Why don’t you try to do your own gel manicure with at-home gel nail polish kits, which have been constantly popping up in drugstores and mass retailers, instead of wasting time and money to visit a nail salon every 2 weeks?
Frankly, it’s not too overreacting for saying that the invention of gel nail polish is amazing! It’s the solution for all the issues of longevity, durability, dry time and shine. The great selection of colors and countless nail designs also add extra glamour to gel manicure. Gel manicures used to be strictly salon-only, but with a higher demand of nail consumers, a bunch of brands have launched at-home gel nail kits, which offer a great alternative to those unable to schedule appointment and justify spending probably $40-$60 on a new set of nail every month. Keep in mind that if you can apply nail polish by yourself, you mostly can give yourself a decent gel manicure.
If you have ever done your own nails before, we would be a bit more concerned. Just kidding! Practice makes perfect! Abundant gel nail polish kits have been arriving on the market lately, but depend on your own references in term of simplicity, longevity or the removal process, there’s kit that fits your need better than others. We’ve helped you round up our 7 most favorite at-home gel polish kits as well as our guideline for choosing an excellent one.
For The Polish Novice
Sally Hansen: Salon Insta- Gel Strips
Sally Hansen brings up a totally different concept – gel polish strips – to the gel manicure world. This Salon Insta – Gel Strips starter kit features easy-to-apply gel strips that last for 2 weeks. This concept of using gel strips is great for the polish novice who gets a bit wobbly during polishing. It offers a variety of colors for you to choose from. Plus, these gel strips are extremely easy to remove with just regular nail polish remover. Even though it’s convenient, it costs a bit more since you probably spend about $15 for a single manicure every 2 weeks. However, you still save a great amount of money compared with getting a gel manicure at a nail salon.
This kit includes 16 gel polish strips, mini (single finger) LED lamp, gel top coat, 2 nail cleanser pads, cuticle stick, file, and buffer and instruction sheet.
Essie Gel Couture Nail Polish Kit
Essie Gel Couture nail polish kit is an interesting system; it isn’t actually a gel, but rather a polish that dries to a gel-like finish for up to two weeks of wear. This two-step gel system only requires 2 products: a color gel polish and a clear top coat. Yes, you read that correctly, it does not require a base coat and UV/LED nail lamp.
Each color polish, which you can probably achieve more than 10 sets of gel manicure, only costs cheap. Now, let’s try to calculate how much it will cost you for 10 times getting gel manicure at a nail salon; one single time will cost third times the price of one Essie gel polish. That’s a steal, and we promise that you won’t regret it.
The Best Professional Gel Nail Kits
Gelish Soak-Off Gel Polish Complete Starter Kit
Gelish Soak-Off gel polish is a bit more complicated kit compared to other kits that we’ve mentioned above since you will need to be more patient and do step-by-step like how a professional nail technician does your gel nail polish. However, it is, without doubt, offering the most salon-like quality since, well, it’s a salon brand. This kit includes all of the essential liquids, 5 gel polishes (3 mini and 2 regular sizes) and a Gelish LED drying curing lamp.
For the drying process, it requires being cured in 30 seconds under LED lamp or 2 minutes under UV lamp. Your gel manicure definitely lasts up to 21 days with perfect shine and chipping. The downside for it is that it’s hard to take off, frankly. This kit is good for those who have more time, enjoy doing their own nails and have decent nail skills.
OPI Gel Color Professional Icon Intro Kit
Everyone is familiar with new OPI, the leading brand in the professional nail industry. It means its products are always outstanding. If you don’t mind spending more for a completed gel nail polish kit, this kit is for you. With this price, this OPI set promises, of course, high-quality products that are healthier for your nails and lasts for a long time. If you want to invest something in a long-term, this kit is totally worth every single penny that you spend. This best gel nail starter kits includes everything you need to do a full set of gel nails.
- OPI LED lamp, top coat and base coat, 6 full-sized OPI gel colors, bonder, remover, 20 foil remover wraps, cuticle stick, salon mitts and color palette with beaded chain.
CND Shellac Intro Pack
CND Shellac is the very first company inventing the idea of gel nail polishes. Even though there have been abundant gel nail brands popping up throughout the past couple years, CND Shellac is still the leader in the gel nail industry. This Intro Pack stands for CND Shellac’s most exceptional durability and longevity. The only downside is that this kit does not include a UV/LED lamp, so you have to buy a separate gel nail lamp in order to complete this kit. Besides that, this CND Shellac Intro Pack still offers the essential products for a professional gel manicure.
Shellac base coat and top coat, pure acetone, 4 full-sized Shellac colors, rubbing alcohol, cuticle oil, remover wraps (250), scrubfresh, kanga files (25) and orangewood sticks (20).
The Best Overall Kit
The Red Carpet Manicure Starter Kit
Before, gel manicure was strictly for salon-used. Red Carpet Manicure (RMC) is the world’s first brand bringing the at-home gel manicure possible and accessible. Thanks to that, it has made our life a lot easier and enjoyable in term of saving money and time. The price for this RMC Starter Kit is reasonable for what it offers: base coat gel, top coat gel, cuticle oil, application cleanser, gel polish remover, LED light, 20 lint free wipes, 20 foil remove wraps, 5 orangewood sticks and crème d la crème gel polish.
This is one of the gel nail polish kits that actually includes a decent LED lamp, which is great for both hands and feet. There’s one thing that you need to pay attention is that RCM recommends only using their gel polishes with their base and top coat gels as their formulations have been designed specifically to go together.
Sensationail Gel Transformer Starter Kit
Sensationail also entered the at-home gel polish market at the early state, so it has been improving incredibly from time to time to meet the consumers’ need as well as compete with other brands. Recently, Sensationail created a gel transformer starter kit promising to turn any nail polishes into gel. Yes, it sounds really interesting, right? With just the LED lamp and a special top coat, you can seal any regular nail polish into a long-lasting gel color. This kit includes a polish, base and top coats, an LED lamp, and other manicure accessories. Though it doesn’t require many tools, steps, and skills, this gel nail polish kit promises a shiny manicure that will stay looking fresh for up to 2 weeks.
It’s definitely a perfect idea for getting a great-looking manicure from the comfort of your home. Just imagine that you and your group of girlfriends are able to get together, enjoy a great brunch with a cocktail or a glass of champagne and getting your nails looking fabulous at the same time. It’s amazing! We showed you some aspects that you should consider before purchasing your own kit. Hopefully, these at-home gel nail polish kits listed above will be helpful for you when choosing your perfect fit to your need and your reference.