How To Apply Gel Nails At Home
Jenni Draper talks us through how to do the ultimate at-home gel manicure in 10 simple steps :
1. Ensure cuticles are pushed back using a tool like Tweezerman Dual Sided Pushy Cuticle Stick, £16, but avoid using cuticle clippers. If the cuticles are cut incorrectly it can lead to infections and cause the skin to grow back thicker, so leave that to the experts.
2. File your nails to your preferred length and shape . Dont seesaw with your file, just go gently in one direction and back again the other way.
3. Using a soft nail buffer, go from the cuticle to the free edge , removing shine and leaving the nails with a smooth, ridge-free base. Theres no need to over-buff, just go gently, before brushing any excess dust off.
4. Using a lint-free wipe and a nail cleanser for gels, scrub over the nails to remove oils and dust, leaving them squeaky clean.
5. Apply a thin layer of specialised gel base coat, being careful to only apply to the nail, avoiding the skin. If any touches the skin, use a cuticle or cocktail stick to remove it straight away, before curing in the LED light box recommended for your gel system, for the recommended amount of time.
8. Apply your second coat of colour, perfecting your coverage. Repeat steps 6 and 7.
10. Finally, wipe over the nails with a cleanser from your kit and finish off with a nourishing nail oil and hand cream. I love DadiOil, £7.50, and Chanel La Creme Main, £45.
Does It Contain Quality Polish
If youre fully committed to at-home gels and looking to cut back on salon visits, Aaron recommends investing in a kit that contains quality, professional polishes, such as the LeChat Perfect Match Gel Polish. On the other hand, if youre simply testing the waters between your usual salon appointments, she doesnt think its necessary to invest too much money into the process.
Brief Discussion: Gel Manicure
A gel manicure is a type of long lasting nail polish where they put a layer of gel on your nails. It makes your nails stronger and it doesnt chip off as easily as regular nail color because the gel protects it from breaking or peeling.
They use UV light to dry the gel which hardens the manicure. In this process, the ultraviolet rays in sunlight can damage your skin and eyesight! During this treatment, you have to keep your hands under UV lights for about 10 minutes.
When done at salons, a gel manicure usually costs around twenty-five dollars or more depending on how much work needs to be done on the nails. For example, if theres chipping or unevenness, then they would need to redo the whole process so it would cost more.
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A Foolproof Way To Do Your Own French Manicure
Associate Style Editor, The Huffington Post
Yes, nail art is still a popular trend, but a back-to-basics look is just as stunning. Enter the French manicure, which is often associated with proms and weddings. But as recent updates on the classic style have shown, the French can go anywhere from simple to avant garde.
During New York Fashion Week, The Huffington Post caught up with one of the queens of nails, Deborah Lippmann, while she prepped manicures backstage at the Creatures of Comfort show. Lippmann used several different shades of polish to enhance the runway show’s collection, but you don’t have to have expert skills to replicate the look.
“If youre going to try nail art, theres a good chance youre going to screw up,” Lippmann says, adding, “Give yourself a break and practice!”
But there’s one super-important tip to consider when doing a DIY French manicure. Lippmann prefers freehand French manis, because stickers and stencils can often get in the way. Instead, she advises finger rolling.
“The one mistake that people do is that they just go in and start dabbing,” Lippmann says, and her finger-rolling solution is a sure way to get the line you’ve always wanted — without spending another $50 at the salon.
What does that exactly mean? Take a look below.
Here are more tips for getting the perfect French manicure from the mani maven herself:
Now that you’ve got the traditional French down, try your hand at the reverse version!
Diy Gel Nails: Step By Step Tutorial
Last weekend I decided to learn how to do DIY gel nails. A Coronavirus-induced lockdown has shut the salons. I had an overgrown gel manicure that needed to come off, plus I didnt want to waste the investment Id made into growing and preening them! Cue learning how to do gel nails at home.
It took a lot longer to DIY gel nails than a salon appointment usually takes. However, Im totally thrilled with the results and the kit feels like a worthy investment. The cost is akin to 2 or 3 salon gel manicures and I found the process really enjoyable. Doing things with your hands keeps you busy! It was a welcome break from scrolling on my phone and I popped Friends on in the background.
