Salon Gel Polish Starter Kit

Salon Gel Polish Starter Kit

This product was provided to me in exchange for an honest unbiased review based on ease of use, quality and pricing. All thoughts in this review are my own based on my personal experience with this product.

Sally Hansen has come out with a great product in their Salon Gel Polish Starter Kit!  I love this product, it truly is like getting a manicure at home.  The kit is slightly expensive for $64.99 at Wal-Mart online but its totally worth it once you see the results.  The Kit comes with the first clear coat, gel nail color, and the clear top coat.  It also includes an emery file to shape your natural nails and a cuticle stick to help push back your cuticles if yours are overgrown, acetone polish remover, an LED curing light and ten buffing pads.

I know the price seems pretty high at first but honestly its super easy to apply and lasts for weeks.  I have really thin nails that break all the time and this product also helped keep my nails from breaking.  Now I have seen some online reviews where people did not like this product but when you read their main complaint it is that the polish never dries.  After each coat you'll put your nails under the LED light and cure them and yes, they will be tacky, it is also recommended that the color be applied in two thin coats and to cure after each coat.  Now its finally time for step three.  Apply the top clear coat, and don't worry ladies the bottles are marked 1,2 and 3 so you won't get it wrong I promise.  Cure your nails for thirty seconds for the final time.  The light times out at thirty seconds which is great!  Now, your nails will still be slightly tacky like regular polish that is only half dry.  This is where the buffing pads come in, use them to lightly wipe the extra residue off your nails.  Now when you touch them they are hard as a rock.  I think the persons leaving reviews online where you can purchase the product are not reading or following the directions properly.  The Starter Kit comes in three colors but there are a ton of other colors that can be purchased separately and the process is still the same.  I did try this product with regular nail polish and it did not cure properly and just ended in a mess.  You also have the option to leave out the color all together and just used the bottom and top coat.  This will harden your natural nails and give them a great shine for weeks.  

Now ladies who pick at your nails, follow the instructions in the box for removal and use the acetone remover and wrap your nails in aluminum foil so all of the coats come off at once.  I did try pealing them off and its just like pealing off acrylic nails, your top layer of nail tends to come off with the gel coating so this is a big no no!

If you run out of anything you can purchase refill kits, now you have to use the emery file to shape and then buff your nail and the pads to clean your nails before and after application.  The kit only comes with ten pads so you can use a regular emery file if you need to and the ingredients in the pads are 99% rubbing alcohol.  So if you run out of pads before you need to purchase a refill kit with the bottom and top coat you can use just your basic everyday alcohol pad like the kind you have in your first aid kit.  Or if you're like me I have alcohol pads everywhere for checking my blood sugar and they cost less than a dollar for a box of 100.

You can find more information on this product at sallyhansen.com along with instructional videos and helpful tips and where to purchase. 

  

These pictures are after two weeks of wear and tear on my nails.  I'm a cuticle picker and nail biter by habit and the product stood up very well.  It also helped curb my biting habit because the nails are so hard.  Now, I'm right handed and this thumb was solid as a rock.  A few days after this was taken, I was at the shooting range trying to load the last round into my six round magazine (no ladies, not the kind you read, the kind you shoot.)  I have a .40 caliber pistol and if you've ever loaded a magazine you know the last one or two are a real bitch to get in because the spring is so tight.  My thumb slipped sideways and the thin edge of the magazine took a chunk right out of the middle of my nail.  Had I not had this Gel Polish on to harden my nail I would have bent my entire nail back and broken it off to the nail bed.  Then I would have had to do the HOLY CRAP I BROKE A NAIL AND IT HURTS dance in front of all the men on the range.  Instead all I had missing was a small chunk in the very middle the width of the side of the magazine.  Let me tell you, that hurt way less and made my nail salvageable once I got home.  If I wasn't already hooked, I am now!