The hands of a real woman should look well-groomed, otherwise they are not hands, but the paws of Chewie from Star Wars, and the owner of neglected nails herself turns from a mystery girl into a slob from work who is used to washing with her hands, not arousing any sexual interest.
Therefore, you should not be lazy and look for excuses for yourself, you need to learn to be beautiful and natural. For starters, you can at least paint your nails. The manicure procedure takes an hour at most, even using gel polish at home it will take two hours.
You can devote two hours a week or two to your nails, because they signal to the whole world about a woman’s attitude towards her beloved. But the world doesn’t need to know that a girl walks around at home disheveled, cooks only in the presence of a man and often forgets to wash off her makeup before going to bed - in short, that she doesn’t really love herself very much...
How to properly apply gel polish to your nails at home
What tools and supplies will we need?
Before starting the procedure, you should make sure that you have all the tools and accessories for manicure or that an equivalent replacement has been found. Which materials are definitely needed, and which can be neglected? To get a manicure, you need everything from this list (what’s missing can be put in, and what’s superfluous can be put aside):
Manicure set
- standard manicure set (files, pusher, buff, scissors, grinder, tweezers, brushes and nippers of different shapes and sizes, so that you can remove all unnecessary);
- oil for removing cuticles (castor, burdock, almond or jojoba);
- spatula or orange stick (by the way, so named because these manicure sticks are made from orange wood, it is soft but durable, injures the nail plate and has anti-inflammatory properties, it is convenient for removing excess gel);
- primer (it is best to choose a degreaser without toluene and formaldehyde);
- brushes for application (allow you to make nails with an unusual design);
- bondex;
- cuticle trimmer and burr;
- UV lamp (or any other device with ultraviolet radiation - the only manicure equipment at home);
- lint-free wipes (allow you to adjust your nail manicure);
- clinser (solvent of the liquid layer, it can be prepared even at home: you need to mix 70 ml of water and 30 ml of alcohol);
- cotton wool;
- gel polish remover (Santera, De Lacroix, Cody, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and even extraction gasoline, if we are talking about washing off the coating at home);
- foil (needed to cover the nails during softening);
An example of using foil for manicure - varnish of the desired color;
- thermovarnish (for water manicure);
- finishing and base shellac (to seal the color).
If all the manicure products are ready, you can begin the application procedure itself. Below it is discussed step by step. The application sequence must not be violated.
Stages of the procedure step by step
Step-by-step photo instructions for performing a classic manicure with gel polish
Preparation
Before applying gel polish or first you should prepare your nails. You need to carefully clean them of the previous coating, trim the cuticles along the edges, adjust the free edge and be sure to disinfect the nail plate!
Preparing for a manicure
Disinfection is the prevention of fungal diseases under the varnish, since it removes fat, excess moisture and bacteria from the nail. Also, the disinfectant simply cleans the nail from dust and dirt so that the shellac adheres better.
Professional preparations that come in sets with gel polish can be used as disinfectants, but regular alcohol is suitable for manicure at home. Moreover, it is pure alcohol, and not vodka, not perfume or lotion! There are simply too many additional components in these products that prevent the varnish from fixing to the plates and can erase it. Plus, alcohol has a long period of activity and works even under shellac.
Before starting the procedure, you must once again make sure that the nail is cleaned of the previous varnish. To remove cuticles, you need to use a special product or oil, but you cannot steam your nails, as they can peel.
In fact, when preparing, you should do a regular soft hygienic manicure as a base, but do not immediately apply varnish. Moreover, you don’t have to shorten the nail too much; shellac usually strengthens the nail plate, but everything needs to be sanded, otherwise the gel base will lie unevenly. Polish the nails with a buff, holding it along the nail plate. Removing the top keratin layer of the nail helps the shellac to better adhere to the plate. You will have to remove it, although it seems that this causes great harm to the nail, but this is not so. Then the nail is degreased and a primer is applied.
As a little trick: the skin of your hands can be protected from the harmful effects of shellac by applying regular sunscreen or baby cream. Otherwise, the effect of ultraviolet radiation may dry it out ahead of time.
Applying base coat
A transparent shellac base is needed for better adhesion of the product to the nail plate. The weaker the nails, the worse the polish will adhere to them, so they are strengthened with a base coat. You can’t skimp on shellac base, even at home, because a bad base will ruin the entire manicure. The base shellac must be applied carefully and evenly to the nails in a thin layer and begin to dry in a UV lamp, then repeat the painting again, and apply the top coat immediately after the base.
