The Perfect At-Home Gel Manicure

If you know me, you know I am having a rough week if I have any form of a chip in my nail polish. Growing up, my mom always made sure our nails were either clean and polish free or had zero chips. If we tried to leave the house with ratchet nails, we were handed a bottle of polish remover! It sounds so silly, but I do think you can tell a lot about someone just by looking at their hands! Before gel nail polish, I use to do my nails EVERY Sunday night. I remember sitting at the kitchen table learning how to paint them myself in elementary school! haha Such fond childhood memories ;-) Anyways, when gel polish came out, it was life changing. I received my UV lamp for Christmas 3 years ago, and let me tell you, Santa did good getting me that present! Now I only do my nails every 2 weeks. So many free Sunday nights! lol After years and years of practice with polishing my own nails, I have it down to a science. It does take a little bit longer since you have to soak the gel polish off for about 20-30 minutes, but gel is definitely the way to go!

**My biggest piece of advice when doing gel polish at home is to make sure you do not have any on your skin before putting your hand under the light. If even the tiniest bit makes it off the nail surface, your nail polish is much more prone to lifting up and chipping. I avoid this by using a cheap eyeliner brush and dunking it into acetone. Then, I just wipe it along the edges of the nail. It makes a world of difference!

The Equipment: