Monday 5 November 2012

My Gel Nails - A Gelish Manicure

I love painting my nails. Every week, usually on a Sunday I paint my nails, this is something I really enjoy doing from choosing which colour to use, filing my nails and then painting them. My nails grow really fast and are quite strong, I am lucky in that respect I suppose, but it means that even when my nails haven't chipped I still have to take off the polish and re paint them weekly due to the unsightly re growth I get.

Just after Lissy was born, a friend of mine bought me a voucher for a manicure at my local beauty salon. It was a 'new baby' gift, she decided rather than buy a baby gift she would treat me to something nice for myself, it was a lovely idea and I was thrilled as I'd never visited a beauty salon before, I have now been a client of that salon for over 15 years. I love having a manicure, I also have pedicures, eyebrow and leg waxing but that's another post entirely. I have got to know all the ladies who work at the salon along with many of their other clients over the years, and I thoroughly enjoy going for my treatments. I've never been the most adventurous of people where choosing a nail polish colour is concerned and more often than not in the past would choose a french manicure, but over the last couple of years I have been choosing more colours and think I have now worked my way through most of the pink, coral and red colours at the salon!

Emma, the lady who does my nails told me about a new treatment they were offering called Gelish, a manicure using a gel nail polish rather than regular nail polish. She explained I could either have a full manicure with Gelish or just a file and polish using the Gelish, I opted for my usual manicure, and loved it, from the first time I had a Gelish manicure I loved it and knew it was something I would have often, I loved how long the polish lasted on my nails and how shiny they looked all the time. It's also great because I can paint over the gel with my own nail polishes as long as I use an acetone free nail polish remover to remove the polish, this doesn't damage the gel, so I have the best of both worlds.

When having a Gelish manicure the manicure part is exactly the same as my usual manicure the only difference is the polish used. With Gelish, after the initial manicure is done, my nails are buffed and then a base applied, I then put my hand under a UV lamp for a few seconds, then Emma applies the Gelish polish in which ever colour I choose, at the moment I have Rosy Red a lovely true vibrant red, once the colour is applied I then put my hand under the UV lamp again and then a top coat is applied and again I put my hand under the UV lamp, my nails are dry immediately, I don't have to wait for them to dry, Emma applies a little cuticle oil and I'm done. My nails always look amazing when I have had a Gelish manicure and last for 3 to 4 weeks, I have had around 10 Gelish manicures up to now and my nails always look brilliant and have never chipped once when I have had a Gelish manicure, I always go to the salon to have the Gelish removed by Emma, she removes the Gelish polish by soaking my nails in acetone and then removing the polish by buffing my nails, followed by my usual manicure. 

I usually leave it around a month in between having Gelish manicures, when I first started to have the Gelish manicures I had them all the time for around 3 months but I noticed my nails did start to break more easily, so I started to leave a gap in between and now my nails are fine and very healthy. I would say that if you had gel nails continuously your nails would weaken and break more easily but gel doesn't damage the nail in the same way as acrylic nails do. I had acrylic nails a few years ago and they completely ruined my nails. 

I have taken some photographs of my nails during the 19 days I have had my Gelish polish on my nails to demonstrate how much re growth I have, like I said my nails do grow extremely quickly and re growth won't be the same for everyone as everyone's nails grow at different rates. 


The Day After Application

Nine Days After Application 

Nineteen Days After Application


As you can see the re growth is quite bad now and I am glad I am going to have the Gelish polish removed later this week. My nails are still really shiny and do look nice and from a distance the re growth isn't noticeable at all, but it is driving me mad! I have always been really pleased with my gel nails and will definitely continue to have them done, although since Cole is such an amazing nail artist I do only tend to have gel nails for special occasions now. I still go to the salon for regular manicures because I enjoy the experience of visiting the salon, especially since I have been medically retired and cannot get out much, it is a treat for me to go to the salon and chat with Emma and also the other clients. I really can have my cake and eat it, I have a daughter who is an amazing nail artist and can do my nails for me at home when I want and I still go to the salon for manicures as a nice morning or afternoon treat. 

Have you had a Gelish manicure or any other gel nails? What did you think of it? Would you have it done again? 

Thanks for reading,

Zoe x
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