How often do you have gel polish re done? Plus, inspire me with your fab colours!

[Justkoko]

How often do you have gel nail polish removed and re applied at the salon? Had mine done for holidays for first time, but reading that it should really be every too weeks, it's a costly business! Does everyone do this? You're talking £50+ a month!

Plus, if I do treat myself to one more polish before autumn, inspire me with your colours! Have had a french polish but fancy some colour.

I do it myself. It can be a little pricey getting all the kit but it pays for itself really quickly. I do mine every 2-3 weeks but I'm quite boring with colours 😂 mostly red, pink and burgundy here!

Gelish A Touch of Sass is my absolute favourite but Amazon has a lot of really reasonable brands for around £5-£8 a bottle.

www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk/soak-off-gel-nail-polish-a-touch-of-sass-15ml-01577-p21417

I bought all the kit in lockdown £80 ish I think. Best money ever spent! Do mine every 2 weeks probably. Grey/ natural/ golds for winter, pinks, red and blues for summer. Am not v adventurous!

I'm starting to do mine with just the clear top and base coats. Then I can use whatever standard colour I want on top. I don't need to remove the whole lot to change the colour, and the colour lasts better than without the gel underneath, because the nails are more rigid.

Every 3-4 weeks in a salon but they are full gels

I have in salon biab every 3-4 weeks. I try and time it so it's only once every pay cycle... I'm too cack handed to attempt it on myself!

Every three weeks in salon! £30+ depending if I get nail art or anything fancy. I love it, makes me feel so put together and well turned out. For autumn I get really deep greens or burnt orange colours and I love them!

I go every 3-4 weeks and get my gels infilled. It's £26 so not too bad. I literally can't do my own at all so uncoordinated. I have currently got an pink shimmer almost like the inside of a shell as I thought it was subtle but a bit more interesting. I'm booked in for just before my holidays and I'm thinking something a bit more bold. Maybe purple shimmery. Otherwise I go for a French manicure but with a colour rather than white tips.

Gel polish shouldn't chip or peel in two weeks, so it all depends how much regrowth you're okay with. Most people aren't looking that closely at your nails so you can get away with once a month for sure.

But like others, I bought my own kit and do them at home. It doesn't last as long as a proper salon one (though I'm getting better at it) but it doesn't matter, as I can re-do them whenever.

I'm wearing this at the moment and it's gorgeous: www.justmylook.com/bluesky-friday-feeling-gel-polish-10ml-p22614

But this is my all-time favourite colour: www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk/led-uv-gel-polish-rose-8ml-n2844-p25988

I get mine done every 6 weeks, but I don't mind the regrowth as it doesn't chip. At the moment I have CND pink gold on, but I normally go for a dark colour, always the sparkly ones though :)

DIY folk, do you find any difference between brands? Do you mix and match? Choose just based on colour?

I did mine myself over the last couple of years but have ended up with olicholyosis. Not sure if it was the lamp or the remover solution. My nails have only started to improve since I stopped using it. Gutted as I love having them done and now they look awful 😢

I used to go once once per fortnight, then dropped to once every 3/4 weeks to save money.

I’m too impatient to remove it properly at home so I would ruin my nails. I’d do get nice patterns / wide variety of colours going to the salon. It’s my one little treat to myself.

I've got Mylee, BlueSky, and Halo. I don't find much difference between them so I choose based on colour.

I'm lucky to have nice natural nails. I do mine weekly. Really like Sinful colours polish (not a gel, just a polish). It lasts a full week and I'm hard on my nails (horses and outdoor chores).

The burgundy and lilac are this week. The others are some past versions. The little sparkle tips are super easy and look lovely. I loved the red tips for Valentine's week.

I do mine every 2 weeks. It is expensive at £35 a time. I have tried to learn how to do it myself (I use BIAB) but I just cant get the hang of it. I do my own gel pedicures though so that saves me £42 per month

Love this thread, was going to start something similar! I’m a bad bad biter but don’t with gels.

I love how they make me look, just much more well turned out as a PP said, without the anxious, bloody stumps of my normal nails.

However, they are chipping in one - two weeks, and that’s between 3 different salons.

I have extremely weak nails - could that be the cause?

In salon, I do once a month. At home, every two weeks as I can't do them so neatly to last whole month.
If salon- I go for french manicure. At home- off white, pastel peach, nude, light pink. Boring.

If you do them at home how do you remove the gel polish? Also @picklemewalnuts do you just use a gel top coat and whatever other polish you want to use? Does that make it easier to remove? Thanks!

I do the gel base then top, no colour in between.
Then I use normal polish on top. I have a nice french manicure effect, that I can run under the tip as well making them look super clean.

I've only just started doing it. I infill after two or three weeks. Buff the edge where the old polish finishes, and reapply the gel base and top. After a two or three goes there are several layers at the top so it's very strong.

You should soak them off but I hate that, so wait for them to pop off on their own then redo. Or buff them off from the top. I'm sure doing it properly gets better results, but it's working for me at the moment.

I think posters in this thread are talking about two different things. My impression was the OP was asking about gel polish, not gel infils?

How would gel polish pop off?

Yes, just having natural nails painted with gel polish, not any kind of extension or infills. Sorry, am not well up on terminology!
I have a little nail which I banged some months ago and the nail has kind of lifted to halfway down the nail bed. Wearing such hard polish I've caught it again and can tell its not really growing back up the full length of the nail bed. I'm wondering if this polish is such a good idea long term for me. Anyone had onycholysis?

I'm not sure about the words and techniques either! I use gel polish but infill/recoat rather than remove fully.

I've just ordered an all in one top/base coat from tesco. That will make it even easier. I'm a very low maintenance person. I like nice nails but need minimum effort.

I have gel polish applied a couple of times a year as a treat usually before a holiday. It lasts about 3weeks before I have it removed and then I just leave my nails natural so they can recover.