Gel Nail Polish – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Doing your own gel nails at home is so easy and gel nail polish is so durable, it seems completely fool proof. When gel nails are done right, they are the absolute must stunning and gorgeous option out there. But they can go wrong. Problems can happen. But don’t worry; we’ve got some great tips here to help you avoid any gel nail disasters. The real secret, as with most things, is to really understand the big picture and how it works.
Choose Your Gel Nails Technician Carefully
Your gel nails technician makes a huge difference. If she’s applying your gel nail polish carelessly without proper preparation, you aren’t going to get the results you should. It is critical that the polish not touch your skin. It must be applied only to your nail, and the base and top coats must have a tiny edge all the way around that is not touched by the gel nail polish colour. This seals it in. If any layer of the gel nail polish touches your skin, it is vulnerable to cracking or peeling at that spot.
Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing your gel nails technician:
- Ask around and get recommendations. Talk to your friends and your hair stylist. Check out some local beauty forums online. Know that if you walk into an unknown salon offering a fantastic deal, you might get great results or you might be disappointed.
- Make sure the gel nails technician is using quality products. Poor products will give a poor result. This is one reason to ask around and to look around in the salon.
- Beware a gel nail technician who promises a very fast manicure. Yes, a gel nail manicure is faster than one with regular nail polish, but if a technician is rushing to get a lot of people through in a short time, she isn’t likely to be taking the time to be as careful as she should.
- If you see any other patrons soaking their nails in a bowl of acetone to remove their gel nail polish, just run. That is a red flag that you are dealing with a lazy and careless technician who won’t take the time to prepare proper foils to apply the acetone to only your nail. It isn’t good for your skin.
Of course, learning how to do gel nails at home means you can avoid the whole range of potential problems and also save money – which means you can buy more fantastic gel nail polish colours! And you’ll also know exactly what you are getting when you buy your polish. Getting a complete gel nail kit with all the accessories from the nail lamp to the orange stick makes it easy to get started.
Your Nails Make a Difference
You can’t expect magic from gel nail polish. Dazzling results, yes, but gel nail polish will not cure problems your nails may have. And the state of your nails does make a big difference to the results you can expect from gel nails. If you put gel polish on to unprepared or damaged nails, you will not get two weeks of glossy gorgeousness no matter how carefully you apply it.
If your nails are damaged in any way, you will need to get them back in good shape before you can do gel nails at home and get the beautiful results you normally would. If your nails are in bad shape, put in the effort to heal them instead of trying to hide them. Keep them short and unpolished for a while and make sure you are getting enough vitamins and protein in your diet every day. Get plenty of rest and drink enough water. If you have been under a lot of stress, find some healthy ways to deal with it. Try exercising if you don’t regularly get enough; yoga is great for promoting relaxation and overall good health.
When you do your gel nails at home, don’t cut corners. Take the time to make sure all of your last manicure is completely gone. Wash your hands and gently push back your cuticles. File the ends so they are smooth, taking care not to make your nails any thinner. Make sure your nails are completely dry and free of any dust from filing them before you apply your base coat. Take the care you would expect from a top notch professional manicurist when you do your gel nails at home and you will get those top notch professional results – gloriously glossy nails for 14 days or more.
Remember that while gel nail polish will protect your nails to some degree, it does not actually promote growth. Your diet and overall health can help healthy nail growth, but gel nail polish will not make your nails grow faster.
If you want to use artificial nails for the length, you can of course. But don’t expect your gel nail polish to adhere to them as it does to your natural nails. If you decide to try this option, and many do, it can work but the results are not guaranteed. Taking your gel nail polish off without damaging the acrylic nails is the hard part. You are probably better off to save this for special occasions rather than as a regular look and focus on keeping your own natural nails healthy so they grow well.
Done correctly, gel nails are stunning. But if you or your nail technician try to cut corners or if you are applying gel nail polish to damaged, unhealthy or unclean nails you are likely to be disappointed in the results in a matter of days. It isn’t that time consuming to do gel nails at home correctly, and the dazzling results are well worth the effort. You can make it a real pampering experience, and we all need more of that!