Can anyone recommend a nail lamp and answer a couple of questions?

[CakeNinja]

I’m going to get a lamp so I can start doing my nails at home.
I used to get what I think were ‘gels’ and before that, shellac. The gels I remember were just polish with the base and top coats, nothing was actually stuck on my nails if that makes sense.
Do I have to buy specific gel polish, I’m presuming the lamp won’t cure my regular nail varnishes.
Also, I’m guessing the lamps come with manuals telling you how long to leave the nails in there, some of them have different timer settings, it’s all a bit confusing!
Does anyone have one that they use, that they’d recommend, one that you can cure all 5 nails in at once so that I don’t have to do the thumb separately would be ideal.
Tia!

Following as I want the same! There are so many lamps out there that I’m utterly confused about which is the best on....

Several yers ago I bought a sensationail kit from boots which included a lamp. I've had it about five years I think and buy blue sky gel polishes from a stockist directly. Never had a problem and love doing it!

Thanks Super, I’ll have a look.
Any idea if UV is better or worse than LED? It really is a minefield of choice!
Good luck to you too Shirley

This is all you need, an LED lamp from Amazon (mine is a U-Spicy make but just the same as this one). Bluesky Top & base coat set is superb as is the Bluesky colours (Masquerade is one of my favs). You won’t ever pay to havethem done again! Have fun 😀

I've recently starting doing my own gel nails as trying to cut back on outgoings. I use blue sky gel nails polish and I think they're great. I can't remember the name of my lamp but wouldn't recommend it anyway as it's too small to fit my whole hand in

Forgot! Definitely go LED (much quicker & wont age your hands like UV will). I do 60 seconds for Base & top coat, 30 seconds for a coat of colour. You’ll also need to get some Isopropyl wipes (either from EBay or Amazon). Don’t waste money on special fluid, Alcohol wipes do the trick perfectly to wipe over your nails after you’ve done the top coat 👍

That one in the pic has got a low wattage, I’ve read that these ones aren’t as good as higher watt ones so I was looking at one with 48W (or similar?!).
Thanks for the advice re what else is needed, particularly the wipes.
My previous nail lady used a cotton pad and some liquid which I never really knew about, this is obviously some kind of alcohol - what does that actually do?

Do you have to soak the polish off for ages? I’ve heard stories about it wrecking your natural nails and mine are in pretty good nick.

I used to soak mine in acetone on cotton wool with foil wrapped around them.
My nails didn’t feel or look particularly bad but it’s not the kind of thing I’ll be doing every week or two as a matter of course because despite what the lady used to tell me, I’m not sure it’s completely as good for my nails as she claimed.
My nails did get quite soft and bendy.

I bought the sensational starter kit on Amazon. It came with one colour, base and top coat, primer and cleansing alcohol it was under £40. I've built up my own collection of polishes my favourite brand is fairy glo on Amazon. I've started using mylee wipes and they are dirt cheap. I also use blue sky hard gel after my base coat. Honestly it's so easy to do.

This I how I do mine
File nails and lightly buff surface
Wipe
Primer (you don't have to use this) it airdrys in seconds
Base coat cure for 15 seconds
Hard gel cure for 30 seconds
Polish cure between each later 30 seconds
Top coat cure
Wipe off sticky layer.

Layer not later

To the PP asking about wrecking your nails, I recommend Easy-off base coat from Sensationail. I love the effect but struggled to remove it. This base coat means you can peel off the polish as a single layer. Downside is that they can come off more easily - my nails last a week - but it’s worth it for getting the gel effect without the hours of removing.

And as I can’t seem to wear normal polish for more than an hour without smudging or chipping a week is a bonus!

Look up
Bluesky or mylee on eBay. You need a led lamp, top and base coat, colours, gel remover (acetone), prep and wipe (taking off tacky layer at the end and wiping the bare nail before starting and lint free wipes. I have been doing my own for a few years now and have built up a decent kit. There are lots of videos on YouTube for gel nails. Have a look at them.

Sensationail express are the best things ever.

Thanks to everyone for their pearls of wisdom.
I will have a hunt through the recommendations and hopefully start building myself up a kit of some kind!