Application of topcoat
The top coat of shellac is also called the topcoat because it seals the entire coating. It is done at the very end on fully prepared and treated nails. The brightness of the color and the neatness of the nails depend on the correct coating.
Immediately after application, you should use a dryer, and after two minutes, you should evenly lubricate the area around the nails with hand or lip balm so that the skin does not dry out or crack.
If you follow the classic concepts of gel polish, then nothing is glued or applied to the top. Exceptions may be large elements, for example, rhinestones, but if possible you should avoid this, since a manicure or pedicure will look untidy due to such sealing. This is one of the many secrets of manicure.
Final stage
After properly applying the top coat and drying it in a UV lamp, blot your nails with a napkin containing liquid to remove the liquid. After this, the hands are lubricated with moisturizing cuticle cream and the shellac coating procedure is considered complete.
How to choose a UV lamp for drying gel polish at home
Lamps for drying gel polish vary in power, as well as in the type of light emitters installed inside. Ultraviolet lamps dry not only gel polish, but also other extension products. Models with a power of 36 W are suitable for home use. Such devices have 2 disadvantages. Bulbs quickly burn out and require replacement with identical ones.
Other lamps will not work. UV radiation negatively affects the skin of the hands. After drying, it is necessary to use moisturizing oils and special creams. There are LED lamps that do not negatively affect the skin and dry the gel coating faster than ultraviolet lamps. The light bulbs in such devices last a very long time, and energy consumption is reduced by half.
For home use, devices with a power of 6 W are suitable. The disadvantage of such dryers is their high price.
There are hybrid lamps that contain both types of bulbs. They reduce the drying time of the coating from 2-3 minutes to 30 seconds. Their power is enough to dry any design, as well as gel for extensions.
For home use, it is recommended to purchase small-sized devices with low power. Their cost is low and drying is carried out properly. Large and powerful lamps are needed for salons where there is a large flow of clients. In a large device you can dry both hands at the same time, thus saving time.
Differences between primer, bondex, and clinser from each other
Shellac terminology is full of unfamiliar words, the meaning of which a novice manicurist can only guess. At least some of them should be considered. Below is a step-by-step comparison of three key shellac products.
- The primer is used to prepare the nail for adhesion, but it does not adhere anything, but only removes everything unnecessary on the plate. It can be compared to priming walls for wallpaper. It restores the pH of the nail plate, cleans everything so that the product adheres as correctly and firmly as possible. The degreasing primer does not require additional drying under an ultraviolet lamp.
- Bondex is a gel-like substance used to increase adhesion between the nail plate and shellac. Thanks to this product, the nails do not peel off, and the artificial material stays on the nail plate for as long as possible. Its action can be compared to double-sided tape, when it tightens both the nail and the shellac. Bondex should not be applied to the skin or cuticles; if the product gets on your fingers, they should be washed with running water. These two products (bondex and primer) are often confused.
- Klinser is a water-alcohol solution with fragrances and oils. Removes the sticky layer at the very end of applying gel nail polish at home, a fixative, although it can replace the primer if necessary, since it is a good antiseptic.
These three different manicure products are a must-have for any woman who takes care of her nails and doesn't mindlessly try to grow them. If possible, you should purchase them from the same brand, for example, Ingarden, Bluesky, to avoid chemical incompatibility and deterioration of adhesion. Proper care guarantees healthy nails and a beautiful appearance of shellac.
Step by step gel polish application at home
- First you need to prepare your hands and make a special warm bath to disinfect and soften the skin.
- Preparing the nail plate: doing a trimmed or untrimmed manicure. Apply remover to the cuticle to soften it. Next, we push back the cuticle with a pusher or an orange stick and treat the skin at the nail folds and get rid of the cuticle.
- Using a nail file, we make the desired shape and polish the nail plate with a buffer so that the surface of the nail adheres firmly to the base.
- We degrease the nail using lint-free wipes, thanks to which the coating is as even as possible.
- Apply primer (ultrabond) carefully, without touching the skin around the nail. The primer ensures strong adhesion of the base to the nail: the principle of its operation can be compared to double-sided tape. If nature has blessed you with strong, unbreakable nails, then this stage can be omitted.
