Before we get to far into it here is what the product looks like.
So I get the product home and open it. Inside there are three bottles. 1 Gel Perfect Nail Color, 1 5 Minute Gel Polish Activator, and 1 Nail Cleaner.
Here are the three bottles inside. Your brush cleaner will be clear when new but I took this picture after I used it so mine is kind of blueish.
There is also a set of instructions which I can't stress enough that you need to read before applying the product. Start with clean dry nails. Shape them as usual and lightly buff the surface (just to remove the shine). Apply a liberal coat of 5 Minute Gel Polish to one hand, then immediately apply the Gel Perfect Nail color. First coat will be streaky so repeat the process. I used two coats. Then repeat the pattern for your other hand. The first time you use this product the finish is not going to be as great as it could be. Here is what I figured out worked to get the best finish. The box instructions say to switch the brushes in the brush cleaner and Gel Perfect Nail Color bottle after a coat for each hand. For me that was not enough to keep the finish smooth. I switched brushes after every third nail. This keeps the activator from gunking up the brush and you get a smoother finish. Like any new nail technique this requires patients and practice. If you are switching the brushes as often as I do you should get a fairly smooth finish.
Here's what my nails looked like once they were painted.
Now to the fun part, the product review. The box claims the product dries in 5 minutes, creates a patent leather shine (no top coat necessary), protects nails from breaking, and is easy to remove. Okay I am going to address these one at a time and you'll see why I am in love this product. First the 5 minute dry time...yeah mine dried to rock solid in less than 5 minutes I was able to type, and sort papers within 4 minutes because my nails were fully dry. How awesome is that? Second the patent leather shine. It fully lives up to this claim. I love patent leather shine, it's one of my favorite things about nail polish, the high shine finish on my nails makes me happy. But usually I have to use a good top coat to get it, but not with this product. You get the shine of a quality top coat without the additional step. Third it states that it protects your nails from breakage. I was skeptical on this one but who better to test this out than me, as I am quite possibly one of the most unlucky, clumsy people in the world. As if on Que I somehow managed to get my right hand caught in my bathroom door. Don't ask how my clumsy butt did this...let's just say it involved a cardigan tie and a boor knob getting tangled.....you don't want to know, just be happy it was me and not you and have a good laugh at my expense. I was sure by the pain that was shooting up my pinkie, ring and middle finger on my right hand made me sure I had just had a major nail catastrophe on my hands. I looked down I noticed that no only had my nails not been broken off but only that my nail polish on those nails had cracked, they took the force of the blow and spared the nails. No seriously, even after I removed the polish my nails had only a few white marks from the impact, the polish had spared my nails. Yay! Okay, yeah I know I am getting a little over excited about this but anything that saves my nails makes me a happy girl. Then lastly I want to address the ease of removal. The box recommends that you use Nutra Nail's No Mess Express Gel Perfect Remover. As I could not find this at Fred Myers I bought Onyx Professional 100% Acetone nail polish remover instead (they had a couple brands but I couldn't resist the name as Onyx is my favorite gemstone and the name of my blog it seemed like fate). I soaked a cotton pad in the acetone nail polish remover and held it to my nails for approximately a minute. The polish came right off and didn't even stain the nail bed (which is weird for blue polish as it's particularly troublesome in that department). I also want to bring up something that the box didn't say, which is the length of wear time for this polish. I kept it on for five days. I took five showers, I washed my hair five times, made dinner five times, cleaned my apartment (including dusting which usually kills my manicure), and one hand shut in a door (not my finest hour).
And here is what they looked like right before I took the polish off on the night of Day 5.
I don't know if you can see it but there are small cracks on my pinkie, ring, and middle finger as well as a small chip on my ring finger and one on my thumb.
Five days of wear is more than I have every asked from a polish. That alone amazed me, but the fact that it had saved my nails from certain breakage via door, made me love this product. Honestly after five days I am itching to change my color anyway so this polish more than suited my needs and hopes for this product.
There are a few other things I think are worth noting about this product. Once it's dry is has a beachy kind of smell to it...for some reason in reminds me of sunblock and then I think of summer which I actually kind of like. I don't know if that's supposed to be the case or if I just got a fluke bottle but I kind of like that my nails smell like summer when I have this polish on. And one last thing about this product. If you use 100% acetone to remove your polish make sure you moisturize your nails afterward, because acetone strips the moisture out of your nails and skin. Dry skin and nails means breakage, peeling, hang nails, and possible infections. I soaked my nails in olive oil for 10 minutes (per hand) after taking off this polish to help restore the moisture. Other than that I highly encourage anyone to buy and try this product. Have you ladies tried this product yet? If you have leave me a comment about your experience with it. And as always stay classy and stay polished. XOXO
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