I just wanted to put a post together with all the necessary products to get started doing your own gel polish at home. It’s not necessary to spend a ton of money but I do feel like there are certain things you don’t want to skip.
I know a lot of company’s are coming out with very affordable LED lights and that’s great. I have one listed on my shop. But I truly believe you get a better cure with a UV light. I used Gelish’s LED light for a long time when I worked in the salon and finally went back to my UV lights because my clients swore they had better results with a UV cure. This is just my philosophy but LED lights cure at a shorter wavelength than a longer UV wavelength. I notice when I cure with the LED light the top of the gel seems to be cured much drier but it tends to still be uncured underneath if I do it too thick, accidentally of course. With a UV light, it cures the entire way through the gel every time even though the top of the color might be a little “wet” still. If I am doing nail art a lot of times I will cure the color coats for two minutes in the UV light and then do a 10-20 second cure in an LED light to get the top really dry. This is just my theory and I’m sure a lot of people will argue with it and that’s fine. 🙂
Also, I am listing Bundle Monster’s Soak Off Gel Polish. It’s really cheap. And I’ve found that cheap gel polishes usually work just as good as expensive ones and are great for at home use. I wouldn’t probably use the BMC base and top coat in the salon but I’ve used just about every brand of color coat on my clients with great results. It really comes down to proper application. I’ve got tons of great colors of Gelish, IBD, and BMC gel polishes in my shop and will be adding more as I find them. I don’t list Shellac or OPI in my shop even though you can buy them on Amazon because I feel like they are pro-only products and since I’m a licensed nail tech I know it’s a touchy subject and I guess I just don’t want to feel like I am stepping on toes more than I already do. But I love Shellac and OPI so now you know where to get it. 🙂
Here’s a popular article I wrote about gel polish and I go over all the application steps. There’s also a lot of comments in case I missed anything.
I don’t list 99% alcohol on here either because the cheapest I can find it on Amazon is around $6-8/bottle and you can get it at the drugstore, Target, or Walmart for around $2/bottle. Also, you need paper towels to wipe your nail beds and to wipe the inhibition/sticky layer off the gel polish. You can use lint-free wipes but I like paper towels better because they leave less “fuzz”. And I always have them on hand.
That about wraps it up! Let me know if you have any questions at all! Good luck and take lots of pics and tag me on Instagram @chicnailstyles so I can see your work!
Oh and be sure to enter my contest to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card! Contest ends February 13 so get it going HERE 🙂
Tootles–Anna
