There are some common pitfalls to doing your own gel nails. Maybe the polish seems to wrinkle and slide off or peel. Here are the reasons why these issues may occur and what you need to do to avoid them the next time. Wrinkling If your nail polish seems to bunch up or wrinkle a few hours after you’ve finished doing your nails, chances are you applied the polish too thickly. Because of that, the gel doesn't manage to cure completely, and it slides down a little to form a wrinkle. This can be a problem since the wrinkled layer is weak, and it’ll peel away easily. Next time, just be careful to apply it in thinner layers. Peeling Gel polish can sometimes start peeling in patches or even in one single layer, way before you’re ready for it to come off. This is usually a sign of inadequate prep. Maybe your nails were too smooth, and you didn’t buff them enough. Some people choose to buy an electric nail file, which does an even better job of roughing up the nails, although it can also be more damaging.   Another issue might be that you had some acetone on your nails, which can disrupt the polish and prevent adhesion. That’s why we recommend cleaning the nails with alcohol at the start.  Another potential issue is that you didn’t clean your nails enough, and there was still oil residue on them when you got started. Alternatively, maybe you touched your skin or hair after cleaning them, which ruined all that hard work of cleaning.