Soak-off-gel Manicures?

[fortworthgal]

Anyone tried them?

I've had them done in salons (OPI Axxium and the OPI polish-on gel), but I recently bought the Red Carpet Manicure set from Ulta and so far I am in love! With regular polish (generally using OPI, China Glaze, or Chanel) I could not keep polish on my nails for more than 2 days without major chipping and peeling. This way, my manicures last upwards of 2 weeks!

Just curious if anyone else has tried them, would love to hear your experiences and see photos.

 

[zombi]

Hi, yes, I wear Shellac or Gellish manicures and have done for almost a year now. I do not do them myself, I go to a professional, whom I love. Typically mine last a good 2 weeks, sometimes three or four.

I have quite a few photos. Here's a couple..:

I really love them.

 

[lareine]

With the passing of time, I wonder how many other ladies have joined the soak-off gel bandwagon.

I have been doing my own nails with this sort of thing since 2011 and love love love it. No more chips! I've been sticking with Shellac and Gelish so far, but I'm going to try IBD Just Gel and OPI Gelcolor soon. There are so many brands now doing this type of polish. The only problem is that I get bored and want to try a different colour while my nails are still looking perfect with the current one!

 

[Fräulein U.]

I love Shellac. I had been doing my own acrylic gel manicures for years, just to have my nails look tidy all the time. I never had them grow really long so the reinforcement aspect was kinda wasted. But since regular polish with natural nails starts chipping on me the minute it's dry I never had much of a choice until I discovered soak-off gel. I haven't looked back since.

But I hear ya on the boredom issue. Gel polish stays perfect for six weeks on my toes, and my fingers have to match so I reapply three times before I use a different colour. I usually switch between bright cool red and deep burgundy.

 

[sheeplady]

Can any of you ladies point me to a good site that explains the process?

I did a little investigating around Sephora and I saw they have a kit for this kind of thing... is that how you ladies got started? With a kit?

I have a Sephora and an Ulta near me. I'm curious how you ladies would recommend I get started.

 

[lareine]

I learnt everything worthwhile from this site:
http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/

Be warned - it is aimed at professionals and they don't like amateurs asking about DIY processes! But you'll learn heaps just by reading it without posting anything.

They will often insist that only official (and expensive) UV or LED lamps will work with a particular system, but in real life that isn't usually the case My own UV lamp was a Hong Kong cheapie from eBay and it has been doing fine since 2011.

The amateur/non-professional equivalent of the site above is probably this one:
http://forum.purseblog.com/nail-care/

You'll find lots of DIY information there, including opinions of the systems available in store for non-professionals.

Personally I didn't buy a kit, but I probably would have started with one if they were available in New Zealand. As it is, I'm very happy buying bits and pieces from eBay. I tried OPI GelColor since my last post on this thread and absolutely love it, so I'll probably get some more colours from that range soon.

Have fun experimenting!

 

[sheeplady]

Thank you so much!

I want to start wearing polish again but to be realistic it doesn't last with my lifestyle (gardening, cooking, crafting, childcare) and this would be worth the time and effort if it lasted longer!