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Me watching the fingernail removal scene in Utopia: fingernails don't come off THAT easily 
You can't just wedge something in there and expect them to easily lift off with a little bit of leverage!!! Those fuckers be stubborn as hell
My personal preference is to stick needles (something around 16-20g) starting around the quick and then pushing down to the cuticle until the needle comes out thru the cuticle side. Repeat until you perforate nearly all of the cuticle side. Pull off with some forceps 
You'll need to tug hard sometimes, so forceps or anything grabby and ideally wider to grab the whole nail is great for that. Don't forget to lay drapes down! It will bleed like a MF. I highly suggest having the person gagged in some way to not scare the neighbors 
