Gelish at DIY Manicure at Home #1

Gelish Shade Plum and Done

Not so long ago I took the plunge and bought some Gelish Nail Polishes.  I was using a couple of the at home brands, but finding it didn't last as long as my beloved Shellac.

I assumed that this was unfortunately just because you do get what you pay for.

I was right.  My polishes by Red Carpet Manicure, Sensationail and Mint Shellac were becoming more and more unreliable and I was getting a lot of chipping and broken nails.  Not good.  I've used three different Gelish Polishes now and each has lasted me 2 weeks or more.  Which is great and makes life so much easier!

Sadly it is a bit more expensive - I get mine from Amazon - I pay around £20 for each polish.  I bought a top and base coat too the with my first colour polish and it came to around £52 in total.

Pros

High shine
Long lasting
Chip proof
Protects nails allowing them to grow
Great colour selection
Sturdy base coat brush allows for easy precise application
Large 15ml size bottle means you do get a lot of polish which will last you for ages
Can be cured using both LED and UV lamps

Cons

Expensive
Slim and soft brush design on colour polishes and top coat mean you need a steady hand to ensure you don't get any polish on the skin and application is neat
To get true colour I have to apply 3 coats (this may be down to my application style)
If you like to change your nail colour a lot it can be very time consuming and a bit of a faff!


I do love these polishes and will show you some of the other colours I have - I am due to redo my nails on Tuesday! I'm going to go pink this time as I'm a little board of dark nails now (which is how I felt about light nails 2 weeks ago haha!)

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Blue Yonder - Sensationail Gel Polish - At Home Gel Manicure

And my new favourite colour is...

Blue Yonder Sensationail Gel Nail Polish £10

(I paid £15 for mine in Boots.  Delivery is £3 unless order over £25)

As you all no doubt know by now I am obsessed with Gel Nail Polish.  I absolutely love adding to my collection and now do my own Gel Nail Polish Manicure at home. 

I have three Sensationail colours now (pink chiffon and coral sunset are the others) and I absolutely love them.

As with all at home gel polishes, I find I have to redo them in around 7 days but I am hard on my nails, an excessive typer and cleaner, and I love a change within that time anyway!  It's super easy to apply also. 

I absolutely love this colour and have been getting nothing but compliments all day. 

Next colour is going to be Sugar Plum I think!!

  

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How to Remove Shellac, Gelish, Red Carpet Manicure, Sensationail and any other Gel Polish!

Removing Shellac/Gelish/Redcarpet Manicure

Like me, a lot of you will probably have gel polish manicures, or at least give them a try.  What you might not always be able to do it get to a salon to remove them.  I have found that if one chips, or the grow out is a bit too much, I just want it off straight away as it looks too scruffy for me.  Also, fitting in salon appointments can be pretty inconvenient when you have lots of other things to do, especially in the busy lead up to xmas.

So I thought I would give you a quick run down of how I remove my gel polish at home, without the need to go to a salon and pay for the service!

1. Get your Acetone ready (you can pick this up at boots for like £3)

2. Cut up tinfoil and kitchen roll, or cotton wool - your choice and have a nail file handy

3. File the posh gently to take off the top shine (not necessary but apparently makes it quicker)

4. Put some acetone on the kitchen roll and place it on top of your nail

5. Then wrap the nail and kitchen roll in tinfoil ensuring that the foil is wrapped around tightly

6. Repeat for all nails and leave on for 10 - 15 minutes.

7.  Remove from nails and your nails should be clean, if not gently remove the rest with an orange stick (as long as you don't need to scrape - if you do - you need to soak for longer!)

End result is...

Nice gel polish free clean nails!

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Sensationail Gel Polish in Pink Chiffon Review

Hey lovelies!!!

Hope your week is going well! I'm on the countdown to my holiday now - tres excited! 4 days until I'm in Egypt! Woo!

Anyway, you obviously now know that I'm obsessed with Gel Nail polish.

It started with Shellac. Ahhhh 2 weeks of beautifully polished nails. That are now long for the first time in my life, all because the polish acts like a protective layer on my nails stopping them from breaking. Result.

However, I'm moving to Manchester this month and that means I can no longer get my nails done as cheap. Booooo. Plus the experience I did have left a LOT to be desired for. I won't name names but a very poor salon experience.

So, cue the at home gel polish kit! What a life saver. I bought the red carpet manicure system because its pretty cheap and there are a good few American reviews out there (seems to be more popular there at the moment).

Sensationail (by Nailene) also do an at home kit too. Obviously I won't be buying the whole system as I love the red carpet manicure one, but because it's sold in Boots it's a lot easier to just buy a polish when passing.

Which is what I did.

And I'm so glad. This is my favourite at home gel polish so far. I love the colour and it applied so nicely. It has a finer brush than the rcm ones which means you can get right to the edge without accidentally catching your skin with polish!

I absolutely love it! And I am definitely getting more colours now! I just hope they bring out even more in time....

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