Nutra Nail kindly offered to send me their Gel Perfect Kit for me to review. Thanks!
This is their promotional info on the product:
"Color & Gel: The Best of Both Worlds … What if a company figured out how to provide nail color that can literally be applied and completely dried in 5 minutes? What if the color actually protected nails with a hard and shiny surface and would last as long as a regular manicure and pedicure? What if upon completion of application, the color was so rock solid you could literally dig in your purse or step into your shoes and your mani/pedi would remain gorgeous, shiny, and smudge free? And what if unlike traditional gels, said color could be removed in less than 2 minutes so that you could enjoy the luxury of switching shades as often as you like, turning your nails into a major fashion accessory?
Impossible? Too good to be true? Think again.
Nutra Nail is proud to introduce Nutra Nal Gel Perfect UV Free Gel-Color, which literally combines the best of color and the best of gel in 12 gorgeous shades for at-home nail perfection. Also new is No-Mess Express Gel Perfect Remover – a safe and easy way to remove gel color in 2 minutes to enjoy the luxury of switching shades as often as you like for $3 per mani/pedi.
The application process is a bit different than that of a traditional mani/pedi – but very simple! The following “How To” videos provide a great visual for application and for removal.
Notice too that the promise is not to last 2 weeks like salon gel polish. It's simply stating that it will be rock hard in 5 minutes, similar to how salon gel polish is dry after being cured under UV light.
"Sheer Pink" is the color I was sent. As you can see, it is indeed a sheer pink like you would use for a french manicure. It leaves a nice healthy glow to the nails, extremely work appropriate, and is much more discreet than some crazy colors I wear.
"Activator" = Cyanoacrylate... that's just super glue or nail glue. Beware of the harsh fumes! I definitely had a headache after I had finished. (Yes, I was in a well-ventilated area too!)
"Gel Color" consistency is similar to other nail polish.
"Cleaner" you have to switch the brushes out between the polish and cleaner for each hand. The gel polish really gunks up the brush if not cleaned every few nails.
(I was slightly concerned by the number of irritant warnings on the bottles...)
Application process is as follows: (or just watch the video I linked above)
You apply the activator like your base coat to just one hand. Be careful to not touch your cuticles because you will then have super glued yourself... While still on that first hand, then apply a THIN coat of the gel polish to each nail. Again, trying to get close to the cuticle without touching. The gel polish seems to flow wherever the activator is, so it spreads easily. Once you are done with the first coat on one hand, switch the brush from the gel polish into the cleaner and the brush from the cleaner now into the gel polish. Repeat these steps on the other hand.
For the second coat, you have to start again with a layer of the activator, then the gel polish. So you are sandwiching the activator - gel polish - activator - gel polish, etc until you have reaching a desirable level of coverage. For my nails I ended up using 3 coats because it is in fact a "Sheer Pink."
It ended up looking nice and healthy. It had a good solid shine to it and it did in fact dry within 5 minutes. And not like we think of polish drying with Seche Vite in 5 minutes.... I deliberately poked my nails and tried to dent the polish after 5 minutes, and nothing happened. It was rock solid. So that is indeed a perk!
How did it wear?
On the night of Day 1 I noticed hairline cracks on 2 corners.
Day 2 is pictured below, the hairline cracks are not even noticeable.
Day 3 is pictured below, the cracks are more noticeable on my middle finger nail. I also had new hairline cracks on the corners of all of my nails.
Closeup of the cracks I'm talking about. Notice it's CRACKS, not CHIPS. The gel polish is not very flexible I guess is why. The polish cracks when your nail bends, but the cracked portion stays put. It doesn't chip off. It is after all, super glued to your natural nail...
Now is the time that I share the lesson I learned! My right hand faired much, much worse! Lol. I wanted to see if a thicker coat of gel polish would give me better coverage. I did the first coat very thin like recommended on the instructions, but rebelliously did 2 moderately-thick coats for the others. And here is obviously why they instruct you to do THIN coats! It gunked up at the tip of my nails and didn't dry properly. It was still rock hard in 5 minutes, but after the first day it started to lift and chip horribly. This was of course worsened by my need to pick at it constantly.... :( So learn from me, do thin coats as instructed!
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Does in fact fully dry within 5 minutes.
- Lasts several days without any chips or tipwear.
Cons
- Activator step has a harsh chemical smell that some would not be able to handle.
- Price. $12? That's more than I'm willing to pay.
- 5mL bottle of color. Will not allow for much usage.
- Requires extreme precision and patience to follow the proper application technique.
- Limited color selection available at some local retailers. (My Walgreens only had 4 colors)
- Clean-up can be difficult if you don't have the "No Mess Express" remover pad they sell.
In the next post I'll review what the removal process was like!
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