This year I just went on the hunt for a gel kit because I wanted something long lasting and I love doing my nails at home so why not get my own gel manicure kit?!
I got a great kit online for a fantastic price and I was amazed by the wear I got out of my nails. I have never done a gel manicure before and I thought that, on most people, normal nail varnish lasts so this will maybe last me a day or two without chipping. But I was amazed because I was washing dishes and cleaning with them and it lasted me a whole week and I didn't even know how to apply it well. I let it go on to my skin a little on my thumb.
I got a kit with four different colours of gel polish: cream, coral-red, bright blue, dark grey. Got a base coat and a top coat. Some cuticle pushers and some gel wipers. Also, the lamp which is small for the entire hand but I can do three at a time. Also came with a nail file and metallic peeler because this is the peeling type of gel polish. I do not use the gel wipers because I prefer just using some alcohol and a piece of tissue paper the gel wipers are a little bit of a fuss to take out of the packaging and also don't work as well.
How I apply: I buff my nails with the soft file that came with the kit, it is much more gentle than any file I have. I wipe the powder and oils of with some tissue paper soaked in alcohol and let it fastly air dry. I do prefer doing one hand at the time. After the alcohol has evaporated I star with the gel base and I try to apply very finally. I use to use a heavy hand with my normal nail polish but for this, it is very important to use fine coats so the gel polish doesn't bubble up. Then I curate it under the machine for 30 seconds. On the site it sais you can do 10 seconds for the base coat and the top coat but the machine only does 30 second intervals on, it's just more 20 seconds so it's really fast leaving it the whole time and it does not do a difference for the look or applying the other coats of gel polish. Next step is choosing a colour which for me it's always difficult because I love to wear different colours all the time but I do gravitate towards the nudes (as you can see in the pic). For this nude colour you need two to three coats and for the brighter colours just one or two will do, just do a fine coat and curate between coats and it's fine. Finally, you can put your top coat and seal everything in. Curate and wipe with some tissue soaked with alcohol and the last step is putting some cuticle oil or cream so your nails last longer because gel polish drys your nails more than normal nail polish and when they are too dry the gel polish tends to come off faster. I try to put some hand cream every day at least once.
Pros:
It's faster to apply.
I love doing my nails at night so I have no more streaks from the sheets.
I can do stuff immediately after I apply them.
They last four times more than normal polish (lasts for about 8 days with heavy washing your hands).
It helps my nails grow longer without breakage.
They look shinier and polished than normal nail polish.
Cons:
The smell, it's a bit intense so I try to do it in larger spaces like my living room and not my bedroom.
You have to be really careful to not put a thick coat or it will bubble up and I use to put thick coats with my normal nail polish so it's a bit harder for me.
The lamp could be a bit bigger. It fit perfectly 3 fingers but I would prefer the whole hand.
When you peel the nail polish sometimes a fine layer of you nail skin also comes off. So I do like to give two or three days of rest between gel applications (but sometimes I can't bother and I have used it about 10 times and my nails look great).
I did buy some more colours but I saw another brand and thought maybe it would be the same but it is not. I still love the colours I got and I also go the matching top and bottom coats because maybe it might not be right to use with the other brand but I was mistaken because the base and top coat of this Bling gel polish is POOOO and they come off in the same day. So I tried it with the Hello brand from Rosalind's store and it's looking better but I think it won't last the eight days, maybe five. I bought this other brand because it had more colours in the collection and it also was cheaper but I think it's not worth the money if you can't have the use of the other why bother putting chemicals on your nails.
Rating: Hello Gel Polish - 5/5 - Bling Gel Polish - 2.4/5
Do I recommend it? I recommend buying the Hello kit if you're a beginner like me and don't have anything but if you have the curating machine then I would just recommend the gel nail polish and most definitely the base and top coats because they're the best I've used.
