A manicure guaranteed to last 14 days! Yes you heard it right. If you haven’t tried out this new craze, you better jump on the band wagon.
When I first heard about this miracle manicure I was extremely curious. I love getting manicures, but I never even make it out to my car without messing up my new polished nails. Even when I make a super conscious effort to protect my nails, it never fails. I leave with jacked up looking nail polish, and I’m disappointed. So I finally decided it was time to make a nail appointment, and try this special gel stuff…
I go to the salon, and pick out a fun bright pink color to match my upbeat mood that day, and was pumped to see how this all works. What I didn’t know at the time was that there are lots of different nail companies who make gel polish, and some are way thicker than others. The gel color I picked happened to be an uber thick polish, and I hated the way it felt! The polish didn’t smudge, and the color didn’t chip, however once my nails started growing, I had a thick line of polish regrowth and it started lifting! No bueno. I felt like I had acrylic nails like I did back in the day, and I wasn’t into it. I also got over the bright happy pink color I picked after day 3, and wished I picked a more “mellow” color. Needless to say, I got the gel taken off after a week because I couldn’t hang, and went back to my basic manicure, messing it up one nail at a time.
Then a coworker told me about Shellac, her FAVORITE gel nail polish. She claimed it was thin and completely sold me on trying this gel thing again. I mean, if everyone else loves it so much, I had to give it another shot. And besides, I’ve given up all hope in getting a manicure and not messing up the paint. So technically this gel polish is my only hope!
Shellac was so different than my first gel experience! It was super thin, and I felt as if I just had regular nail polish on. My favorite part of getting this done is leaving the salon, with completely dry nails, and driving away with no fear of smudging the polish. You really can’t mess this up! I did a nude type color, so even as my nails grew, you couldn’t really see the line of re-growth. I actually wore this polish for 3 weeks before getting it removed.
Though there are a lot of selling points with gel polish, there are a few things I wasn’t crazy about…
*This manicure cost me $40. Once it’s time to get it removed, it costs only $5, but then it’s $12 for the manicure you have to get after they remove the gel (didn’t realize this when I got the gel manicure done).
*When they removed the gel, my nail integrity did feel a little compromised, but from reports I’ve read, a lot of other people haven’t noticed this side effect, so you’ll have to see for yourself.
*I didn’t like that I couldn’t remove the polish myself. Once it was time to take this stuff off, I wanted so badly to be able to do it myself, but you have to go back to the nail salon to have it professionally done.
Me getting my gel removed
However, I’d say the good points way outsell the bad. If you really enjoy having your nails looking groomed, and don’t mind the cost or upkeep, then this stuff rocks! It’s perfect for a special occasion, or if you’re going on vacation.
Important Tips
*Be sure to find an experienced nail tech who knows what she’s doing when it comes to gel polish! I blame that a bit on my first negative experience.
* Pick a nail polish color you won’t mind staring at for a few weeks! Remember my happy pink experience? I was far more pleased with my pretty nude color that matched every outfit.
* If you’re at all like me and don’t like the thick, fake feeling of nails, be sure they use the thinnest gel available, preferably my new favorite, Shellac.
I keep hearing about “gels” in reference to nails, but never knew what they were. I figured it was something like the acrylics I’d get before prom, but this sounds way better. Thanks for the very helpful post! I’m definitely gonna give shellac a shot!:)
I love the gel manicures. We have clients who’s manicure lasted as long as three weeks. Great product!!
I loved the first one I got but when I returned to have it removed, the soaked my nails in acetone (not sure how healthy that is) and then scraped the rest off with a metal tool? Is that normal protocal? It did seem to be damaging to my nails but I’m not sure if this is normal proceedure all places?
The place I go to, Pampered Nails on Melrose in LA, they put acetone on a cotton ball and wrap it around your nail and then wrap foil around that ( like the photo above). Soaking your actual hands in acetone can’t be good and it sounds like the nail techs are just lazy if they are doing that. My place also scrapes the gel off with a metal tool, but it comes off very easy. Like I said, I do feel like it compromises the nail integrity a bit. Personally, I’ll only do gel when I have events!