To be disappointed with this gel manicure?

This. Simply coat them with a clear varnish or a ‘my nails but better’ natural tone.

I have to keep my nails short for work, but they do not look like that. there's 'short', and then there's 'bitten down to the quick'

It looks as though you bite your nails, and wanted gels to stop you doing that - which is fair enough, but a clear gel or a paler colour would have been better.

I suspect they couldn't properly prep the cuticles as they too had been bitten and the skin around does look sore.

Nail expert here.

Your nails have been cut into the free edge (the white bit).
I suggest you stop doing that as it causes distortion and hang nails.

If you have a classic non gel manicure twice a month your nails will improve. I agree with the pps use some cuticle and nail oil. Stick to beige and pink. It will look better. Red looks good on short nails when you have a bit more growth.

Yes it is unreasonable and crazy to spend this kind of money on your nails. Those chemicals cause cancer!!! Just have short natural nails and donate the money to a good charity

Your nails are very short and personally I think the very light colour just accentuates this. Having said that... You can clearly see where they've been slap-dash and not shaped either your cuticles or the nail at all and there's no excuse for professionals to get any gel on your skin and leave it there (this is bad for your skin bur also means they're less likely to last as it will start lifting where it goes onto the skin).

I do my own gels at home (so they're not perfect by any stretch!) but I wouldn't be happy with these if I'd paid for these. Next time I'd choose somewhere else and maybe go with a colour closer to your skin tone if you want them to look longer?

Not surprised you are unhappy. But why didn't you have nail extensions of some sort. Your nails are far too short too look good with only varnish.

I think you're going to have a hard time getting a nice looking outcome here. Since you have to keep your nails short, I think you'd be better off keeping them nicely trimmed with a very good handcrafted and oiled nails. If you want a polish, then look for a colour that really suits your skin tone

Agree with pretty much everyone here OP. I haven’t had a manicure in a while as I’ve been working in a kitchen and gardening, but I use this on my now v short nails. It’s surprising how much stronger it makes the nail, and it has a slight tint which makes things look more polished.
https://uk.manucurist.com/products/active-glow

I wouldn’t have got my nails painted with them being so short.It looks like they’ve been done with tippex.
Maybe concentrate on growing your nails first as these look awful.

A natural nail in BIAB would be better

Definitely see if you can get a refund and go elsewhere OP.

If they’ve filed them to this length then I’m shocked. They look sore. They do look bitten as they’re so uneven and so low. I bite my nails (gross I know) and they look like this.

The gel looks wobbly, like a child has done it. Even I can paint nails with polish better than this and I’m no manicurist.

Your first mistake was choosing Tippex white. On nails that’s short you should have gone for a colour that blended in better to elongate your fingers - something low contrast like rose pink. It’s not a great manicure but she didn’t have a lot to work with. They’ll look a lot better once they grow out but you’ll need to lay off the gel nail polish - it’s terrible for nails.

Too short, wrong shape for your finger shape which emphasises the shortness and the colour does not help at all. Cuticles haven’t been well prepped.

YANBU but to be honest I think that colour choice would always look a bit unfortunate

They shouldn’t have agreed to do gel on nails as short as that. They’re too short to shape evenly and the colour just makes that stand out.

Your nails are too short. You need to go to a salon that offers builder in a bottle services and make weekly appointments until they're the desired length and condition to have a proper gel manicure.

Also agree with pp this colour is so bright and eye catching it rarely looks good because it's such an attention grabber. Your nails would have to be perfect to pull it off.

That’s not what Op asked for though

Putting gel on them even though highlights how short they are, will help them grow, they’ll probably grow quicker with the gel on because people can’t pick, bite, break their nails

That's what mine look like when my nine year old does my nails.

They should have put nail tips on.

Yeah does look pretty awful. But also did you shape your nails like that when you cut them short? Theys no shaping at all.

Looks like the tip ex nails we all did at secondary school!

A decent nail tech would have advised this wasn't the most suitable treatment because of the length, but regardless of that they should have prepped better.

I pay £35 for a full set of acrylics, £25 for infills in Wales.

Ah, this looks a bit amateur and not what I’d expect from a professional nail tech. They haven’t even managed to file them properly.

However, I’m so glad you posted OP as I am heading to the nail salon today and was planning on getting the same colour. Think I will go for something more neutral instead 🤣🙈