DIY Gel Polish Haul and NOTD

For the back ground reading on why I ended up giving this a go see yesterdays post.

I did a bit of research and hit up Amazon!

The first thing i sourced was my UV lamp. After a bit of research I opted for the 36 watt with timer option, it was roughly about £17 + postage which i found to be reasonable enough.

It was the polishes I was worried about, Amazon does sell CND shellac polishes but at £15 quid a pop for something i might use once and then never again, I wasn't to sure....

While i was googling swatches of their colours though another brand kept popping up, Bluesky.

Now I'm a documented lover of a good dupe, and although i obviously bought a few, something makes me a little uneasy about these polishes. I mean its one thing to have similar colours to a high end brand but these have the same colours, the same bottles(different label) and even the same names for the colours. Its really pushing the line between 'dupe' and all out 'copy' but at around £6 a piece it's much more affordable for an at home enthusiast like myself. I'd be checking the bottles at any salons though.....

From Left to Right we have- Asphalt, Purple Purple, Hollywood, Tutti Frutti, Strawberry Smoothie, Moonlight and Roses, Silver VIP and the Base and Top coat. The colours of the bottles aren't really a good guide to the shades as, rather than the bottles being transparent, they have a similar colour overlay instead.

During my google swatch hunting travels i decided to try a nice layering effect I'd seen, Asphalt with a overcoat of Moonlight and Roses.

A quick YouTube tutorial watched, I was ready to get going.

1. I ran some Acetone over my bare nails to make sure my nails were perfectly clean.
2. 1 thin coat of basecoat cured under the lamp for 10 seconds.
3. 2 coats of asphalt, both cured under the lamp for 2 minutes each.
4. 1 coat of M&R again cured for 2 mins
5. A layer of top coat again cured for 2 minutes

Now i'm no expert so follow those instructions at your own risk but since doing this on Friday I've had people commenting on how nice my nails look, and I've not had any tip wear or even the slightest hint of a chip and my nails are horrific for chipping i can usually only manage about a day, if i'm not working, and sitting perfectly still!

The polishes are quite thick and can be a little troublesome but as long as your reasonably careful and do a clean up before you cure each layer it is fairly straight forward, if a little time consuming.

Have you ever given this a go? Any tips on technique or what colours to check out?

Leave a comment below or give me a tweet x

If you want a job done properly.....the story of a manicure.

Get a cup of tea apparently i'm penning a novel on this one!

This story starts in a sad place. Well really it starts with me having a few to many while out to see a crazy gig last Friday night....and yes it did end up a bit like the Katy Perry song...i think ;-)

Needless to say i wasn't exactly feeling tickety boo the next morning but these things happen and i had a nail appointment to get to!

Once i'd managed to scrub most of the random band autographs off of my booby area (don't judge!) I headed off to my favourite Beauty place in town armed with a carton of coconut water but no umbrella, which was a little foolish considering it was tipping it down.

I'm not going to name the salon in this post as this is where things get a little messy, I've been to the salon on numerous occasions and its been great, I've never been for a nail treatment there before, i'll not be back for one again.

It was so odd, i sat down, and the girl seemed nice enough. I was in for a shellac and the first thing she asked was what colour i'd like, i mentioned a classic french, she said no.... that should've been my first warning. She asked if i minded having my cuticles done, i said it was fine, then she went to town-ish. I obviously wasn't on top form but i didn't fully realise what she'd done until after i was home, raggedy doesn't cover it and 2 of them had evidently been bleeding :-(

When it came to the application of the polish we'd got round to chatting about polishes, I mentioned my collection and she seemed genuinely amazed that someone would be that into polish. I know, I know, i should've ran at that point.

But for some reason i stayed.

What came out her mouth next was so shocking i believe my jaw may have hit the floor. She actually told me to just buy a lamp and get some polish to give it a go myself at home, she even explained how to remove it and how to paint over with normal polish if i fancied a change. Now this is something i'd considered to do eventually anyway but to be sat in a salon being told by someone i was paying for a service that i could do it myself really easily was bizarre to say the least.

But then again the paint job she did on my nails was truly awful. I once let my friends kid paint my nails when we were playing salon and even she did a better job.

Some nails the polish was flooding the cuticle area some had the polish starting so far up it looked like i had regrowth, it was so uneven and it was all set in place for my long term pleasure!. Had i not been so ill i would've noticed at the time and refused to pay.

I was enraged, so as like any full grown woman would, i took it out on some internet shopping....

Hello Mr UV lamp...

Hello my cheap dupe UV polish friends......

and

Hello manicure i'm not ashamed of....

I'll be back tommorrow with more details of what i got/ what i used but i thought some background on how i came to this point would be useful.

Also if you've been to a great salon in the Glasgow area please let me know in the comments section, i'll be on the hunt for a pedicure next and need some recommendations!