At Home Gel Manicure Supplies and Tips

Gel Nail Light// OPI Gel

Base and Top Coat// Wood Manicure Stick

Cuticle Remover// ****Bonding Primer

Buffer and File Set

**** my #1 recommended product in this blog post! It's a game-changer.

I originally posted this in November, but I'm coming back a few months later to update this as I have perfected my at-home gel manicure! 

On a whim, in early fall, I bought supplies to attempt my gel manicure at home. I love having my nails done, and over the past 10 years, I have gone practically every 2 weeks. Not only is it costly but I love the results. I just don't love the experience and time it takes. I love a pedicure, but there's just something about a manicure at a salon that I would happily avoid. It seems like such a task. Champagne, problems, I know. 

The supplies to do your own gel manicure at home are minimal. It costs about the price of a salon gel manicure for all of the supplies, so I figured even if I only do my nails once or twice, it's worth it. 

The Gel Nail Light is exactly like what they use at the salon. Now that I have had mine for several months, it has held up perfectly. I originally bought this gel nail set, which comes with a top coat and base and a bunch of colors, but I also got the Gelish brand Base and Top Coat since it's one I recognized. However, I don't love the colors in the gel set and would recommend just purchasing the Gelish Base and Top Coat and then buying your own favorite colors. 

Now that I know I can actually do a gel mani at home and I don't mind doing it, I've also been collecting some other OPI colors (one of my fave pinkish nudes) since that is my favorite brand of polish. You can find many colors available on Beyond Polish and I've also had luck with Walmart. 

Anyway, I thought I would share some tips with you all since I'm basically a seasoned pro at this point. 

- From start to finish, it takes me about 20 minutes. It would take me 10 minutes to get to my nail salon and 10 minutes to get home, so I figure it is a time saver right then and there. It took me longer when I first started, but now I can move pretty quickly. 

- It's relaxing. I like to put on a show, set up my little salon area, and go to work. I enjoy it.

- The prep is the most time-consuming part. The actual painting is quick. I use this Buffer and File Set.

- There are three things that I think make the biggest difference between an OK manicure and a great manicure: ensuring your nails are bone dry, applying very thin layers, and capping the nails at the top. 

- To make sure my nails are bone dry, I use nail polish remover on my nails right before I go to apply the Bonding Primer. I do this even if there is no polish on my nails because it dries the nails out. I will sometimes lightly buff them so that the surface is rough. You want to create an environment where the gel will stick to the surface. Then, I go in with a light layer of the Bonding Primer which is a must. Do not skip this step. It helps SO much and is, in my opinion, better than the OPI pro bond. 

- When I go in with the base and then onto the color coats, I try to make the layers as thin as I possibly can. I started out way too heavy-handed. This was one of those things where it took some trial and error to figure out how to get the layers really thin, but you just have to wipe the brush on the bottle a lot. The thinner the layers, the better they will hold up. 

- I only cure each layer for 30 seconds. I originally assumed, the longer you cure the nails, the better, but that's not the case. You want to keep the gel layers slightly tacky so that they all stick to each other. Only at the top coat do you want to cure for 60-90 seconds to finish it off and make sure nothing is sticky. 

- Practice capping the nails with a light color. You won't notice your mistakes as much, and capping with a darker color is harder! 

- Removing is really easy. You just soak your nails in acetone with the aluminum foil like they would at the salon and you can buff it off in stubborn areas if needed. 

- Even though capping the nails with a lighter color is easier, painting with a darker color can help you get used to making sure there is no pooling of polish at the cuticle. If there is pooling, the gel will start to lift after just a few days. 

I don't have great nails or hands, but I really do think I'm getting almost the same result as I would at the salon. I haven't perfected it yet, but I've gotten significantly better since I started just a few weeks ago. It's also pretty calming to do this, and if you are somewhat of a perfectionist like me, you'll have a field day.