I am SO excited about this next post because I think I’ve finally mastered the art of nails at home. A while ago I posted my different attempts trying professional nails on my own. I tried both acrylic nails (where you have the liquid and powder that you make into a mixture yourself) which is really hard and not worth the time in my opinion, and I also tried dipping powder, which was easy but the nails fell off in like 2 days. I’ll link that post here if you want to read more about those processes.
https://livelifeintheflorallane.com/2019/02/25/at-home-professional-nails/
Now here I am trying gel nails, and it’s by far the easiest method I’ve tried, when I initially thought it was going to be the opposite (idk why it always just seemed the hardest?). The process takes about 2.5h which is the same as if you were to go to a salon, but at home you can take pee and snack breaks and also breaks for puppy/kitty cuddles in between ;).
I first start by buffing off the old shelac colour and grinding it down to a smooth base before I apply the layer of gel. I then take a square flat nail brush, dip it into the gel and apply it on like I would any nail colour. I start from the base where the cuticles are and put a thicker layer where it needs to be refilled, then drag the gel up the rest of the nail. It’s a really thick gel and it’s super easy to work with, and if you make a mistake you can wipe it up and fix it before it hardens when you put it in the UV lamp.
Once the gel is done and hardened (I like to put it in the lamp for 2-3 round just to be extra safe) I switch up the head on my electric nail file so it’s not so harsh and we don’t buff off all the hard work we just did. I buff it down so it’s super smooth, file it to the shape I want it and now we’re ready to paint.
This part is super easy, you take the UV gel base, put it in the machine, put on whatever shelac colour you want, put it in the machine, and then finally put on your top coat and, yup you guessed it, put it in the machine LOL.
And that’s pretty much it! They turned out super nice and they lasted for a good three weeks before they grew out and I had to do my next refill.
This is by far my new favourite method of nails and I will never be spending money in a nail salon ever again! You can get these supplies at any nail supply store, and I think my total ended up being around $250 for the entire kit (which comes with 6 polishes).
Here is a picture of the final product for the past two attempts.
That’s it for now, I hope you enjoyed!
xoxo
Sarah
LiveLifeInTheFloralLane 