Cosmetic Gaming: Nailing a Recipe for Success
Gel Polish > Nail Lacquer
The biggest game changer in manicures in the last decade is inarguably the change from traditional nail polish or varnish to gel polish: a soft gel known for staying glossy, in tact, with little to no chipping, peeling, or cracking for up to two weeks! The gel goes on like a polish, but uses a light to cure, or harden, on to the nail: UV lights work best, but LED models are also popular.
Every set on the street transitioned from long-worn, chipped looks to the sleek, smooth, fresh-looking sets as gel polish literally replaced traditional polishes. OPI, Essie, China Glaze, and other top nail lacquer brands embraced the transition by producing new lines of gel polishes in their most classic colors, offering them at every top salon. Additionally, top drug store brands also supported the movement by offering cheap, affordable gel polishes, some even usable without light curing.
Insta-worthy Nails
Shortly after the gel craze came the next big nail look: chrome and mirror nails. At first, nail enthusiasts drooled over a plain silver chrome color, using polishes, foils, and powders to get a chrome set, perfectly reflective and textured. Soon after, gold and other metallics became popular. But no one was prepared for what came next: the color-changing, chameleon look. Most iconic is the green-purple color, metallic and chrome-like, but more colorful and dimensional. Blue-purple, green-blue, green-gold, and red-gold, pink-purple and more chameleon nail sets were flashing over instagram. Topping that even, holographic nails and iridescent nails took over our feeds, having us impatient with our two-week gel sets, wanting to try more colors more quickly. It had been almost ten years since I had a professional manicure (literally hadn’t since senior prom and a sorority formal), but I caved for the chameleon mani. It cost about $45 with a Groupon and tip, but totally worth it: it was gorgeous, lasted two weeks, and made me feel so happy!
My Hardware
I’ve always been a craft, DIY-kinda person: if I could save money and customize it by doing it myself, I would. Nails were no different. As an avid nail enthusiast my entire life, having my nails done was a must, but I didn’t want to bust my bank twice monthly for the chameleon look, and it felt wrong not to be doing my own nails. I purchased the Sally Hansen Miracle Two-Step Gel Polish in black and white along with the Top Coat, rumored for not needing to be used with a light. I also order Born Pretty’s holographic and silver chrome nail powders and got to testing. While it wasn’t a total failure, it wasn’t what I wanted, so I Amazon-primed my own LED light, a Gelled Pro 36-watt nail dryer and Elite99’s set-of-five chameleon nail powders. On the way home from work, I stopped at Sally Beauty Supply for gel polish, and purchased China Glaze’s Gelaze 2-in-one gel polish in black and white, with matching top coat, about $2 each in the clearance section (yeah, I was THAT late to the game)… Including cotton balls, acetone, isopropyl, eyeshadow applicators, products, and polishes, I spent about $60. This meant the purchase would pay for itself after just two DIY manicures, and every set after that was just saving even more money.
Assist from Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol
I had trouble getting the polishes to work. From a tacky, uncured manicure, to getting the powder to stick, there were many trials and many failures. I researched tips for success on YouTube tutorials, beauty blogs, and in the comments section of each of the products I had purchased. From this, I learned to use isopropyl rubbing alcohol or acetone to “dry” or fix the tackiness. This was a huge game changer: a drug store, $1 solution. But I still wasn’t 100, the nail powders were hit or miss and I didn’t have a consistent routine to get a perfect set every time.
Applying the Scientific Method
It was the night before parent-teacher conferences. My nails had been bare for almost a week. Tonight was the night: I integrated all of my science skills to formulate the best routine for a gel set with nail powders. Warming up, I considered the factors I felt had the most influence on a set and designed five procedures to isolate the variables. I varied the type of polish (Gelaze or Miracle Gel), the wipe (isopropyl or acetone on a cotton ball, or water rinse under the faucet), and the procedure. Spotify station was set to my favorite tunes, light was plugged in, and a deathmatch commenced: five nails with five procedures, which would win?!
