gel manicure

At Home Gel Manicure? Red Carpet Manicure LED Gel Kit Review & Photos

Monday, February 20th, 2012 | Nail Polish, Product Testing | Comments Off

Meilily Product Review & Photos: Red Carpet Manicure LED Gel Kit!

Why go to the salon for a gel manicure when you can do it yourself at home?

The new LED gel manicure kit from Red Carpet Manicure promises to get you “gorgeous color and incredible shine, that lasts and lasts,” at home, for about the price of two salon gel manicures. So, how do you apply it, and, more importantly, does it actually work?

Find out how to apply Red Carpet Manicure gel polish and see why you may not want to say goodbye to the salon just yet…

Applying Red Carpet Manicure Polish for an At-Home Gel Manicure
Step 1: Apply Prep – cleans nails
Step 2: Apply Structure base coat, and cure 1 minute
Step 3: Apply LED gel nail color, and cure 2 minutes › Continue reading

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Nail Polish Strips that Work? Sally Hansen Nail Effects Strips

Thursday, November 24th, 2011 | Nail Polish, Product Picks, Swatches | Comments Off

Meilily Product Pick & Swatches: Sally Hansen Nail Effects Strips – Fishnet Design!

Need a fun gift idea – for yourself? While everyone else is out fighting holiday crowds, get yourself to the drugstore and pick up some Sally Hansen nail polish strips!

Sally Hansen Nail Effects nail polish strips come in a fun array of patterns, and the fishnet design in particular is fresh, modern and stylish. These nail polish strips are long-lasting and actually stay nearly perfect for one full week! Best of all, applying the Sally Hansen nail strips is cleaner and less error-prone than bottled nail polish.

More Photos, Swatches & Details of Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips…

My favorite of the nail polish designs, shown here, is called Misbehaved. › Continue reading

Tags: drugstore, fishnet nail polish, gel manicure, Long-lasting Nail Polish, nail polish, nail polish strips, nail polish swatches, Sally Hansen, Sally Hansen Nail Effects

Gel Nail Polish Removal: Long Lasting Shellac Manicure for Natural Nails – Photos & Details

Monday, August 1st, 2011 | Nail Polish, Photos, Product Testing | 2 Comments

Meilily Photos & Swatches: Shellac Gel Manicure Removal: After Week 3!

Concluding the first ever Meilily gel manicure photo and swatch series, which tracks one gel manicure over three weeks, this finale explains how to remove a gel manicure, at home, by yourself. It’s not pretty, folks, but it can be done!

The Meilily Guide to Removing Gel Polish at Home

They say you need to go to a salon to remove your gel manicure and, while it is true that there are special products for removing gel polish currently only available to salons, where salon removal consists of wrapping, soaking, and sliding the gel off, removal can also be done, perhaps less gracefully, at home.

Meilily Gel Manicure Removal DIY How-To:

1) Find the loose edges around the gel polish on each nail - By week 2 or 3 you should start to see a lot of nail growth and possibly a few loose edges on the gel polish. Identify the areas around the edge of the polish on each nail that you may be able to loosen. › Continue reading

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Gel Nail Polish: Long Lasting Shellac Manicure for Natural Nails – Photos & Details Week 3

Thursday, June 9th, 2011 | Nail Polish, Photos, Product Testing, Swatches | Comments Off

Meilily Product Pick, Photos & Swatches: Long-lasting Shellac Gel Manicure: Week 3!

Wondering how a Shellac gel manicure looks by week 3? Well, so far so good, with one random chip from earlier, some nail growth, and still a whole lot of shine! Check out these photos and swatches from Week 3 of my CND Shellac gel manicure in shade Strawberry Smoothie!

In general, my gel manicure still looks great a full three weeks later – › Continue reading

Tags: CND polish, CND Shellac, gel manicure, gel nail polish, Long-lasting Nail Polish, manicure, nail polish, nail polish swatches, new products, pink nail polish, product photos, Product Picks, product reviews, Romantique, Shellac, Strawberry Smoothie, three week manicure, UV

Gel Nail Polish: Long Lasting Shellac Manicure for Natural Nails – Photos & Details Day 5

Friday, February 18th, 2011 | Nail Polish, Photos, Product Testing, Swatches | 1 Comment

Meilily Product Pick, Photos & Swatches: Long-lasting Shellac Gel Manicure: Day 5!

So far so good, with only one chip and a whole lot of shine! Check out these photos and swatches from Day 5 of my CND Shellac gel manicure in shade Strawberry Smoothie!

*If you missed it, you can view photos and swatches from Day 1 of my Shellac manicure here, with details on the gel manicure process and where to get it done! As you may have heard, gel nail polish is supposed to last without chipping between two to three weeks if done right. Is that true? Find out here!

Day 5 Shellac Manicure Results & Photos…

I was still very happy with my gel manicure, even on Day 5! The shine and gloss lasted impeccably without any dulling, and my nails looked freshly manicured. Amazing! The only chip to report by Day 5 actually happened on Day 2 of this gel manicure- How embarrassing!

I swear my Day 2 chip resulted from a fluke nail-caught-in-teeth accident that I cannot explain. › Continue reading

Tags: CND polish, CND Shellac, gel manicure, gel nail polish, Gelish, Harmony Gelish, Long-lasting Nail Polish, manicure, nail polish, nail polish swatches, new products, pink nail polish, product photos, Product Picks, product reviews, Romantique, Shellac, Strawberry Smoothie, UV

Gel Nail Polish: Long Lasting Shellac Manicure for Natural Nails – Photos & Details Day 1

Thursday, January 20th, 2011 | Nail Polish, Photos, Product Testing, Swatches | 5 Comments

Meilily Product Pick, Photos & Swatches: Long-lasting CND Shellac Gel Nail Polish Manicure!

If you’re like me and can’t help but mess up a manicure before even leaving the salon chair – painted nails a scraggly mess by day two – then you’re in luck! There is a revolutionary new nail polish, gel nail polish, that is rapidly rising in popularity. It is a cross between a regular polish and gel nails set with UV light. This gel polish is painted onto natural nails just like regular polish, but cured under UV light layer by layer.

I recently tested out this new gel manicure and came away with my fingernails transformed into glossy, shiny gems of polished goodness, an effect that lasted two whole weeks!

The salon I went to used CND Shellac polish and also Harmony Gelish products. The shade I tried on and photographed is CND Shellac in Strawberry Smoothie. Love it! › Continue reading