How It Works:
You're given three different bottles in the kit: activator, gel color, and brush cleaner. Once your nails are clean and you've pushed back your cuticles you need to brush on a layer of activator, you'll want to place a layer thick enough so it won't dry too quickly, you'll also want brush some on the tip of the nail to seal it. Then you're going to take the gel color and place it on top of the wet activator. They say it's okay if it applies streaky because you can add another layer. Then you'll repeat those steps until you're done! The only thing that makes it complicated is that you need to switch the brush in the gel color with the brush from the brush cleaner, this is to prevent build up on the brush.
Breakdown:
Ease of Use: I was extremely hesitant to use this product because it looked a little complicated to use, but you begin to get the hang of it once you have a rhythm going. It says that you need to place the activator on all 5 nails before going over it with the color, but I noticed that it would dry way too fast, so I needed to go back and do it nail by nail. You also need to make sure that you double up on the paper towels you use because if you get the activator on it and it's not thick enough you can damage the surface you're working on.
Brush: The one thing that irked me about the brushes was that all three of them felt like the cheap brushes that come with the mini-baby sized nail polishes. It made applying the gel color difficult and the brush was so thin that it applied to my nails extremely streaky. The brush that came with the activator was ridiculous! I've never had a brush that was so bad! The bristles were coming off, some of them had kinks in them, and it was so uneven that it was nearly impossible to not get it on my skin or cuticles.
The brush also made getting an even coat impossible. On some of my nails I would get a really thick coat and then on others it would be extremely thin.
Color: I wish that this was more opaque. Because of the way the brushes applied the product, some of my nails had great coverage and the color looks really opaque, but for majority of my nails I can still my nail bed. The color isn't as intense as it looks in the bottle which can be good or bad (depends on what you like).
Longevity: If you don't seal your nails very well, your nails will chip easily. After two days I already had chipping on my nails (I've never experienced this before with any other nail polishes). Which makes it somewhat complicated to use because I personally don't like my nails being too long and I tried to seal it, but because my nails are short it kept getting on my skin. Even on the nails that I did seal it, those were the nails that had the most chipping.
Overview:
I don't like this product. I was thinking that if they had neutral colors it would be great for those who work and need to have a manicure, but don't want to spend all the money or time. Unfortunately you're better off just getting a regular polish and buying a fast-drying top coat. I've noticed that the fast-drying top coats can provide a gel-like finish as well and you don't have to worry about it too much.
If you're really into gel nails, I would say you should invest in an actual LED lamp or kit because you'll be able to save money in the long run. I'm going to be picking up the Revlon Colorstay version and see how that works :]
Have you guys tried this? Would you want to try this? Let me know down below or on Twitter (@ciaociaoreview)!
Until my next post,
Stay Beautiful <3
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