I had done my research and my mom had tried a similar gel dip nail product where she lives and loves it. It looked like it was something I definitely wanted to try. I made an appt with Diana at Kim Nails as I was told she was the expert at this process. This happens to be the only salon in the entire area that even does NexGen nails. There are other gel dip salons, but I wanted specifically NexGen brand. It looked like it was the best. Diana told me that people come to see her from hours away just to get this brand and have her do their nails! How cool is that?
As I told you, I took my camera with me to the salon. People looked at me funny, but they do that anyways, so it didn't faze me. HAHA!
Here is what my nails looked like after Diana had removed my polish and the nail glue that was holding my peels together. I told you about that experience a post or two ago!
OMG how awful is this?? See the peels on my pointer finger? Yeah they are usually this bad. I've tried so hard to get them healthy and my genetics just suck I guess!
The first step was to buff them up a bit. This is the part I dread as I know it's this part that does the most damage to the nail. It actually wasn't as rough as when I've tried acrylics before.
Next Diana glued on those super long tips. You know the ones that curl down? I promise you, I tried so hard to take a picture of that, but I just couldn't even get my camera out of the case! It was pretty funny trying. How do people with nails that long do their daily chores????
The tips were cut down a bit. Here is that step.
See that the buffing wasn't too intense. Next came the really cool part. For those who've had acrylics before, you know that pot of powder that they dip the wet brush into to make a bead and put that on your nail? It was like that pot of powder. Oh and you can pick any color you want. As in the gel dip product is colored so NO chipping polish!!!!! Why someone would want to wear the same color for a month I've no clue! HAHA.
So here's what happened next. Diana applied a prep base. I'm assuming this was pure alcohol like most nail preps we know and love. Then she applied something like a base coat. Then she took my nail and dipped it in the powder tapping my finger to get the excess off my finger. This process was done three times per nail. She told me normally you do two but I am super hard on my nails so she wanted to do three. Between each dip, she did another layer of the base coat product.
Here is what that looked like after the three dips per nail.
I chose to just do a sheer pink as I knew I'd be putting my regular polish on top. My mom when she did hers, did a pink and white one. But see the powder on my fingers? That's what my nails were dipped into.
Next came the electric file and hand filing. After that was done, I washed my hands. The very last step to this process was the top coat. You don't need the UV lamp, you can just fan your nails, but you can't be sure when it's really dry. I'm not afraid of the UV lamp so I chose to do that to finish off my nails. There was a bonus step of the paraffin wax, that I love to do!
Here is what the final nails look like.
See the super shiny? That's the final top coat and is supposed to always stay that shiny.
How gorgeous are these nails? I am in love with them! As I write this, I have had these on for 4 days now. They feel natural whereas when I had acrylics before, I always felt like there was something on my nail. It was a weird feeling. These I don't even think about. I haven't been babying them at all. I've just been doing what I normally do.
I did do a mani on top of this, which will be my next post. I'm curious to see what these will look like after removing the polish.
Some points you may be wondering. I'm told these should last up to a month depending on whether you can "ignore the gap" at the cuticle as the nail grows out. You cannot use acetone as that is what removes this gel dip. Let me just say that doing cleanup with non acetone sucks! It takes twice as long and is tedious.
I have noticed that on one nail, that either my nail is separating or something but I have super wonky nails on my right hand and until the point where I don't need tips, it may just be from that. I have another appointment in two weeks to remove these and start over. Diana says not to do fills as it just gets too thick. In the future, I think I will most likely do three week intervals. Where I live, the price was $40 for one color, $50 for the pink and white. My mom lives in a rural area and paid $31 for hers. I do not know what brand she used, but she said it was the same process.
I've already decided that next time I want to go a bit longer and more square. I do think that I will keep these for a while. I'm sure they will do some damage to my nails, but you saw how they were to begin with! It's not like I was sporting pretty nails to begin with!
A before and after picture for you.
What I do know, is so far, I love these! I would recommend these to others to try. Diana did a fabulous job and I look forward to having her do my nails for a long time to come!
What do you think?
Until next time people. Any thoughts out there?
