DIY Gel Nails

"Ah, freshly manicured nails... they sure make you feel like a new person, don't they?" I ask as I am sitting here typing away with my freshly done gel mani... yes, yes, they certainly do. Thanks to Amazon I was able to scour some great gel nail products to do my own manis in the comfort of my own apartment. I can sit on my sofa cross-legged while I drink coffee and do my nails? Say whaaa? Yep!

The basics needed: a uv/led gel nail lamp, gel nail polishes, gel nail base/top coats. I use the products linked, and they work really well.

For around $50 you can purchase all the essentials -- that's roughly one or two gel manis at salons -- which means you'll def save some money doing your own nails at home! That's honestly why I went on Amazon and got supplies so I could do my gel manis myself; as a 20-something living in NYC, costs add up and getting my nails painted is more of a luxury at the moment. I've always done my own normal manicures anyway (see this post from way back!), but I was intimidated by diy gel manis because of the removal process.

Usually salons will soak cotton balls with acetone, then wrap those around the nails with aluminum foil to allow the acetone to soak into and loosen the gel polish. I thought it would be quite annoying to complete the time consuming process myself... honestly my patience level would not tolerate me wrapping cotton balls and aluminum foil on every. single. nail. Luckily I used the googles and found out that if you dip your nails into a bowl filled with acetone, that works too to remove the polish. Holy moly. It 100% works so much better. It might be a bit difficult to visualize, but basically I take a small Voluspa candle jar that I upcycled (heard of this millennial-ish term recently so decided to use it here to seem v cool), fill it with a bit of acetone, put the jar in a bigger bowl, then pour some hot water in the bowl to warm up the acetone. Then I stick my nails in the acetone-filled jar, let them soak for five to ten minutes, use a cuticle pusher to push off the loose gel polish, then file off any residue. Super quick and easy. Yes, your nails will get dried out from the acetone, but you can always take a break from gel polish/polish in general to moisturize and baby them back to life for a while.

After the removal process, I trim/file my nails, use cuticle remover cream/cuticle pusher, wipe off nails with acetone to remove oils, then repaint my nails using the gel polish/gel lamp. Light coats are key, rather than thick ones, otherwise you risk clumpy gel nails. Been there, done that... not pretty. Anywho, the whole diy gel nail mani takes me about 30 minutes to do. My nails are now ready to go for two to three weeks! Love how my mani came out. I got this color set because I typically have a pinkish color on my nails. Might stock up on more colors though... reds, nudes, fall colors, etc. Also, forgot to mention that it is around 5am right now and I had to redo my nails because I was picking at them while I was studying... you know, me fidgeting and needing to move around had me ruining my nails... crisis averted thanks to my gel nail set! Too convenient. Now I'm going to head to the gym with my fresh mani - woohoo. :)

P.S. The post photo is clearly not a photo of gel nails, but can you imagine doing your own nails in that super cute living room? You can even host a diy gel manis/rom-coms/cocktails girls night! Careful on the French 75s and Cosmos though... might miss a nail or two... ;)