at 3:55 pm

        Hi! Could I get the answer regarding glitter nail polish off hardwood floors? I’m heartbroken over my daughter’s spill!

      • Bethany Davis says

        January 7, 2016 at 1:56 pm

        Hi, Missy! I sent you an e-mail. Hope this helps! -Bethany 🙂

  42. Kim Dyce says

    January 20, 2016 at 6:42 pm

    Help

  43. Leigh Jones says

    June 4, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    My nail polish problem is bigger than I am reading here. My grandson knocked off an open bottle that fell under my couch. I forgot I even had it there and discovered it about 3 hours later. The bottle was almost full and it is dried to my floor. The bottle is stuck. Now, what do I do as I have read the above and can’t see anything here that could dislodge a bottle. Please help.

    • Bethany Davis says

      June 10, 2016 at 11:14 pm

      Hello, Leigh. I’m Anna’s assistant, Bethany. We are so sorry to hear about your nail polish mishap! Unfortunately, Anna doesn’t have a recommendation that you can try without possibly hurting your floor because this has not yet happened to her. You may want to try contacting a local carpet company or professional hardwood floor cleaning company (depending on your type of flooring) to see what they would recommend so that your floors aren’t ruined in the process. I’m sorry we didn’t have a solution, but hope that you’re able to find a way to remove the bottle without damaging your floor!

  44. Terisa Clark says

    July 19, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    Whew you saved the day!!! Thank you for your helpful post. Rubbing alcohol was a perfect solution.

    • Anna says

      July 19, 2016 at 8:08 pm

      Yay! I love hearing that! Thank you for coming back and sharing. 🙂

  45. carleen says

    January 29, 2018 at 7:59 am

    I tried the rubbing alcohol on my wood floor and it did not work. Not one speck of polish came off. i let it soak on it, nothing, I trued scrubbing it after letting it soak for a few minutes, nothing. I am still looking for something that will remove it.

    • Anna says

      January 29, 2018 at 1:18 pm

      I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you, I’ve never had it not work. :/ Let me know if you end up finding something, I’d love to have an alternative solution!

    • Judy says

      February 22, 2019 at 8:00 am

      Try nail polish remover, then use a Solution made out of soap and water to get the smudges out. I had nailpolish spill on my floor once and this worked perfectly!! Hope it works for you too.

  46. Georgia says

    July 27, 2018 at 10:58 am

    Rubbing alcohol for the win! Cleaned the nail polish right up. A little Bona to the floor afterwards and the nail polish incident never happened. Thanks Anna!

    • Anna says

      August 2, 2018 at 7:14 pm

      Woo-hoo! 🙂

  47. A.s. says

    September 13, 2019 at 8:34 pm

    Can someone tell me how to get glitter nail polish up please?!

    • Anna says

      September 14, 2019 at 11:20 am

      Have you tried rubbing alcohol? I’ve had great success with getting nail polish off with that. Since it’s glitter polish follow the directions in the post and soak the area first. 🙂

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