At Home Gel Manicure

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I'm back and I'm going to try to post more often!  Today I decided to try something that I've only tried once and kinda failed.  I did a gel manicure.  A few months ago I bought Sally Hansen's Salon Insta-gel Strips because I wanted to try an at home gel manicure and this one came with the UV light so I didn't need to buy that separately and the kit was about $20 I believe.  Once I got home I opened everything and tried it out.  I just didn't want to use the strips that came with it because they just seem like a lot of work to try to get it all flat, smooth, and filed.  So I used my own base coat, put 2 coats of nail polish, applied the gel top coat, and cured.  At first I was happy with my manicure but after a day or so it started chipping and then all of the polish peeled off like it one big piece.  I was definitely not impressed.  A few weeks later I was at the store and noticed that they had the Sally Hansen gel base coat and top coat sold separately along with the other products that come with their regular Salon Gel Polish kit, so I got the top coat to try and see if it would be different than the Insta-Gel Strips.  Today I finally had the extra time to try this out.  I didn't bother looking at the directions and did my own thing instead.  Here's the steps I took:

1.  Pushed back my cuticles, filed the edges, and lightly buffed the surface of each nail to get rid of the surface shine.
2.  Applied a layer of the Salon Gel Polish top coat and cured for 30 seconds, wipe each surface with rubbing alcohol on a napkin to remove the sticky surface.
3.  Painted 2 layers of my own nail polish, Spoiled by Wet N Wild in Tip Your Waitress, waiting for each coat to dry completely.
4.  Added a simple nail sticker on each ring finger to add an accent.
5.  Applied another layer of the Salon Gel Polish top coat and cured for 30 seconds, wiped each nail with rubbing alcohol.
6.  Enjoyed my beautiful gel manicure :)

The rubbing alcohol is very important when doing a gel manicure!!! At first I thought there was something wrong because after curing my nail for 30 seconds the surface was so sticky and wasn't dry at all.  Then I remembered to wipe it with alcohol and it was perfectly smooth, dry, and shiny.  I am so happy with how this gel manicure turned out.  Soo much better than my last one!  My nails are so shiny and smooth!  I can't stop rubbing each nail because they feel so amazing haha.  Now I'll put it to the test and see how long it lasts.  After all that is the main reason people want gel manicures; so their manicures last a long time without chipping.  Now here's the pictures:

Ugh my pinky is never even with my other fingers.

 

 

 

 I probably look crazy today because I can't stop rubbing my nails and staring at them because they're so shiny and smooth.  I will keep you updated on how long this gel manicure lasts!

 

UPDATE:  I just wanted to update everyone that this gel manicure lasted from Wednesday to Saturday with absolutely no chipping and was just as shiny as when I first did it.  It probably would've lasted even longer but I wanted to change my polish so I took it off myself.  From now on everytime I want a manicure to last long I will definitely use this gel technique!