DIY gel manicures

Faith

Just wondering if anyone does their own shellac/gel manicures, and if you feel it's worth it? I love having mine done but it's just too expensive for me to justify it regularly. I found a DIY set on amazon for a really reasonable price, but I'm wondering if there's anything I might not have considered?

MinnieMinx

Without proper training, you run a higher risk of developing an allergy to acrylate based products which would permanently stop you having gel or acrylic manicures in the future.
Good nail techs make it look super easy but it's always more difficult to do your own dominant hand.
I say this as someone who completed the training and began working with a couple of gel brands but still developed an allergy, so it's not that rare.

mcgiggles

Faith wrote:

Just wondering if anyone does their own shellac/gel manicures, and if you feel it's worth it? I love having mine done but it's just too expensive for me to justify it regularly. I found a DIY set on amazon for a really reasonable price, but I'm wondering if there's anything I might not have considered?

I bought a shellac set for this exact reason a while back and I've used it more on other people than myself! Actually thinking the last while I might try to sell it on save it sitting there not being used!

MinnieMinx

mcgiggles wrote: »

I bought a shellac set for this exact reason a while back and I've used it more on other people than myself! Actually thinking the last while I might try to sell it on save it sitting there not being used!

You can only buy the CND Shellac brand from authorised distributors with proof of qualifications. So if you bought it whilst unqualified, it's unlikely to be the genuine product.
I'd definitely be wary when buying second hand from eBay and similar. The fake chinese copy gels can contain dodgy chemicals.

mcgiggles

MinnieMinx wrote:

You can only buy the CND Shellac brand from authorised distributors with proof of qualifications. So if you bought it whilst unqualified, it's unlikely to be the genuine product. I'd definitely be wary when buying second hand from eBay and similar. The fake chinese copy gels can contain dodgy chemicals.

No it is genuine, I bought it from my friend who's a a beautician but was getting out of nails side of things.. and the polishes are from a salon supplier so all above board :-)

mcgiggles

I dont have the stuff to do gel nails or anything, just shellac! :-)

notsoyoungwan

I bought a kit off Amazon and do my own regularly. The worst thing about it is that obviously you can only do one hand at a time rather than have one curing under the lamp while painting the other as beauticians do, so from start to finish ie removing old polish to being totally done it takes me about 1hr 45 to 2hrs. I usualy do it while catching up on mindless tv! It's saved me quite a bit as I used pay €25 a fortnight, whereas the kit plus 10 polishes cost me around €90 on Amazon.

fussyonion

I got the Rio UV Gel Nail Set as a present for Christmas and at first I was dubious. I didn't think these sets were any good but I was pleasantly surprised.

I can't afford to be getting my nails done all the time so before we went on holiday I sat down on a Saturday afternoon and had a go myself.

Now, it took AGES but I was very impressed with the end result.
The kit came with a UV lamp that cured the gel and the overall look was good.

The nails lasted three weeks.
On my second attempt, just before my birthday, I was obviously a bit more experienced and they didn't take as long and the end result looked even better.

So yeah you can do them yourself. It can be quite time consuming but the more you do them the more you get used to them.
And think of the money you save.

PS To remove the nails, soak them in acetone.