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The Supplies Youll Need For Gel Nails At Home:
Diy Gel Manicure At Home
I am not one of those gals who always has perfect nails. I tend to chip a classic manicure within 10 minutes of leaving the salon. And I am absolutely terrible at painting my nails at home. Once I took a long time to paint all 10 nails a dark shade but it looked so sloppy that I immediately took it all off and just went nail naked.
Earlier this year I had my first gel manicure. I could not believe for how long my nails looked great and that I could carry on with regular life without treating my nails like they were breakable glass.
But gel manis are expensive $45 with tip at my favorite salon and thats not something I can justify spending on a regular basis long term.
A friend of mine had an at-home kit and did my nails for me once, and it worked quite well! Not quite as long-lasting as the salon, but pretty darn close. I researched what it would cost to buy my own, and I got everything for about $125. Therefore, DIY gel nails would pay for themselves in three manicures.
I bought the essentials on Amazon and have been SO happy with the results!! Here are all the details of my DIY gel nails.
Disclaimer: I am not a nail expert, and this is all just based on my experience doing this for a few months, so if I am inaccurate in any way, feel free to politely chime in to the comments : )
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All The Products And Equipment You Need For An At
Below is the full list of products you need for your in-home gel experience. And please note that these are salon-quality products. These are not dumbed-down amateur products that are going to lead to nails that chip off in two days. These are the exact products and tools used by salons so the result is a manicure thats just as amazing.
1. Nail Clippers 11. Cuticle Oil12. LED lamp 13. Disposable Changing Pad to protect your surface 14. Gel Polish Remover Clips
Many of the above products you likely already own, but even if you were to buy everything brand new , were talking less than $150 in startup costs to give yourself a near-infinite number of gel manicures and pedicures. Not bad when you consider this is basically the cost of ONE trip to a salon for both a gel manicure and pedicure .
What Supplies Do I Need To Do My Own Gel Nails
You must have heard this a dozen of times that with patience, practice, and the right technique, you canmaster your gel nail manicure at home just like a salon. But if you are wonderinghow to make gel nails last at home and what supplies you need to have in your professional gel nail starter kit, here are the essential products and equipment you need to do your gel nails at home:
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Apply A Base Coat To Four Fingers On One Hand
Once your nails are prepped and ready, grab your gel base coat. Apply a very thin layer of the base coat to the nails of your four fingers . You want to get as close to the cuticles as possible without actually touching them. Be careful not to get it on the skin, but use an orange stick right away to clean it up if it happens.
How To Do A Professional Gel Manicure At Home
The secrets out: Ive done my own gel nails at home for years. Im not talking about a manicure with regular nail polish or the pseudo-gel polish alternatives out there. Im talking about doing a professional-quality gel manicure with the exact products that are used at your salon. This is not a drill.
With the right technique and a little patience, you can truly get the same high quality, long-lasting result at a fraction of the price, without leaving your home. Since were all social distancing right now, I wanted to break down everything you need to achieve a gel manicure and I promise, anyone can do this! Below Im detailing every product and trick for achieving a perfect, healthy, long-lasting manicure at home so we can all save some money and love our nails .
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Beauty On Line Color Glitter Powder Dust
Add in the glitter acrylic accents on top of the color. Then repeat Step 4 again to apply a clear layer on top of the colored and glitter acrylic. After it dries, file the nail edges. Then wipe the dust with a damp paper towel.
What Reviewers Are Saying: I love it! This glitter is great. Its very fine, with bright colors and no need to repeat the application. All of the containers were about ¾ of the way full. I use my glitter for nail art, and Im very satisfied. I would definitely recommend this product and would purchase it again.
7 of 15 Image Credits: Amazon
Acrylic Mani: Step 6 – Accent with Glitter
Does The Size Of A Gel Manicure Lamp Matter
Yes, I would say so. Sometimes gel manicure lamps are cheap because theyre small. That means for your hand, you have to cure your four nails and thumb separately, which increases the time it takes to do your nails since you have to switch off constantly.
Also, it means that your feet might not fit under the lamp, which would be a bummer if you couldnt use the benefits of your at-home gel manicure kit on your toes. They need some beauty lovin too!
Overall, I like lamps that can fit an entire hand or foot at once. If youre wiling to drop the big bucks, you can get a lamp that fits both hands and feet. Aint that fancy?
