If you have followed me for quite some time (or even just a little) then you will know that I always use regular polish but what you may not know is that I have been eyeing off a lot of gel products of late. One of the things that turns me off gel polish is the removal process. I recently received an email from Gelicious Nail Co asking if I would like to swatch and review one of their starter kits that includes a peel off gel base & top coat. That in itself was enough to get me to say yes! Plus Gelicious Nail Co have some gorgeous colours in their range. Today I have one polish to share with you which I received as part of their starter kit.
Before I go into the actual polish lets talk about what is in the starter kit. The starter kit comes with a UV LED nail lamp (which is shaped as a heart - super cute), a peel off gel base & top coat, nail file, lint free alcoholic wipes, and of course a Gelicious nail colour. I chose Lavender Cupcake for my colour. I am a big fan of the packaging that this starter kit comes in. While my box did get a little squashed in the mail it still is great for storage and to keep all the gel goodies together.
Lavender Cupcake is a lavender creme. The formula of this is surprisingly easy to use. It's thick enough that it doesn't run all over the place, but not so thick that it is tricky to use. It does apply a little bit streaky on the first coat, but evens out on the second. The colour is absolutely gorgeous.
I was ready to jump on board with the whole gel thing....right until it came to removal. The removal of these is relatively easy. It says to just soak your nails in warm water for 2-3 minutes. It also says that they can be removed in the shower which got me intrigued. If the gels can be removed in the shower how are they going to last for 10-14 days? I obviously didn't wear these for 10 days but I did wear them for two days. Where I accidentally had some of the top coat run into my cuticles I did notice that those parts did lift (without any water) quite easily within the first few hours. Other than that, they didn't move at all. Until I had a shower and washed my hair. None of the polish flicked off while in the shower (which I thought had a chance of doing) and needed a fair bit of convincing (ie force) to be lifted off after the shower. Most of the nails did come off in one piece, while a couple came off in a couple of pieces.
The biggest disappointment for me was the damage the gels have done to my nails. I don't have peeling nails normally (in fact, the only time I have experienced peeling nails is when I used another gel brand) but I peeled off the gel and discovered that every single nail is now peeling and dried out. I was hoping that it was just excess base that was still on there but nope - my nails are now in a bad way. Luckily for me my nails grow relatively quickly so hopefully my healthy strong peel-free nails will be back soon. Until then, they will be needing a lot of TLC.
Not that it needs to be said but my review is obviously just my opinion and my personal experience. If it helps I have seen someone post in one of the Facebook groups I am saying that they had tried Gelicious polish (without their Peel Off Base & Top Coat) and had minimal damage. But in the same post someone comment that they used the Peel Off Base & Top Coat (like what I did) and had the same experience as I did - although she said she had troubles getting hers to remove in one piece. Definitely had damage to her nails like I did.
I think that is all I can say. Whether this is a product you want to try or not, that is up to you.
The Gelicious Starter Kit is available from Gelicious Nail Co.
Have you tried Gel polish? What has been your experience?
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Lavender Cupcake is a lavender creme. The formula of this is surprisingly easy to use. It's thick enough that it doesn't run all over the place, but not so thick that it is tricky to use. It does apply a little bit streaky on the first coat, but evens out on the second. The colour is absolutely gorgeous.
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I was ready to jump on board with the whole gel thing....right until it came to removal. The removal of these is relatively easy. It says to just soak your nails in warm water for 2-3 minutes. It also says that they can be removed in the shower which got me intrigued. If the gels can be removed in the shower how are they going to last for 10-14 days? I obviously didn't wear these for 10 days but I did wear them for two days. Where I accidentally had some of the top coat run into my cuticles I did notice that those parts did lift (without any water) quite easily within the first few hours. Other than that, they didn't move at all. Until I had a shower and washed my hair. None of the polish flicked off while in the shower (which I thought had a chance of doing) and needed a fair bit of convincing (ie force) to be lifted off after the shower. Most of the nails did come off in one piece, while a couple came off in a couple of pieces.
The biggest disappointment for me was the damage the gels have done to my nails. I don't have peeling nails normally (in fact, the only time I have experienced peeling nails is when I used another gel brand) but I peeled off the gel and discovered that every single nail is now peeling and dried out. I was hoping that it was just excess base that was still on there but nope - my nails are now in a bad way. Luckily for me my nails grow relatively quickly so hopefully my healthy strong peel-free nails will be back soon. Until then, they will be needing a lot of TLC.
Not that it needs to be said but my review is obviously just my opinion and my personal experience. If it helps I have seen someone post in one of the Facebook groups I am saying that they had tried Gelicious polish (without their Peel Off Base & Top Coat) and had minimal damage. But in the same post someone comment that they used the Peel Off Base & Top Coat (like what I did) and had the same experience as I did - although she said she had troubles getting hers to remove in one piece. Definitely had damage to her nails like I did.
I think that is all I can say. Whether this is a product you want to try or not, that is up to you.
The Gelicious Starter Kit is available from Gelicious Nail Co.
Have you tried Gel polish? What has been your experience?
No 'gel' peel off base coat has ever worked for me, only the Unt one under gel but like you feared, it can come off with vigorous activity like hair washing after a couple of days. That can be great if you want a temporary gel effect (magnetics are so much more effective) but not really user friendly. Gorgeous colour though!
ReplyDeleteI think most peel off bases come off quite easily when in water for a bit of time. I actually stopped using peel off bases (even when wearing chunky glitters) because the risk of the polish flicking off at any given time is too much for me lol. This polish is a gorgeous colour. I really had high hopes that this could have been the gel brand for me. Instead, I have no sworn off wearing gels ever again. :(
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