Gel Nail Supply Haul and Update

Yesterday, I went to my favorite nail supply store and got some items: 

Two buffers (you can never have enough buffers), my first make up gel in rose (I wanted to try it, cause my nails have so many white strips and I wanna make them look more "even"), a round gel brush, a nail cleanser (the big bottle) and a brush cleanser.

To give you an update if I'm still happy with the gel nail set I bought: Yes! 

I'm not gonna lie, it can be quite annoying, cause some of them split at the edges, cause I still make mistakes, but I can fix that whenever I want.

I saved so much money. This is so much more affordable than getting them done. I really can recommend it.

Love,

Guinevere

My Self-made Gel Nails Journey

Remember when I showed you the gel nail kit? *click*

As mentioned in this post, I decided to start doing my gel nails myself. Getting refills every three weeks (in my case two, cause my nails grow so freakishly fast) is too expensive for me in the long run and most of the studios I went to did a bad job anyway.

Wanna see my first full refill? Here it is:

Pretty bad-ass right?? *gg* I think I did a great job. :-) I'm sooo happy that I bought the starter set.

Before this complete refill, I did several "small" ones which mainly consisted of repairing and evening out.

A rookie mistake I already learned from: I focused so badly on not getting the gel onto my cuticles that I only applied tiny amounts of gel on the edges which resulted in peeling and breaking of the gel. The were too weak to last, as soon as I put loads on the edges (still avoiding the cuticles) they were rock-solid.

So, what do you think? Like them? 

Love,

Guinevere

Gel Nails Set And First Steps

I love my gel nails and after going to four different places to get refills I decided to do them myself. Except for one woman who wants 37€ for a refill, all the other ones made something wrong and the refills didn't last those three weeks they were supposed to.

Every time I thought "That doesn't look hard and I can do it as well as that.." Another thing is the fact that my nails grow super fast and I would need to get a refill every two weeks..

After finishing my biiiig exam and passed it (yay!!!!) I decided it's appropriate to treat myself for doing so well. So, I went to my favorite nail supply store - MW Nails in the 17th district - and bought a XL starter set which was on sale. 85,90€ instead of 99,90€. Here's the link: *click* A looot of stuff:

Close-ups:

I won't use some of the items, like the tips (I prefer using the stencils which you'll see below) and the french gels - I prefer natural looking gel). 

I also got these items:

Another buffer (one always needs those), the stencils, a nail art wheel with fruits, big sized tips for my nail swatches:

I'm sure now you wanna know how I did. Well, I wanna tell you. lol I used this 3 part video for some guidance: *click* It's amazing! And here's the result:

To be honest: I think I did amazing! And if something breaks or lifts I can always fix it. In a nutshell, I'm sooo happy that I bought it. This will save me loads of money. I'm sure with practice everyone can do this. 

Love,

Guinevere

After-Gel-Nail-Situation

Hey guys,

I stopped getting gel nails, why?

• There were getting too expensive, at least for my current situation - no money - thanks IMATS *gg*
• I got annoyed, I tend to get annoyed by the tiniest things and this particular reason might seem especially weird - I love my Origins products so much and a ton of creme got lost under my nails and that sucked and it just hurts when they split and so on..

I still think they have a ton of advantages and are kinda gorgeous, cause they are just pretty and make the most brittle nails strong, but I wanted a break.

I didn't get them "professionally" taken off, I just let them grow out or at least tried, they broke off and so, not pretty at all.. I didn't want to get them taken off, cause I wouldn't have seen where the healthy, normal nail would start.

Long story short, this is how they look now, it's horrible.. And sorry for my cuticles..

See where my healthy/normal nail starts, crazy different right? You really see how weak the nail who had the gel on is..

Many people say their nails are weak for months, but I don't think this is an actual effect of the gel, there's just a huge difference between a gel nail and a normal nail.

I wonder how long I will survive without them.. lol Cause this is one horrible situation..

I wanted to show you this, cause, you know, knowledge is power. ;-)

Love you,
Guinevere

What I dislike about gel nails

I know I probably should write more poetic headlines, but well.. lol That way it's at least obvious what I wanna talk about. *gg*

I love my gel nails, I really really do and I don't think I will ever stop having them, cause my natural nails are just sooo crappy, but with everything out there, there are negative sides to them as well.

Let's take a look at these sides..

I have extremely bad nails and usually I have to get a refill after three weeks (my nails grow quite fast, who would have thought that..), but the last time I only got an appointment after four weeks and that's how they looked like when I was on the way to my appointment:

Horrible I know.. But after an hour they looked like this again: :-)

So let's take a closer look at the negative sides:

• Refills are pricey - 38€ once a month..
• Sometimes they break, i.e.: when your dog pulls on the leash like a freaking moron or you work a lot with your hands
• As you can see above at the end of the 3/4 weeks the nail polish tends to get stuck under the gel
• Sometimes the natural nails splits from the gel as you can see on my pointer, it doesn't do anything, but it doesn't look pretty either
• I prefer them to be matte, but if you don't get that finishing gel (which is only available it this high shine version) the gel won't last..
• You have to get used to your new nails, especially when they are longer than your natural nails
• With the gel your nails are strong, very strong, you'll have to be careful not to scratch your boyfriend while fighting for the remote.. *g*

That's everything I can think about. That might sound horrible right now, but there are so many positive aspects.