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Diy Gel Nails Manicure At Home
Im so excited that Kaiti is here today with a tutorial for diy gel nails at home for us! If you arent following her on Instagram , you are missing out on some serious nail inspiration! Since none of us can get pampered at the nail salon right now, we need to pamper ourselves. Heres Kaiti with everything you need to know to get an amazing gel nail manicure at home!
Hey babes! With everyone on lockdown and unable to go to the nail salon, I figured Id give you all a little tutorial on how to do your own gel nails in quarantine! I did a quick video so you get the jist of it, but lets break it down a little so you get the best, long lasting manicure you can. Shall we?
Tips For Applying Gel Polish At Home
- Shake, shake, shake your polish before application to make sure it mix well. A good shake make your application easier. Invest in a good nail polish shaker.
- The purpose for applying nail bonder is to ensure optimal performance by increasing the bonding between natural nails and the gel polish. If you feel that your application doesn’t last as long as it should be, try using a nail bonder.
- Get yourself a nice and handy cuticle oil, like CND Solar Oil or Gelish Nourish Oil, because you often need to keep the nails moisturized as using gel polish can be dehydrating.
- Any brand of 36-watt UV Lamp or LED light works. The professional LED light that can cure 5 fingers at the same time is preferable. With UV Lamp you have to change the bulbs regularly and takes more time to cure. With LED lamp, you don’t need to change the bulbs, it last longer and cure in a shorter amount of time.
- If you are concerned with UV Light exposure you can apply sunblock on hands or wear the UV Lamp fingerless gloves before application.
- If you find out that your gel polish is thick, use gel polish thinner before application. This is a recommended product to save your gel polish life.
–Update : Since CND Shellac application is slightly different than Gel polish, we posted a simple, photo tutorial on how to do Shellac Nails at Home. Check it out!
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Gel Nails At Home: A Simple Diy Guide For Beginners
Looking to do gel nails at home to avoid a trip to the nail salon?
Doing gel nails at home isnt so different from the nail salons. So long as you have the right equipment and have the patience to learn, youre going to find this to be rather enjoyable to do.
Will it work? Yes, perfectly but only if you know how to do it right!
In this guide, youll learn:
One Of My Christmas Presents From Terry This Year Was A Diy Gel Nail Kit Which Ive Been Getting Plenty Of Use Out Of Over The Festive Season And Beyond
A gel nail kit is something Id been considering for absolutely ages. As some of you may know, my nails and particularly my cuticles are the bane of my life, and I always feel a bit embarrassed by the state of them. A bit of polish makes them look much better, but it always chips so quickly on me, that even with a decent topcoat, I find myself having to remove it and re-do it more often than I can really be bothered with.
I have, however, had a few professional gel manicures, and have always loved the fact that they allow me to just completely forget about my nails for a couple of weeks at a time, so when I opened up my own little gel nail kit, I was really exited to try it. Heres how I got on
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What Are The Disadvantages Of A Gel Manicure
Although gel manicures do provide many benefits over traditional ones , they come with their own set of disadvantages as well. Some people prefer standard nail polishes because they are much less complicated to use not to mention the fact that you can buy them at your local drugstore for cheaper!
- They take time. The curing process in gel manicures is very important, so it takes much longer to complete than regular nail polish. This means an extra 10 minutes or more for everyones sake, which can be a downside if youre running short on time! However, this also ensures that the layers are dried adequately before moving onto the next step.
- Removal is messy and tedious. Although there are many great DIY solutions out there including foil wraps and acetone soak-off methods, removing traditional gel nails is a real process because you have to soak them in acetone for at least 10-15 minutes. This is definitely not something the average person would enjoy doing it can be very messy, smelly and tedious if done incorrectly.
- Requires extra maintenance. Even though traditional gel nails are extremely durable, they do require some extra steps just like any other mani this includes buffing your nails every so often, applying cuticle oil around the cuticles especially after removing and filing your nails etc. If neglected , your nails might end up looking worse than before which defeats the purpose of having a gel manicure in the first place.
How To Do A Salon
Below is a step-by-step guide for creating a perfect salon-quality gel manicure at home. You can also watch my IGTV video showcasing the process as well here. Before getting started, however, know that polishing your dominant hand can be challenging for some. Patience and practice make it absolutely possible. So, just go slowly and take your time. If youre really struggling, try making an evening of it with friends or family and polish each others dominant hand while you get used to this process.
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