Sick of spending $50 on a shellac or gel mani at the nail salon, me too! So when Priceline were having 20% Sally Hansen yesterday I decided to pick up a few colours as well as the base and top coats to try and DIY myself a salon quality gel mani at home....
Before the tutorial here are a few tips and tricks:
- If you cannot 'colour within the lines' (thank you Carrie Bradshaw SATC quote which i will not apologise for) and you are quite messy when painting your nails with regular polish then this is not for you.
- I did already had an LED Lamp of a different brand. After much google research, I found there are different LED lamps for gel and shellac. This lamp is for gel, it has a different watt to a shellac curing lamp. Just google it if you are using a different brand lamp to the gel polish you are applying.
- Pick a colour which is going to go with a weeks worth of outfits and occasions!
Sally Hansen Gel Base and Top Coat $19.95/4ml & Sally Hansen Gel Nail Colour $19.95/7ml available from www.priceline.com
What you will need:
1. Nail clippers
2. Nail file
3. Orange Stick
4. Nail Buffer
5. Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish - Base Coat - Step 1
6. Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish - Nail Colour - Step 2
7. Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish - Top Coat - Step 3
8. LED curing light
Step 1:
The best way to make an at home gel mani to last is to give your nails a good prep; trim and dead skin, file, buff and push your cuticles back with an orange stick.
*Tip : It is easiest if you complete all steps to one hand at a time but only fingers, complete thumbs together (see photo below) this is the fastest method of at home gels and safest in terms of screwing up uncured nails.*
Step 2:
With clean prepped nails it is time for the gel base coat, paint a thin layer of the base coat and cure under the LED lamp for 30seconds.
Step 3.
Time for the colour, like a traditional nail polish this will 2 two coats. Paint on a thin layer for the first coat, then cure under the LED lamp for 30seconds. For the second coat, even out the opacity and also make sure to cover the tip of the nail completely, this will seal the nail then cure under the LED lamp for 30seconds again.....repetitive sorry.
Step 4.
Top coat time, when applying the top coat make sure you go all the way to the edges of the nail, if you go onto the skin use the orange stick to scrape it off before curing and for the final time cure under the LED lamp for 30seconds.
Step 5.
Nails will feel sticky, they are not wet it is residue from the process, on a cotton round soaked with rubbing alcohol wipe the nails till they feel glossy and smooth!
Final thoughts:
My Sally Hansen Gel Polish mani lasted for approximately 1 week, with 2 nails completely peeling off which I thought was a fair amount of time even though on the box it claims to last for 2 weeks. Having tried a few other at home gel polish brands and they have been rubbish compared to the Sally Hansen Gel Polishes, the consistency was thicker and felt tacky when trying to apply more than one layer, they were also far more expensive. The colour selection of the Sally Hansen Gel polishes is quite limited at the moment but I'm hoping in time the shade range will be increased as this is now my go-to at home gel mani brand of choice.
The colour is bangin'! It is a grown up grape with a muted pastel cherry vibe in some lights, perfect for the cooler weather.
xxx Nella
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I'm going to get the gear and do this, thanks!
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ReplyDeleteNice post lovely blog people will get attract to see this its really lovely post......
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