Using Gel Polish

 When my niece passed away the other week, I wanted to do something to remind me of her. When she wanted to remember a loved one, she would get a small tattoo. That's not my thing. I thought about coloring my hair purple or pink or blue - because she loved coloring her hair! That's not my thing either. 

She could work this purple wig!

What I finally came up with was doing something cute and different with my nails. That's something that she'd like. Of course, she was an artiste. With her hair and makeup and nails and life...

See what I mean? She was just beautiful, inside and out.

As for my non-artistic self... I don't often paint my nails because I hate dealing with polish that takes so long to dry or that takes more than a million coats to look nice. Then I thought of how another of my nieces gets her nails done at the salon. I hate nail salons. They are pricey and inconvenient for the hermit in me! So...

Gel nails are cute. And I can do them at home for myself. They sure are more affordable. Plus, when I looked into how to use gel polish, I loved that it dries quicker and lasts longer than regular (or lacquer) polish. That sounded like my kind of thing.

I found all different kinds of gel polish online. Who knew??? They come in both liquid and cream formats. Oh boy. As a matter of fact, I had to spend hours just figuring out which would be better to use and how to use gel polish at all...

I ended up getting a super-cheap cream palette and a set of colors in the liquid format. Then I found out that I needed both a gel base and a top coat - and a UV lamp. OH BOY.

Thankfully, I found liquid gel, a cream palette, and the base/top set all for under $25. I had to really do some shopping around, let me tell you that. Apparently, gel nail kits can get way up there in price.

Anyway.

This is my first try at doing my nails. I chose a jet-black liquid polish paired with some glittery cream polish. They turned out pretty good for my first time out:

I started with the black polish

The cream palette has glitter polish!

I added a little sparkle

And, yeah, I didn't do the best job of painting but I don't think it's that bad for the first time. Gel polish takes some practice to use. For one thing, the gel liquid has a different viscosity than regular polish. It feels thicker and seems to coat the brush heavier. No matter how much I swiped the brush, the liquid ran down the applicator and onto the brush. It's really weird. But I do like it.

I found a UV lamp for such a cheap price that I wasn't sure it would work. It was under 10 bucks. As a backup, I got a second lamp (for 16 bucks & there went my budget plan)  that I would return if it was not as good as the cheaper one. Guess what? The cheap lamp works SO much better. I realized that the cheap lamp is 54W while the other one is only 40W. I sent the 40W lamp back

So... I really like using gel polish. I will probably never go back to using regular lacquer. Using gel takes way less time and is really lasting.  I've done my nails more than once now. I hope I'm getting better at it.

I am getting better

Whenever I tried using lacquer, I had to set aside at least half an hour for every coat of polish I used. And I always, always, always made a mess. It's the drying time that kills me. As soon as I got my nails painted, I would have to scratch an itch, use the bathroom, or do something to mess up the not-dry polish. With gel, I just paint and light it up for about 2 minutes. And when gel dries (or "cures") it's seriously done. And that brings up something else.

Removing gel is much more work than putting it on in the first place. It's a process that requires 100% acetone and some way to keep the acetone on the polish long enough to dissolve it. If I had not found a workaround to the process, I would probably not like gel polish as much as I do.

Without the peelable base coat, removing gel polish requires filing the top coat down, then finding a way to keep acetone-soaked cotton on the nails long enough to let it work. I tried doing this by wrapping foil over the cotton on my fingertips. That's folly supreme. The foil kept falling off and, besides, foil is not that cheap. I ended up spending a couple more dollars for some of these clips that hold the cotton on your nails. 

~sigh~

To make removing the polish easier, I found a peelable base coat. That stuff is amazing. Still, there's always a bit of residue of polish. That's fine. I just use acetone, cotton, and clips. Easy peasy.

So. Yes. Gel polish is pretty cool. Of course, now I have accumulated the UV lamp, 2 liquid color sets, the cream palette, base and top coat, acetone, and clips. I've had to restrain myself from getting the nail art gels! I don't need another product addiction. 

Most of all, I like being able to wear polishes to remember my niece. One day, I hope to get some colors that she would use - bright pink or blue or some other kind of loud and electric color. When I get better at using the gel, I just might get some of the nail art kits. Maybe write out the letters in her name on my nails.

I still cannot believe she is gone. I hope I can think of her one day without feeling this ache in my heart.

Peace

--Free