Nail Files: At home gel mani!!

I’m sure that you guys are probably tired of me bragging about my at home gel mani that I did last weekend.

If you are then you should stop reading right…about…now.

I mean it.

Stop reading this post now.

*waits*

Okay, is the coast clear?  Everyone who still wants to know how amazing this tutorial is is still around? 

Good.

So while on Pinterest last week I came across this pin:

and I knew I just had to try it out.  I’d been hearing amazing things about Gelous and how it’s a great top coat for glitter polish. 

This seemed pretty simple and there are a million and one Sally’s here in Houston so I stopped into one with my girls and bought a bottle of Gelous (I later went back to purchase another bottle after I saw how easy the manicure was to do and how well it came out) and 2 bottles of the Out the Door top coat. 

A girl can never have too many bottles of top coat.

Anywho!! We went back to Meg’s and I started the grueling process of removing my previous gel manicure that I had done at a salon.  Once I got that done I followed Emily’s steps and filed and smoothed my nails before applying 2 coats of the Gelous on each nail, starting with my right pinky and working my way to my left pinky and then repeating that.  I usually paint my nails like that so it was nothing different for me.  I then did one coat of polish (I used China Glaze’s ‘Shower Together‘) another coat of Gelous, another coat of polish, another coat of Gelous, then on my accent fingers I did a coat of China Glaze’s Fairy Dust, another coat of Gelous and then a final coat of Out the Door. 

I know it sounds like I did a lot, but it really didn’t feel like it.  It took about 10 minutes to dry, and when they did they were shiny and SO pretty!!!

I will say that this manicure has endured a lot this week and still looks good!!  Between my accident on Monday and everything the rest of the week threw at me they stood the test of time.  They still look shiny and neat.  I have a bit of tip wear because I type so friggin hard, but I’m sure that this manicure could’ve lasted another week if I wanted it to.  I’m probably going to change it this weekend, probably a nude color, so I’ll be back next week with a review on the removal process. 

The bottles of Gelous were on sale last week for $4.49 and the top coat was like $5 so even with me buying 2 bottles of each I still came out cheaper than the price of one gel mani at the salon.  I was seriously considering buying Sally Hansen’s at home gel mani kit, but I didn’t want my nail polish collection to go to waste.  Well with this process those 100+ bottles won’t. 

Do y’all wear gel manicures?  And if so do you get them done professionally or do them yourself?

If you have any tips leave a comment and let me know!!