- We cover the nail plate with a thin layer of base coat, seal the ends, and dry it in a UV-LED lamp. If the surface of the nail is not smooth enough, you need to make it smooth.
- Apply gel polish of the desired shade, seal the ends and dry again in a UV lamp.
- The final stage is applying the finish. The ends should be sealed well with a top coat, otherwise the gel polish may chip. Dry the top coat in a UV-LED lamp for 2 minutes 30 seconds.
- At the very end, do not forget to remove the sticky layer if necessary.
And now we will tell you about each stage in more detail.
A special bath will prepare your hands for a manicure
How to make designs on nails with gel polish?
Nail art is a type of manicure in which, in addition to the standard classical treatment of nails, various designs are also reproduced on them according to the technique. Shellac quickly gives freedom to decor, which is why there are entire trends in nail design where images are applied to a ready-made coating. You can make absolutely unimaginable pictures on your nails, it all depends on the artist’s imagination, but you need to understand that individual bright patterns will look more impressive on long nails, and their use on short nails is unacceptable. Examples are shown below.
Nail painting techniques.
There are many techniques for painting with gel polish professionally, but only a few of them can be used at home:
- painting technique with a thin brush;
- dotting technique (a special tool with a small ball at the end);
- dot manicure technique (somewhat reminiscent of children's drawing using dots with the described order);
- “wet” technique: the varnish moves freely on the nail plate using a toothpick or needle;
- liner manicure technique.
Before starting to use any of the techniques, you should observe the master and his manicure sequence. If you can’t go to a salon, you can get the necessary tips from videos on manicure lessons on the Internet. But to gain experience, you still need to work and improve yourself.
Rose gel polish: step-by-step instructions
Rose gel polish is one of the simplest designs, so it can be reproduced even by beginners. The entire procedure from scratch can be divided into several stages.
First you need to choose the right colors. Most often they choose white for the background and red and green for the flower, but this is not necessary. You can play with the colors and choose something unusual. For example, on a matte natural beige tone, a glossy rose is slightly visible. Or paint your nail with black polish and make the rose itself from rhinestones. It all depends on personal preferences and clothing range. And a colored matte manicure with a large abundance of small roses looks very beautiful. Then the nails are coated with the main color, and all at once, and not one by one, are dried in a UV lamp, this gives additional durability. The dryer allows you to seal the color for a long time.
When the varnish has dried, use the tip of a needle to make several dots on the nail with the colors you like and connect them to create the image of a rose.
Butterfly gel polish
Butterfly is a universal design, as it is suitable for both short and long nails. It looks most impressive on a classic French manicure or just white nails, when insect wings contrast with the background.
You can draw a butterfly yourself using a liner or a brush, or you can simply buy a sticker and attach it to your nail. This won't work with a rose. And this is an undeniable advantage of the butterfly.
If you still want to make a drawing yourself, then it should be applied to a good ready-made base. First, the outline of the insect is drawn, and then the wings and body of the butterfly are filled with color. If desired, the drawing can be left as a contour. But learning how to apply color inside the outline is a must.
Skull shellac
Sometimes you want to step away from something cute and decorate your nails with something like a skull. The application technology will differ little from the same butterfly; this is also an easy manicure, but the inside of the skull can be painted with shiny varnish or rhinestones. Looks impressive! But the manicure ideas don't end there.
Hieroglyph shellac
Hieroglyphs are the easiest to draw because they only use two colors. Usually choose black and white varnishes, but you can try a combination of black and red, blue and white, or yellow and green. But the most important thing here is not to miss the meaning of the symbol. Hieroglyphs are in fashion, but you shouldn’t wear meaningless lines or descriptions of public toilets on your hands, this is one of the mistakes beginners make when designing nails.
Pirate theme
Using gel polish, you can cover your nails with the profile of Jack Sparrow, the outline of his Black Pearl and the pirate's helm. Of course, such a design will take a lot of time, but the end result will be a stylish, unique design, and not a typical nail painting!
Shellac letters
You can also write your name on the manicure. Conveniently, if your name is Alexandra or Constance, you get one letter per finger. Others will have to come up with the arrangement of letters from the first and last names of relatives and children, but these are the subtleties of nail coating. In general, gel polish at home gives a huge flight of fancy if you remember the rules of application! The main mistakes in application: it is better to use the alphabet that has the most letters in the name. The Latin or Cyrillic alphabet is chosen according to your own preferences, otherwise you will want to quickly wash everything off later.
