How to make your nail polish last longer

Ladies I have another secret that I would like to share with you all for your nails. I was doing some research on nails and manicures and how to upkeep your nails when you are usually busy.

That is when I decided to try glue on nails. Now this isn’t my secret but I am just explaining on how discovered it.

My local drug store had them for $16.00 for a French manicure set. I have also been contemplating about going to the nail salon, but after looking at the prices, I wanted to find and inexpensive way to upkeep my nails and save money.

So, the fake nails that I bought were nice  , and they looked very realistic but, they only lasted about 1 week and had to fork over another $20.00 for another set. This was unappealing to me and so I decided to look at some other alternatives.

I went on YouTube and saw women doing tutorials of their very own acrylic nails. I remember getting acrylic nails years ago and they were at the nail salon as well.

Well, there have been many changes since then and we have also been introduced to gel nails. I got a manicure at a nail salon the other day, and the nail tech asked me if I wanted to get gel nails. I asked her what that was and she gave me some more information and showed her nails which were gel as well.

So, I decided to look up gel nails on YouTube and saw a plethora of tutorials on how to do them yourself. At first I was like, this is great because I can end up saving a bunch of money by doing them myself. And let me tell you, I am so pleased with the results, they look just like I got them done at the salon.

After doing some research on-line, the top brand for gel nails, if you are just getting started out, is made by a company called Gelish. Gelish products can also be found at your local Sally’s, but you have to watch out because the quantity is low during these times and everyone is doing there own nails now. If they don’t have them at your local Sally’s , you can always go online and purchase them here at sallybeauty.com.

The bundle that I bought was for $129 and I got all of the basic products you would need for a gel application. The only other things that I bought was a 180 nail file which is mentioned a lot in the tutorials on YouTube, and Gelish structure gel to extend the length of my nail as you would with acrylic. The only difference is the material that is used, and I prefer the gel because you can just soak it off with acetone when you are ready to remove them.

Application was very easy, I won’t go into detail ,but if you are looking for a general idea, just google it on YouTube for a gel nail application tutorial.

I just wanted to bring gel nails out to the forefront. I love it so much and before when I would use regular nail polish , I noticed that they only lasted for a couple of days, which was a big inconvenience for me because I don’t have the time to be doing my nails every other day.

I also noticed that regular nail polish left streaks on my nails and they would look dirty after a day of wear. Now with the gel nails, there are no streaks at all and the polish doesn’t chip off either.      

You can expect gel nails to last anywhere from 2 weeks to a month if you take care of them in between. I also wanted to add that application can be lengthy and can take around 3 hours to do all ten nails. I hope that you have found this article helpful and if you want your own gelish kit, then you can purchase it here.

Here are some tips to how to keep nail polish from chipping

Use Gel Polish

If you suffer from chipped nail polish, you may want to switch to gel nail polish as it lasts longer and performs better. It may be a bit more expensive, but the quality of your manicure will be much better than using regular nail polish.

Gel Nails Preparation

Buffing

Before Applying any gel polish, I have learned through trial and tribulation that it is so so important to buff the nails before applying gel polish and prepping the nail. Before I started doing this, I noticed that my manicure did not last and the gel polish would life off from my natural nail and wouldn’t last longer than a week. This was because I was not buffing the surface of my nail prior to application.

By buffing the nail, I am referring to buffing the surface with a 100 nail file that you can fine easily at Sally Beauty. You want to buff down the surface of the nail so that it feels gritty and rough.

By doing this, it will allow the gel polish (base coat) to stick to the nail and it will not budge because it needs something to grip onto.

If you apply gel polish to a smooth surface, it has nothing to grip onto and will then lift off the nail very easily.

So always remember to buff the nail with a good file, you can also file the tips as well as you regularly would when filing nails, but always buff the surface of the nail when applying gel polish.

Use  a Nail Primer

When using gels nail polish, it is very important to prep the nail before application. Always wash your hands before applying and make sure they are dry. should also use a nail dehydrator aka nail polish primer. What does nail primer do ? It basically removes all of the natural oils that your nails produce, and allows the gel polish to stick to the enamel. You will then notice, less peeling or chipping because you primed your nails before application.

In the gelish starter kit , it comes with all four steps including the nail primer. But if you are using any other brand, you may have to purchase the primer separately. That is why I am mentioning it now.

Always Use a Base Coat

After prepping the nails, you want to set a foundation before applying color gel polish and use a gel nail base coat. I always love the way my nails look when applying a base coat. They become so shiny and appealing to the eye . But , I have to remind myself that this is just a preliminary step in the whole gel polish experience.

The base coat acts as a foundation for the gel color that you will be applying next and allows the color gel polish to bond to the nail. I have never applied gel color polish on the nail alone, but I can imagine that it would not come out right without prepping \priming the nail and applying a base coat. I hope you love it.

Apply Gel Nail Extensions

Gel extensions are fairly new the gel nail world , but there is also an alternative to gel nail tips and this is by using a soak off surface gel. Surface gel is very similar to a builder gel . The only difference is that the surface gel can be soaked off and the builder gel needs to be buffed off.

How long do gel nail extensions last ? They can last up to 3 weeks, and this is why I love gel nails so much.

I am a huge fan of soak off gel, mainly because it doesn’t involve too much work to remove. All you have to do is soak it off in some acetone, and your good to go.

Another for of gel polish is polygel polish. Now I have never dabbled in this arena but with polygel, or builder gel you have to remove it with an e-file. As you can tell I am completely turned of at the idea of buffing of the hard gel from your nails . It just doesn’t seem natural and I can only imaging how messy it would be. To me, soak off gel is the best thing since sliced bread! Lol

Back to the surface gel, it comes in a nail polish bottle and looks very similar to gel nail polish. If you want extensions, you may want to use nail forms which are adhesive tape that you apply to the tip of the nails as a guide to creating a tip extension.

There are some great tutorials on youtube that explain how to extend the nail with surface gel that may help you.

Using surface gel, is a great way to naturally extend the nail without getting too involved (ex. Polygel/acrylics). It Is als overy easy to remove and involves almost no mess.

I have recently experimented in created the short round gel extension design that you can find by gelish. I have simulated the same look because I wanted to try the new gel extensions that gelish recently made, but realized that I already have the surface gel and that would be a huge waste of money.

I am also finding that by using the surface gel with nail forms is a much cheaper option than gel nail extensions, as a bottle of Surface gel is only $25 and I have yet to know how long the bottle will last because I still have a good amount.

Conclusion

I hope that these nail tips have helped you decide on what the best option may be for you. I love gel polish and that is why I decided to blog about it and share my experience with using this kind of polish. Now I detest using regular polish and the only place that I use regular nail polish is on my toes because I can just wipe them off with acetone. If you would like to own your own gelish starter kit, you can purchase it here.