They cost more. I have pretty small nails, but mine still cost over $30. A regular manicure for me costs about half of that. If you have longer nails, or want to get a design on your nails, a gel manicure can set you back up to $100.
They last a long time and they're extremely durable. I got my nails done during the first week of March, but they hadn't chipped at all by Easter. They had grown out a bit, but they hadn't chipped at all, even though I went swimming in chlorine when I visited Beaver Creek. Keep in mind, I play clarinet, soccer, basketball, and I'm constantly typing, so more than two days without nails chipping is rare for me. I honestly didn't like this, because it looked weird. Normally, my nails are all chipped anyway by the time they're grown out, so it looks unprofessional but it doesn't look weird, like it does with gel nails. By the time I went to take them off, it seriously looked like I'd forgotten to paint half my nails.
Gel nails are extremely bad for you, for several reasons. First of all, several brands of gel nail polish contain chemicals that can cause rashes or allergies. Luckily, none of this happened to me, but it could happen to you. UV light is also really bad for you, but unfortunately, it is one of the main components of a gel manicure because you stick your fingers and hands under a UV light.
They're hard to take off. I discovered this when I went to remove the polish and nothing came off. You can use as much remover as you want, but gel nails won't come off with a regular nail polish remover. You have to either go into a salon or soak your nails in acetone to get the polish removed. After removal, your nails will be extremely dry, brittle, and weak for a while. I have cuticle cream from Burt's Bee's, so I made sure to put that on my nails every night along with some regular hand lotion and they helped a little bit. My nails are back to normal now, and I think I'll be sticking with my regular Essie polish for a while.
So would I recommend them? It honestly depends. If you have a lot of events back to back, and need your nails to stay nice for a long time, these are great. I definitely wouldn't get them regularly, because they are bad for your nails. Like I said, I'll be doing my nails at home for a while, but I'm actually kind of glad I tried gel nails. They helped me break one of my worst habits and allowed me to really grow out my nails. Ever since I was little, I have been constantly picking at my nails. I've tried so many things to try to stop this bad habit, but nothing has worked until recently. I didn't want to mess my nails up by picking at them, and by the time the polish was removed, I was so used to not picking at my nails that I had completely stopped.
Basically, I'm glad I got them this time, but I don't think I'll be getting them again. I probably wouldn't recommend them, but all the information's here... I'll let you come to your own conclusions.
What are your thoughts on gel nails?
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