Simple nail design with gel polish at home
We have already looked in detail at how to do a manicure with gel polish at home step by step. Of course, a simple monochromatic manicure in a fashionable color looks attractive. But in addition to a single-color coating, you can add small accents in the form of light drawings and patterns on the nails, which consist of simple lines, dots, curls, and this is a skill that any girl can do.
To do this, you only need a few bottles of gel polish of different colors, 2-3 brushes, a little imagination and the desire to experiment.
Let's look at several simple and concise nail design options at home.
Gel polish drawing: hieroglyph
Drawing a hieroglyph on your nails is not difficult. Painting nails with hieroglyphs is suitable for girls who love the East, mysterious representatives of the fair sex. The background of the design should be chosen from red to white and transparent. After completing all stages of the main manicure, use a thin brush to apply the image onto the nail with strokes.
Before applying a hieroglyph, carefully study its meaning. The most common characters used in the beauty industry are Chinese characters.
Classic French
Classic French gel polish
French is always in fashion; it looks neat, gentle on nails and traditionally remains a classic option for any occasion. French is suitable for women of any age, both a young girl and a business woman. A classic French manicure is not particularly difficult for an experienced master; you only need a brush.
But if you are a beginner, you can use special strips and stencils.
After the base color has dried, the next step is to draw the smile line using a brush. The stencil will help you create a perfectly straight smile line, which you can complement with patterns, rhinestones or sparkles, so you can easily make French gel polish at home.
Gradient
Gradient (ombre) on nails with gel polish
The gradient is a very common and delicate pattern, representing a smooth transition between color shades. This type of coating appeared relatively recently, but is already very popular among fashionistas, and also looks good on any length of the nail plate. The gradient can be smooth (ombre) or clear, even geometric, consisting of identical stripes or shapes of different shades.
It looks good to use different shades of the same color. The modern technique of applying gel polish - a gradient - gives a wide range of imagination, while you can combine not only solid shades, but also a wide variety of bright colors.
Beginners can start with simple drawings from simple dots circles or master a simple technique of painting on wet gel polish; you can use a stamping kit or stickers.
To make more complex and naturalistic drawings, which are created with the smallest details with a brush and using volumetric modeling, it is quite difficult to do without experience.
Lunar manicure
Lunar nail art
The lunar type of manicure has already become popular. In this case, the entire nail plate is covered with varnish of one color, and the hole at the base of the nail is treated with varnish of a different color. To correctly choose the right color solutions for you, you need to take into account the features of other components of the image.
Contrasting color combinations – for example, black and white – look quite advantageous. But you can also opt for more extravagant combinations - for example, black and red.
Matte manicure
Matte manicure with gel polish
This manicure looks very stylish and elegant. To create a matte finish, special varnishes are used that provide a perfectly smooth and beautiful finish. The matte finish looks great in dark colors - purple, black, burgundy and blue. You can choose a variety of colors - it all depends on the characteristics of your composition.
Cat eye manicure
"Cat-eye"
This type of varnish allows you to get a long-lasting manicure with a beautiful effect. The varnish used for this type of manicure contains tiny metal particles. It is possible to achieve an amazing pattern after painting under the influence of a special magnet. This results in an incredibly beautiful shine and voluminous three-dimensional patterns reminiscent of a precious stone.
Making a beautiful gel polish manicure yourself and creating an unusual design at home is not difficult, but even interesting. The main thing is to be patient, prepare the necessary materials and devices that are needed for a home monochromatic manicure or for creating nail art. After all, now you can admire a new manicure more than once a month, which will be flawless in a variety of incarnations.
Ombre gel polish step by step at home
The gradient ombre manicure method looks simple in the pictures, but you shouldn’t start it as a self-taught person without practicing on other options, for example, roses. An ombre manicure is characterized by a smooth transition from bright and shiny to a matte pale shade of one color, but only a professional can accurately draw all stages of the coating.
And some more facts about shellac.
- Shellac is a resin secreted by certain insects in Asia. Then this resin is bought and used as a key component of gel polish. None of the mechanical devices make shellac.
- Gel polish promotes the growth of your natural nails; if desired, you can grow them under such a shell.
- Thanks to a special coating technology, shellac protects the plates from scratches and traumatic damage.
This product has a natural base, and therefore is harmless to the body and has nothing to do with destructive extended nails. With shellac, constant nail correction is not required.
