Thrifty's How to.. Do Your Own Gel Nails!

Hello,

Last week, I started a series of weekly 'how to' mini guides, where I test out some homemade or home based beauty regimes, in order to find new ways of doing things in a more thrifty way. This week I thought I'd explore gel nail polish DIY kits, and just how easy it is to do your own gel nails at home.

If you're like me, you get excited by a new nail polish for all of ten minutes, spend ages painting your nails, religiously apply your base coat, three coats, and a top coat, and touch NOTHING for half an hour until you're absolutely certain its bone dry. You believe you've finally found a chip proof polish and think you've finally cracked it. Then, BAM, you reach into your bag for your keys/taxi money/makeup an hour later... and they're ruined.  Yep - either I'm either really heavy handed and clumsy, or nobody else uses their hands for anything. I don't believe regular nail polish truly lasts for everyone else too, but maybe I'm just bitter because they don't work for me!

'Gellicures' however, are a Godsend compared to your average "NON CHIP" nail polishes, because they actually last at least a week, two if you're really lucky. They do chip eventually, but you can repair them, and at least you don't have to redo your nails constantly. This usually costs me around £20 a time at a salon, but you can buy your own gel lamp kit for around £15 from Ebay, which virtually does the same job. Then all you need to invest in are the polishes, which are approximately £5 each, so you basically pay for it all in the equivalent of one salon visit!

What you need: A gel UV lamp, fingerless gloves (optional, but all UV damages skin after prolonged use) a base & top coat, and gel polish colour.

Here are the steps to get your nails looking great on the cheap!

1. Wash hands.
2. Buff the nails thoroughly, to get rid of surface oils, this is really important as it really helps the polish to stick. 
3. File the edges of your nails to the shape of your choice.
4. Apply base coat and cure nails with gel lamp (2 mins)
 Be careful of any stray hairs or dust around as this will ruin your professional look! (Captain Obvious, but this happened to me a lot.)
5. Apply 2-3 coats of polish, after each layer it will seem tacky but this helps the next layer to stick. (2 mins each coat)
6. Apply a top coat, taking care to cover the tips of your nails. This is the main trick that stops them from chipping! Cure this layer for 3 minutes, the extra minute ensures a hard, glossy finish!
7. Wipe nails with a lint wipe (makeup wipes will do) this removes all tackiness from the nails and leaves a glassy top coat.

Voila, pretty chip free nails!

How do you get on with regular nail polish? I'd love to know if this is just me that is incapable of using the stuff!