(Skip to TL;DR for just the instructions)

I recently found an ancient bottle of ÜNT Ready for Takeoff while cleaning out some boxes. It was quite thick, so I immediately murdered it with polish thinner without realizing that would turn into an unusable clotted mess. Devastated is an understatement.

I already spend too much money on peely bases and I hate having to replace the entire bottle every time I run out because no boutique (that i know of) sells refills. I've tried the DIY School Glue + Rubbing Alcohol recipes before, but those took ages to dry and just aren't the same. Accidentally murdering the holy grail of all peely bases, one that's practically impossible to get your hands on anymore, was the straw that broke the camel's back. So, no more!

I decided to build my OWN ÜNP!! With blackjack and hookers!!! PROPERLY!! Using the same stuff!! And I am here to share my findings for you all!

The Ingredients

According to ÜNT's (now defunct) website, Ready for Takeoff consists of four key ingredients: water, alcohol denat, polyvinyl alcohol, and phenoxyethanol. So that's where I started.

Distilled Water is our main solvent. Regular tap should technically work, but distilled is cheap (you can grab it at any supermarket) and removes any variables.

Denatured Alcohol (alcohol denat) is essentially just ethanol with something added so people can't chug it. I bought Perfumer's Alcohol from a wholesale cosmetic supplier, since they provide full technical information for their ingredients. It helps thin the basecoat and speed up dry time.

Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) is what gives it the peel. You'd think it's the same stuff in PVA glue, but it's not. "PVA" glues actually use PVAc (Polyvinyl Acetate), which is a completely different compound. PVA is highly water soluble while PVAc is not. You can buy PVA from wholesale cosmetic suppliers as it's a common ingredient in things like peel-off lip tints and face masks.

Phenoxyethanol is a preservative. Where can we find it? You guessed it, a wholesale cosmetic supplier. Technically optional, but it's in ÜNP's formula so I included it in mine.

Since we need very little of each ingredient to fill one polish bottle, I strongly suggest only buying the smallest quantities available. I'd name the specific suppliers I used, but I'm not sure if that counts as advertising, so I'll leave that out for now. Feel free to ask in the comments.

Tools and Tips/Process

I'll be honest that I'm no professional and my setup was pretty ramshackle. I'm including it anyway because it worked, and I think it's useful to know you don't need expensive equipment to pull this off.

The smallest thing I could find for measuring dry PVA was a pack of 0.15cc plastic scoops. The granules are too irregular to get perfectly level scoops, so I just treated each scoop as a scoop. It sounds imprecise, and it is, but PVA is forgiving. It's better to use slightly too much than too little, since it's easy to dilute once dissolved. 1 scoop per ml of desired peely base seems to round out well.

PVA also needs to reach around 85°C to 95°C to fully dissolve in water. I put the PVA and water into a small metal sauce cup and set it on an electric mug warmer on my desk for about 40 minutes. I wouldn't rule out using a microwave, but I haven't tested it. The mug warmer was able to keep the temp consistent without evaporating too much water.

For stirring, skip anything with crevices. PVA loves to clump inside spoons. I used a metal kebab skewer and it worked perfectly fine.

Adding the alcohol is where things can get tricky. Adding too much too quickly can react with the PVA and cause it to precipitate (turn white and solidify), similar to how adding thinner ruined my original ÜNP bottle. You can avoid this by adding it in gradually, just one drop at a time, and mixing well to avoid pockets of high concentration. The mixture should turn a bit hazy and change consistency, without turning white, stringy, or clumpy.

After a few small test batches of troubleshooting mistakes as I worked out the ratios, I landed on something I'm genuinely happy with. I've used it under both lacquer and gel polish. It applies smoothly and evenly, a thin coat is dry to the touch in under three minutes, it survives several days without lifting, and it peels off in one satisfying piece. I wasn't able to compare the final product against the real ÜNP (since i murdered it), but I believe it's on par. A very satisfactory ÜNP dupe (dÜPE if you will).

Now onto the actual step-by-step guide!

TL;DR GUIDE FOR MAKING ÜNP AT HOME

Tools:

• Small heat conductive mixing dish (a metal sauce cup works great)
• Hot plate or mug warmer
• 0.15cc plastic scoops
• Measuring cup or syringe with increments under 15ml
• Empty 15ml polish bottle
• Metal mixing apparatus (a kebab skewer works)

Ingredients:

• Distilled Water
• Dry Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)
• Phenoxyethanol
• Perfumer's Alcohol or other cosmetic Denatured Alcohol

Instructions:

1. Add 16 scoops of dry PVA and 15ml of distilled water to your mixing dish.
2. Place the dish on your hot plate. The PVA needs to reach 85°C to 95°C to fully dissolve.
3. Stir occasionally while heating until the mixture is completely uniform, about 30 to 40 minutes.
4. If the mix gets too thick or gloopy, add 1-2ml more water, a drop at a time, until it reaches the viscosity of a thick nail polish or shower gel.
5. Once nice and smooth, turn off the heat.
6. Add 0.15ml of phenoxyethanol and stir to combine.
7. Gradually add 4ml of Denatured Alcohol while stirring continuously. Adding it too quickly will cause clumps.
8. If cloudy clumps appear, reheat and stir to redissolve as much as you can.
9. Transfer the finished mix to an empty polish bottle and enjoy!

Cost Breakdown (CAD):

• Distilled Water: ~$0.50/L at Walmart
• 60ml Phenoxyethanol: $4.60
• 250ml Perfumer's Alcohol: $4.20
• 50g PVA: $16.95 (shipping was the painful part)
• 0.15cc plastic scoops: $5.65
• 6ml syringe: found in my kitchen junk drawer
• Metal sauce cup: borrowed indefinitely from a restaurant
• Metal skewer: probably the same restaurant
• Mug Warmer: Christmas gift (~$20 on Amazon)

The initial investment definitely costs more than a single bottle of peely base, but I should be able to easyily make dozens of refills with the ingredients I now have. Totally worth it IMO.

This is my first time writing up an instructional post, so please comment any questions or points that need clarifying. I'm confident in the recipe but genuinely open to feedback and so excited for others to try it out <3