Gel Nail Polish

If like me, your nail polish lasts only a couple of days after you've had a manicure before it starts to chip, you must be fed of getting caught out with chipped polish. In fact the turning point for me was a couple of days after new years day, at a meeting in work. I'd made a new year's resolution to look after my nails this year. Looking after my nails to me meant always having them nicely polished even if I had to commit to getting it done every weekend. I was determined to always appear well groomed and getting a regular manicure and pedicure was going to be a must for me going forward.

On the 2nd of January, I went to my local nail bar and had a manicure and pedicure to start the New Year with pretty hands and feet as I intended to carry on the rest of the year. The next day was a working day and I was at a meeting in which I was meant to be writing the minutes and brought out my notepad to start taking notes. To my absolute horror my nails were in a state. My polish from only the day before had chipped and my nails looked terrible. I could hardly bring myself to expose my horrible nails to a room full of executives and managers. I was so embarrassed that I didn't pay much attention to what was being said. Instead I was thinking about what I could possibly do with my nails so I never find myself in the same embarrassing situation again.

When I got home from work that day, I started researching alternative solutions to regular polish. I certainly didn't have the time to paint my nails every other day myself, and my working hours meant that going to a salon every few days to get them done wasn't an option. Besides the professional manicure I had only the day before had already chipped. It was while I was researching a solution to my problem that I stumbled across UV gel polish manicures. They were being marketed as three week manicures - which by the way was music to my ears. If I only had to have my nails painted every three weeks I'd book my appointments in advance and there was no possible way of ever getting caught out with chipped polish again.

I quickly booked my first appointment for a three week manicure at the price of $75. Yes you read it right, $75! Desperate times call for desperate measures and desperate was exactly what I was. The results of my first gel manicure where amazing. The shine off gel polish is far better than the shine you get from regular nail polish. The gel polish also served as a protective coat to my natural nails which meant my nails didn't peel or break at all, and I was able to stretch my UV gel manicure to four weeks before getting them done again.

As pleased as I was with my new manicure routine, spending $75 a month soon began to add up. My habit was going to cost me $900 a year. I decided to go the do-it-yourself route instead. I knew exactly what was needed and shopped on Amazon for all the tools I needed. I chose to use Gelish gel nail polish and also bought Nail Harmony's LED lamp. While the lamp cost me $300 and everything else - i.e polishes, orange sticks etc cost an extra $200, I was still pleased with the savings I'd made. The lamp is a one off cost and will last me forever as the LED bulb will never require changing. I've been doing my own gel polish manicures for six months now and that's worked out to $450 in savings. One more month of DIY manicures and I'll have saved the cost of my original outlay on equipment.