DIY: At Home Gel Manicure
Sharing a step by step on how to perfect your at home gel mani!
A couple of years back I started to build up an at home gel polish kit, I started picking up my UV lamp and polishes from a local beauty whole salers as a friend of mine did her nails at home - they always looked SO fab and it saves so much money!
I do love treating myself to a manicure but not only does doing them yourself save so much money in the long run, with being in lockdown here in the UK the salons are temporarily shut so it's a great time to practice and do your own nails!
I've always loved painting my nails anyway and have gotten myself into a little weekend pamper routine where I re-do my gel mani every Saturday or Sunday, I do find that salon nails tend to last 8-12 days where my at home ones need doing on a weekly basis but as I love doing them I actually really enjoy it!
Here's my step by step on how to do your own gel mani from home - and everything you need for your kit is linked below!...
Shop my top at home
gel polish / kit picks!
*Just click on the items you want to shop below and you'll be taken straight to the shop page! *Aff links used.
What you'll need:
1.) UV lamp / 2.) Base & top coat / 3.) Cotton pads / 4.) Nail file / 5.) Cuticle pusher / 6.) Polish of your choice (I used Halo in shade Black) / 7.) Dotter tool (I used this to add my white dot at the base of my nail)
I ordered this nail box from eBay to store my polishes in - it's such a great price and a fab way to store your kit!
Step 1 - file:
The first step is the file down your nails to the shape you'd like, I tend to go for square with rounded edges!
Step 2 - cuticles:
Time to push back your cuticles - this ensures your manicure will last longer!
Step 3 - prep:
Prep your nails using a prep & polish wipe, this helps to dry the nail out and remove any oil so the polish sticks!
Step 4 - buff:
Once I've used the prep and polish wipe I give my nails a quick buff then they're ready to go!
Steph 5 - paint!:
The last step is the fun part - paint! I always apply thin layers when using gel polish as I find it cures better! I do one thin base coat, usually 2/3 thin colour coats then a top coat. My UV lamp is set to 90 second time slots so I will cure for 90 seconds in between each round.
Once you've cured your top coat, wipe your nails again with the prep & polish wipe so remove any dullness and add shine! I usually finish off with some cuticle oil and hand cream too and voila - salon ready hands at home for a fraction of the price!
I'm loving doing my nails at the minute, plus it saves SO much money! You'll of course need to pay out for the kit but once it's done you can just top up your polishes for around £5 around a pop!
I've linked my favourite gel polish picks for your at home kit, you can shop them below - Amazon offer some amazing starter kits which would definitely be worth looking at or if you're looking to buy separately make sure you've ordered your UV lamp, base & top coat, some nice polishes, and a prep kit with some cuticle care, buff pads, nail file and some nail prep & polish wipe!
Have you tried doing your gel nails at home? What did you think?
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