Does anyone (amateur) do their own gel nails at home (successfully)?

[iknowimcoming]

Started getting my nails done regularly at the end of last year but original person has now quit and new person whilst lovely is so slow it's driving me crackers (an hour and a half plus for a soak off and re-gel). So I wondered how expensive it is to buy the lamp etc and do it myself, since I'm fairly competent at normal nail polish. Was surprised to find kits on amazon for around £30-35 which get good reviews - just wondering if anyone on here has done this and is it as good as a professional manicure? Thanks muchly in advance

@Fluffycloudland77 that article is 9 years old and was written when the switch over from UV to LED lamps was starting to happen. LED lamps obviously will not cure gel developed for UV light frequencies and vice versa. Hence my advice to make sure the lamp you buy is for the right light spectrum.

But will a CND meg expensive LED lamp cure any differently to an unbranded KED lamp emitting the same light spectrum, absolutely not. It's called science.

If you just mean the polish and not extensions, then yes. I do mine all the time with a home kit. I use Gelish, Blue Sky and Red Carpet brands mainly.

It doesn’t matter if it an led lamp or a cfl bulb lamp, they make the lamp to react with the photo initiators in the polish for a set period of time to protect the customer.

Please look on Doug Schoons website for clarification on lamps.

I do my own using a Sensationail kit. I use the peel off undercoat so it is easy to remove, you literally peel it off with no soaking involved. A manicure lasts me about 10 days.

Used to. Bought a Sibelius lamp and also CND products from eBay. Learned how to do it from watching tutorials on YouTube.

Got quite good at it and didn’t develop any allergies, but fundamentally just got bored of the faff of it. Realised I preferred going to the salon and being able to relax and switch off.

After about a year I sold the stuff on eBay. Now I occasionally get my nails done, , I just don’t make it a regular thing.

Sibel lamp- autocorrect fail!

Blimey thanks everyone - excellent info!

@CatToddlerUprising thank you! I’ll check it out

OP thank you for starting this. I've been doing gels at home for a few years (soft gel) but I recently got hard gels done in a salon and the difference is really noticeable.

I have all the gear so I think it's my technique. Could anyone give tips on how to make the gel even - especially around the cuticles? When mine grows out it looks really ragged whereas the hard gels look so even. I tried to watch the technician but I couldn't tell what she did differently (apart from being an expert). Or would hard gel just settle more evenly?

Sorry for hi jacking but maybe it will help OP too 😜

I have a sensationail lamp but use blue sky as it's cheaper. So should I really only be using sensationail gels for safety?

Yes you should, bought from a reputable stockist so it’s genuine.

UV lamps are UVA not UVB
they age your skin rather than burn it.

I put SPF 50 on and SPF gloves too.

I use a LIDL UV lamp.
However I did use cheap shit from Amazon and started getting itchy nails. Thought that was v v bad so left it for a few months and tried one last time with Mylee brand of bottom coat and top coat. Absolutely no problems whatsoever now.

The remover you need is cheap shit remover however- acetone is what removes it best.

Use oil after though to pump some moisture back in. A good quality olive oil is great.

I have a sensational lamp and mostly use bluesky gels. My technique isn't brilliant but I get a week to ten days out of a manicure. I also use the sensational peel off base mentioned above - imo the worst thing about gels is the removal.

The world has moved on so much since I posted on this thread less than two weeks ago but I just wanted to update that I did some research, bought myself a Mylee kit (Pro LED lamp, four polishes, remover etc) plus some of those nail clips and I did my nails for the first time last night. I'm incredibly happy with the results and it really cheered me up last night with everything else that's going on - thanks again OP for starting this thread.

I'm going to paint my nails to look like mini eggs for easter with my gels.
Nice pastel colours with sporadic black dots.