4 Steps For a Professional Gel Manicure at Home
1. Preparation
Cut and file your nails into a neat shape, and push back your cuticle to remove any dead skin
Both of these steps help eliminate any lumps and bumps which could cause bubbles under the nail polish and cause it to start lifting away from your nail. Lumps and bumps also generally don't look too good, even when covered in polish
Gently buff over your whole nail with a buffing block and wipe away with a cleanser designed to remove gel residue and sanitize your nail plate.
These two steps give the gel polish the best possible chance of staying attached to your nail; too shiny or too oily and you risk the polish lifting off.
Apply a good base coat.
In addition to preventing the polish from staining your natural nail, a good base coat provides even more stickiness for your coloured polish to grip onto.
Doing all of this before you even think about what color you want your nails to be might sound exhausting, but it really will do wonders in terms of ensuring your manicure looks neat and lasts as long as possible.
2. Don't Use Too Much Polish
While it can be tempting to try to get a nice bright color as quickly as possible, the trick to a really neat manicure is actually to build up the color using multiple thin layers, rather than fewer thicker ones.
Even with gel polish, where drying time isn't an issue, laying the color on too thick can cause it to run down the sides, onto the skin at the back of the nail or even underneath the top of the nail.
Curing your nails like this can leave you with solid polish curling up at the sides, or sticking to your skin, which not only ruins the look but can also take a while to get rid of.
Cap the Ends
Another step you will always see professionals take when doing your nails is running the brush along the top of the nail, after painting the top.
Capping the ends like this helps prevent your polish from chipping and lifting off at the top of your nails through daily wear and tear at the end of your fingers.
Soak it Off
Picking or peeling off gel polish can be difficult at the best of times, and more importantly, it can cause serious damage to the top layers of your nails.
Take the time to soak off the polish with acetone and make sure you pamper your nails and fingers afterward with some moisturizing oils or petroleum jelly.