Match Results and Highlights
The pinky nail was, by far, the worst result. There was almost no nail powder pigment on the nail at all at the end. I started with two coats of the gel polish, cured for 60 seconds in between each coat, wiped at the end with acetone for a matte, non-tacky texture. I used the eye shadow applicator brush to brush on the nail powder which didn’t stick at all. I used the matching top coat, finished with an iso-wipe, and had a nice, black nail, but no signs of a chromatic manicure. Definitely a fail.
The ring finger was hands down the best result. It was a stunning, glossy nail with a gorgeous metallic finish, just like the manicure I had gotten at the salon. To achieve this magnificent mani on my own, I started with two coats of the black Gelaze polish, cured for 60 seconds in between each coat. I wiped the black gel (which was tacky) with an isopropyl wipe and rubbed the nail powder on as soon as it looked matte. The powder took the nail beautifully, not pigmented or sticking, but almost instantly looking chrome and colorful. I rinsed off the excess powder with water before applying the Gelaze top coat and curing again. I finished this mani with an iso-wipe and it was perfection!
The middle finger and pointer finger were very similar in appearance, the ranking mostly differentiated by the slight curling of the polish when it cured under the light. I used two coats of the Miracle Gel color, air-dried for about 2 minutes after each coat. I wiped the pointer with isopropyl to see if it would do anything to gel: while it wasn’t tacky like the other polish, it didn’t go matte either. I didn’t notice any significant difference after this wipe. I applied powder to each and it stuck wherever it touched the polished. The finish wasn’t chrome or shiny, just thick and powdery, almost velvety in texture with the build up of powder now stuck to the nail. I applied Miracle Gel Top Coat to each, iso-wiped the middle finger, and rinsed the pointer with water. Both fingers weren’t completely dry after the wipe or rinse, but the powder didn’t look nice either since it was literally caked on. Not necessarily fails, but definitely not the chameleon mani I was going for.
The thumb gets my runner-up stamp of approval. I started with two coats of the Gelaze black polish, cured for 60 seconds in between coats. For this nail, I didn’t use any wipe. Instead, I applied the powder directly on top of the tacky gel, gingerly to avoid ruining the black, tacky gel. Similar to the middle and pointer finger, it initially caked on, looking heavy and powdery, but after a full layer was applied and waiting a few moment, I was able to buff the layer down and smooth it out with the eye shadow applicator brush. This nail did look metallic, shined vividly with the chameleon colors, but wasn’t as smooth and chrome-like since you could see the pigments. I then applied the Gelaze top coat, cured, and wiped with isopropyl. It was definitely metallic and pretty, not as caked as it looked before top coat, but not perfect like the salon.
Validating my Results and Perfecting my Game
Now, with a recipe for success, I decided to replicate my study to validate my initial results. Using all ten finger nails, I started with the Gelaze, using the same procedure. Sure enough, as expected, 5ks on each hand: the set came out beautifully, almost no imperfections. The chameleon color and chromatic texture just as perfect as the salon’s. I rushed through it, doing the left hand first, and then repeating the entire process a second time on the right hand, but it came out perfectly. The entire set took just under ten minutes.
I did notice that using the same cotton ball with isopropyl to wipe effected the nail. When wiping, the texture definitely dries out, eliminating the tacky wetness from the gel and finishing the curing process which is awesome. However, sometimes some color comes off, and by the time you get to your second or third finger with the same cotton ball, you are no longer wiping isopropyl on your nail, but scratching off the gel with remnants from the previous nails. While the color and appearance didn’t change right then, I did notice the powder didn’t adhere as well in this spot, only on the third nail that I hadn’t used a fresh cotton ball for. From this, I recommend using a fresh cotton ball with isopropyl to wipe each nail after curing.
GLHF!
I am proud of my results and feel confident sharing this with you DIYers too! Hopefully, my attempts, trials, failures, and successes will help you get a better looking manicure at home. Good luck polish princesses! Keep killin’ it!
Connect with the Author, Niki Graham
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