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If you’ve seen my nail polish collection, you know the extent of my polish obsession. I have every color and paint my nails twice/week. Or rather I used to. Last week I tried out the Sally Hansen Gel Manicure Starter Kit after noticing it while browsing nail polish. I had recently gotten a gel manicure for my birthday trip to Mexico and found it so useful to not have to worry about my nails chipping while on vacation. I wanted to start getting gel manicures on the regular but with my upcoming move to New York City, I knew that wouldn’t be an option.
This kit is pricey ($60 from Ulta), however, it’s no more than a couple gel manicures at the salon. Each manicure is supposed to last 14 days without chipping. This kit comes with the LED lamp, one gel base coat, one gel nail polish, one gel top coat, nail cleanser pads, mini nail tools and acetone. There are two nail polish shade options; I went with Shell We Dance (light pink).
I tested this out last Monday and it surprisingly did not take long at all. After removing my old polish, I used the tools provided to push back my cuticles and file my nails. Then I used the cleansing pad to remove any residue. I applied one layer of the base coat and put my fingers under the LED lamp; the lamp is on a 30 second timer so you don’t need to time it yourself! You can only fit four fingers under the lamp at once so I did my thumb after my other fingers for each round of polish. I then moved on to the pretty pink polish and went through the same steps; I repeated this process for a second coat of my color. After I finished up with my color, I moved onto the top coat and went through the same steps. Once my nails were done, I used the same cleansing pad to wipe off any residual bits. I did one entire hand first before doing my other hand. All in all the process was easy and remarkably looked similar to what I’m used to getting at the salon.
My manicure did not chip at all over the next seven days (and I pick at my nails far more often than I’d like to admit). After the eighth day, I noticed one nail was starting to chip. I was actually able to pull off all the nail polish and didn’t need any acetone (not sure if that’s a good thing but it was obviously easier on my end). My nails were far less damaged than when I got them professionally done so I appreciated that aspect of this manicure.
All in all: two thumbs way up! I am really glad I purchased this kit and I plan to use this a lot in New York, especially when I don’t have a lot of time to do my nails. I only wish that there were more color options available. Also I don’t know if I can use other brands with this kit (OPI has some nice gel colors). If you know, please share that information with me!
Have you tried this kit? What are your thoughts?
