Over the years, I have seen and tried a few uses for clear fingernail polish for more than making my nails shiny. Most of these uses have been around as long as I can remember.
Runs in panty hose
Depending on the age of women who are usually over 30, still wear them year round as they feel it is appropriate especially wearing a dress to the office or funeral. A bottle of clear fingernail polish in a desk drawer or in your purse, can help stop the runs in your hose or tights.
By brushing on the polish where the run in the hose started and ended would stop it from continuing in either direction. Any of the women, including myself, would use this method while the hose were on. The downside to that it stuck to our skin if we didn’t pull the hose away while brushing it on and letting it dry. There are times when that method wasn’t feasible due to time and where we had to mend our hose.
Itchy of mosquito bites
I haven’t figured out why clear polish stops the itching from mosquito bites, but it does work. Due to the chemicals in the polish some may say this is not the wisest choice for stopping that infernal itch from biting mosquitos.
Just a little brush over or drop of clear finger nail polish would do the trick. The polish was put on the area right where the mosquito bit me. After an hour or so, the polish could be scraped off with a nail.
Rust spots on your car
Yes, if you have a small ding or scratch on your car, I have seen people use clear nail polish to stop those areas from rusting. While the spot with the polish may look silly, it doesn’t look any sillier than the rusted spot on your car. I wouldn’t say to use as many bottles to stop your car from rusting, but little spots it may be worth the hassle.
I have seen some of the girls I went to high school with use this to stop rust spots on their cars, but they would also use a similar base coat of nail polish that matched their paint on their car to cover scratches before using the clear polish. While up close it doesn’t look great, from a distance it’s not so bad. A few of the guys would ask the girls to fix their mishaps if they were small enough to keep the rust to a minimum until they could fix it the right way.
Unraveling of woven upholstery on furniture
This use for clear nail polish for stopping areas on your furniture that have a small hole due to a cigarette burn, puncture from a pen or pencil, or slight tear will help with the area from unraveling. Using the brush coat the area like you would your nails to keep the damaged area from unraveling. It is best to do this immediately after the damage has occurred.
This method has also been used on car seats too. It stops the affect area from ripping out further when sitting on the seats. It has also been used on the interior roof liners too.
Decoupage glazing
I have used clear nail polish for glazing over decoupage a few times. When I didn’t have the actual glazing and late at night when the stores was closed, this came in handy to finish up school projects. Of course back then, I didn’t have access to the Internet to find a quick decoupage glazing recipe either.
The only down side to this method is the clear nail polish can turn the paper brown. That may not be a bad thing if you’re going for an antique look on any project.