Gel Polish Manicure At Home

The Process

Before

After (No.1)

After (No.2)

As a lot of you will know, I've become addicted to getting a gel manicure. It has meant that my once short, uneven and downright nasty nails have actually grown without breaking off and look nice and neat for 2 weeks at a time.

The process involved is basically a gel base coat, 2 layers of gel polish and then a gel top coat. All cured under a 36watt UV lamp.

I really enjoy going and getting them done and my nail technician is both good and lovely and she only charges £15.

Now I know in the grand scheme of things £15 isn't that much, however I go every two weeks - therefore it ends up being £30/month. That's ok but I'm trying to save a deposit for a house so any chance I have to shave off the monthly outgoings is good to me.

So when KGB had a deal for a gel manicure set for £79 I thought why not and that I would have made my money back in a few months.

So firstly - the kit. It's by Gellure - one of the many at home manicure brands it's hard to find much out about. They have one video on YouTube and that is it. They sell through BodyReform.

When considering whether or not to purchase I had a look for some reviews and there weren't many, but the couple I found were positive.

So, usage then.

Not great. First thing to note is the lamp is 9 watt only. My heart literally sank when I saw this. I had attempted to contact them to ask on YouTube but hadn't had a reply and maybe I shouldn't have purchased on this basis but stupidly I assumed it could only be 36watt.

So obviously, curing time is longer. I can handle that. What I couldn't really stand was the fact the actual gel polish was a NIGHTMARE to apply and full of fibres!!! I couldn't believe it. So basically, I'd apply a layer or part of one and then the brush would pull it off with the next stroke. Painful.

Anyway, I applied a much thicker coat the second time and it made it a bit better but I'd say slightly uneven in terms of finish. Definitely not rivalling Shellac. Top coat on and cured and the result was as shown above (after no.1)

The random thumb picture is to demonstrate that curing won't work on thumbs unless you do them separately, as the cleanser you use at the end just dragged it back off!

I could see that within a day though it just wasn't going to last so I applied a further coat and top coat which resulted in after no.2. Which was a little dark but much better finish.

And now to wearability. My nails feel like paper again, despite the layers being as thick as when I have had Shellac. It's just not a strong and has resulted in 3 nail breaks. Unhappy times.

What I would say though is that aside from the broken nails it has lasted in terms of chips etc. I'm on day 13 today and it's still in tact, but it doesn't look as fresh or shiny as Shellac.

Overall thoughts?

Not the best quality. If you want a long lasting nail colour then this may be ok for you. If you want strength too, maybe not.

For me this wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, but it will do for emergencies - like if I can't make a nail appointment one week. I don't think though that I would recommend it.