Tip-sy Tuesday: At-Home Gel Nails

I don't know about you, but one thing that was hard to get used to when everything corona-closed was not getting my nails done! I have awful nails and am very hard on them (which adds to them being awful haha) - when I'm wearing gel polish or dipping powder they stay nice, I don't have to think about them or fuss with them, and are very strong. Yes I get fingernails are not important in the big scheme of things, but I really hate having to think deal with them! My sis has been doing her own gel nails at home and has raved about it for a long time now, so I finally broke down and bought a basic starter kit and the light and I'll tell you what - I might not go back to getting them professionally done and keep doing them myself! So thought I'd share my tips for doing your own in case you are interested in doing your own gel nails:

my sis does a mean french gel manicure on herself - not easy! 
                          

You need a uv light, I bought mine on Amazon. You also need the gel base, polish color, and top coat that works with gel and needs the light to cure. Applying the gel coats is really easy and quick - first lightly buff your natural nail, apply the base coat making sure to not get it on the cuticle and put under the light for 30 seconds. Then apply 2 coats of color, curing under the light for 30 seconds between coats, lastly apply the top coat and cure for 1 minute. Wipe the nails with a little rubbing alcohol to remove any residue and you're done. That's the easy part. Now let's talk removal.

The first time I did them it was very time consuming to remove - after reading up on it I'm pretty sure it's because I applied the gel too thick. Once I learned that and applied very thin coats I had no problem removing at all.

1. lightly file off the shiny top part of the polish - see the photo below, I filed my pinkie and ring finger as an example:

2. wrap your nails in polish remover and wait for 10 or 15 minutes. I bought these little clips that hold a piece of cotton ball soaked with remover on my nails, you can also do like they do at the salon and wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the cotton ball to hold it in place. I find it's easier to put the polish soaked cotton in all the clips or on 10 pieces of foil before starting to put them on your nails.

3. check a nail to see if the polish has started to flake off. If so, remove the clip or foil and gently push the polish off using a cuticle stick or something like that. 

4. once you've (gently) pushed most of the polish off, light buff or file until your nails are polish free. 

Does that sound too hard? It isn't! It doesn't take any more time than having to drive to the salon to have them done and I think they look just as good. Mine doesn't last as long as if I had them professionally done but much much longer than if I just painted my natural nails - at least 10 days. My sister gets longer than I do, don't know what her secret is hahaha. I'm happy with 10 days or so.