Review (5/5): These are marvelous!
What a great idea! I used suggestions from reviewer “mom of 4” with some exceptions. I did not use any OPI branded products to prep my nails. OPI nas 99 is just 99% isopropyl alcohol so I just used that. MUCH cheaper! (Buy it at the dollar store!) I also used Gelish PH Bond Prep as that is what I had.
I watched some You Tube vids before applying the nail guards. I saw that most of the posters used some kind of tool to press down the nail guards and later discovered a silicone nail tool was what I saw; I almost bought one but ended up with really good results using the eraser end of a new pencil. Now, don’t despair if you don’t apply the nail guards perfectly! Mine were rather wrinkledy but the wrinkles were covered by the builder gel. I also found the guards wrinkled much less when I applied them from the cuticle end and put some traction on the tip end, pulling the guard down over my fingertip gluing to my finger skin before filing the excess. Make sure you file DOWN and not across to remove the excess nail guard. That’s a mistake I made when I first applied these. Don’t worry if you mess up the application of these guards. A few times I had to remove the guard just placed as I completely trashed it on the application. I found that instead of breaking into another card, I could just use two smaller guards to completely cover my billboard-sized nails.
While searching nail videos, I stumbled on Liz at The Nail Hub. If you have not seen her videos, do yourself a favor and watch some. She showed a “pushing” technique in which the gel is laid down on the middle of the nail then pushed towards the cuticle end and sidewalls of the nail, flattening the nail brush. I tried this and it resulted in a much thinner amount of product in those areas with a more natural looking nail at the end.
I used In.Hype Camouflage Pink UV Builder Gel rather than the OPI branded product (it was half the cost) laying down two very thin coats and curing each coat for 90 seconds. Then I applied two coats of my color – curing each for 60 seconds. I’m currently in love with Allenbelle chameleon thermic color 5738, a light pink to dark pink temperature changing glitter polish. I then used one coat of Gelish Top It Off as that is what I had, curing for 90 seconds. My manicure lasts perfectly for two weeks which is about as long as I can stand it before the grow-out starts to bug me. When I’m ready to redo my manicure I just pry the polish off with the paddle end of an orange stick dipped in polish remover. The polish pops right off with absolutely NO damage to my natural nails! The popped off polish looks like a press-on nail!
I applied gel nail polish for years but got tired of the soaking and scraping technique to get the polish off, which also damaged my nail beds. So I went back to regular nail polish for a few years. This wasn’t really a fix, as a regular polish manicure lasts less than a week for me before the polish chips or I just peel it off. Now I can have a long-lasting mani that doesn’t ruin my natural nails! YAY for nail guards!