Gel nails- which ones are best

Hey everyone

Hope everyone has had a great start to 2012. I've been thrown straight back into work after flying back to the U.A.E and now enjoying my weekend, which is Friday and Saturdays in the Middle East as Friday is the Holy day here.

Anyway, so, other than spending most of my day asleep and catching up on many a lost hour of sleep due to the time difference and getting back into work I spent the afternoon getting my gel nail polish re done on some of my fingers as it had started to chip and I had only had it done on Monday. Most salons say that gel nails should be chip free for 10 days so off I trotted to Nail Moda which is my nail salon of choice here to get them redone. It only cost 20dhs which is £3 to have them re-done and If I had really pushed the point I probably could have got it for free but I wasn't too worried.

I've currently got shellac gel polish on in a muted pinky colour. I do love gel polish as it last for a good 2weeks and quite often I have stretched to 3 weeks but I find my nails grow quickly so I do have a gap at the base of my nails where the new polish grows through. I don't mind this too much.

There are lots of different brands of gel polish available and I've tried four different brands so far and I do have a slight preference. Gel nail polish is basically normal polish but its set under a UV light. I'm sure scientifically there are many differences but for most of us who aren't worried about the science that is the main difference, oh and it lasts a hell of a lot longer than normal polish!! I'm not one of these fortunate people who have the amazing skill of painting there own nails at the standard that a salon can and tbh I really enjoy going to get my nails done as it gives me an opportunity to pamper myself, relax, sit in a lush vibrating, massaging chair and watch a film. I go so often now the girls in the salon all come and say hi and see what polish I'm having done so its a nice chance to chat with different people too.

The four different types that I have tried are Gelish , Shellac, Jessica gel range and Bio sculpture gel.





So far my favourite has to be gelish as I find that it chips less on my hands. I have been told that I have soft nails and that this may be the cause of Shellac chipping on me more. But Shellac doesn't have a coating that is put on first which makes the rest of the coats to stick more as in Gelish. ( being all scientific again there hee hee)
The Jessica polish was also good aswell, but I've only had it the once so would need to try it more to give a fairer review really. Different salons hold different gel polishes and all have their own preferences. Bio sculpture gel was nice and felt differently on my nails but took a lot longer to remove.

Removing the gel needs to be done by the salon really as even though they do suggest that you can do it yourself , I find that they know what they are doing and removal is usually included in the price of having gel reapplied. They have to sometimes buff the polish, which I find a slightly weird sensation and I'm not a fan of this part of the process, then your nails have bits of cotton wool applied with nail polish remover which has acetone( think thats right) in it and then your fingers are snuggly wrapped in tin foil!!!!



Usually your left in these sexy little foils for 5-10 mins which allows the polish to weaken and once your time is up the foil is removed and then the polish is gently removed with a cuticle stick. ( scrapped off basically) I know lots of people worry about the nail being damaged but I've happily been getting gel polish for 7 months and my nails are happy little campers. I have to admit that as with any polish nails do need 'breathing' time so I do give them a break every now and then. Even with my toes, which I feel suffer more when constantly polished, have a break every now and again. Even if it's just a few days. I also use solar oil on my nails every day on both hands and toes as this adds extra conditioner to your nails.


This shape pot is about 100 dhs so £18 . Not cheap but the pot will last a year at least. I had a smaller pot that cost £3 from my friends salon ( BeautyBoutique in Chelmsford) and that lasted 3months!!! Even the girls that do my nails said that they can see when I have been using it as there is varying degrees of condition on my nails.


So to sum up my rant on nails, which is a popular topic with me and my friends, nails and waxing commonly is discussed at brunches, Gel nails are brilliant. Lasts SOOO much longer than normal polish and well worth the money!!!

Hope this helps anyone whose not sure whether to try them or not and let me know if there are any other nail products to try.

Oh, that reminds me, I have also tried Minx nails



These are basically stickers. On toes they can last 4-6 weeks but on hands only a few days as the glue can become less sticky quite quickly. I haven't had these bad boys on my toes as quite frankly my toes are too small to host such spectacular beauties as these and just wouldn't be worth the pennies.

Anyway

Im off to finish my tea and christmas cake that my mum smuggled into my suitcase

Ma salama for now