DIY Gel Nails

I'm a huge fan of gel polish manicures, but they can get pretty expensive pretty fast especially if you're getting them done every two to three weeks. So in an effort to cut down on time at the nail salon (don't worry, I'll still be going in every so often to get these crazy cuticles under control), I went on the hunt for an at home solution that didn't include buying my own gel kit.

After a bit of searching, I stumbled upon Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat, and thought I'd give it a try!  When I was checking out at Sally's, the lady at the counter said the Gelous was great and they hadn't gotten a single complaint about it yet.  So I gathered all of my nail polish supplies:

• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
• American Classics Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat
• Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquer in Eye Popping Poppy

Let's get started!

• Begin by applying two thin coats of Gelous to your clean dry nails, allowing a few minutes in between each coat for it to dry (about 3 or so minutes).
• Once the Gelous has dried, apply a thin coat of your color nail polish and let it dry (5 minutes or so).
• Apply a thin coat of Gelous and let that dry (2-3 minutes) making sure to swipe the tips of your nails to seal in the edges.
• Apply another thin coat of your color nail polish, let that dry (2-3 minutes).
• Apply your top coat (you want it to be a fast drying and Seche Vite is my new favorite - I don't know how I'm just now starting to use it!).
• Let all of those layers dry and you're done!

I did my nails right after dinner so they had a bit of time to dry before I went to bed.  I let them dry overnight and when I woke up in the morning I was sure I would have sheet marks - but I didn't!  Victory!  I don't think this will last two weeks or more like normal gel nail polish, but if it can hold up for a week that's better than any regular polish in my book!

I'll post an update to this DIY to see how long the polish lasts, but so far so good!  It feels a bit stronger than my normal manicure so that's a hopeful sign!

Do you normally get gel polish done when you get your nails done?  Let us know if you try this out and how you like it!