I think I'm gonna do a positive sides post as well..

Hope this was helpful!

Love,
Guinevere

Gel refill and an awesome christmas gift!

Yesterday I had my nails refilled and I am dazzled everytime!

This woman is an artist!!! I love her so much.

I even got a christmas gift - I could choose one polish from her store!!! Sooo amazing, I chose OPI's "Tease-y does it" from the new Burlesque collection, such an unbelievably beautiful colour!!!

Isn't it pretty??

Love,
Guinevere

Long-term Thoughts about Gel Nails

I have my gel nails for quite a while now and I thought it might be interesting to do a pro and contra list about them.

Here are they in all their gorgeousness:

Let's start with the positive aspects:

• Your nails are strong and don't break anymore
• All your nails have the same length
• You can get long nails, which stay long, finally
• Your hands look neat and manicured, rather than someone chewed them up
• You don't need to spend money on nurturing nail products that don't work
• EVERY nail polish lasts forever
• It is possible that they look natural!!

Now to the negative aspects:

• They are pricey.. A new set costs 72€ and the monthly refill 38€ (at least where I get them done and I tried cheaper nail designers, whose work always disappointed me)
• I don't know why but "dirt" tends to get stuck under your nails (see pics at the bottom)
• Sometimes there gets a little "dirt" stuck between your real nail and the gel (again pics at the bottom)
• If you work a lot with your hands and aren't careful they can break, but if your nail designer is high quality they usually repair that for free
• If you decide to stop having gel nails the real nails underneath can be weaker than before (only for the time it takes to grow a new "ungeled" nail)

My thoughts: I loooooove my gel nails, but I said that many times before so you already know that. *g* I was very embarassed about my nails and now that is gone. They look perfect all the time! I think I will never stop getting them done. It is so worth the money. I had to get used to them, cause I never had long nails and so that was kinda weird in the beginning, but now it's the most normal thing in the world. They look natural! I am so happy about that and EVERY nail polish lasts forever, every, never had that before! One strange thing about my gel nails: if I wear glitter polish, sometimes some glitter particles "sink" into the gel and stay there, even if I use a base coat, which I always do.

If you think about getting gel nails and have a professional nail designer near you who you trust, go get them. Nevertheless, think first if you can afford them.

Hope this was helpful!

Love you guys,

Guinevere

Gel refill

Got a new refill, I had one before, but it is so pretty, I needed to show you.. Barbara did such a gorgeous job again, she is the greatest! I'm still so happy to finally have beautiful nails and all polishes, even MAC ones, last forever!

Love them..

Love ya too,
Guinevere

Gel Nails Refill

I got my refill on wednesday and I am soooo happy with it!

Don't they look gorgeous? I adore Babara, she does such a good job. I am so excited and happy with my nails that I decided to get myself some toe gel nails as well.

My appointment is on thursday, I will make a post about this as well. You can't imagine how happy I am with those, I always suffered from these bad looking nails.

So now I have perfect nails, but I still could use some advice with perfect looking cuticles. Any tips??

Love,

Guinevere

Gel Nails Update

I just thought I show you how my nails look after three weeks:

The gel is still quite intact, but one sees that my nails do indeed grow. *gg*

I have my refill appointment on wednesday, can't wait :-)

Love,
Guinevere

My new Gel nails aka the Powder Box experience

Hello lovelies,

If you've read some of my posts you will know that I love nail polish, but that my nails tend to look horrendous no matter what I try. So when my nails kept cracking and my cuticles tearing I decided to give gel nails a chance.

I was so sick of this fucked up look.. I am very wary when it comes to gel nails, cause they automatically remind me of girls with too much fake tan..

But since I was desperate I gave it a try. I heard of a studio called Powder Box Nail Salon in the 13th district, which uses OPI products only and immediately knew, if gel nails then OPI gel nails. *gg*

Powder Box is run by Barbara, a lovely woman who is in the business for over 7 years now. I adore her, she is so nice. She also sells OPI polishes and treatments.

I wanna show you the studio, it is so beautiful!

And those are my nails, the pic was taken the day after I had them done. Since then I was there one more time to let her file them a little shorter. *Gg*

I'm really happy, I chose the natural tips, so I can use all my nail varnishes :-)

The nails need to be refilled every three to four weeks. My nails grow surprisingly fast, I never noticed, cause they always broke. So I will be there again soon.

Pricewise, her studio is okay. A new set costs 70€ and the refill 38,50€. There are several studios out there, who are cheaper, I know, but I think the quality of the products she uses and her knowledge is totally worth it.

So if you're a fan of OPI, live in Vienna and want gel nails or just a manicure or pedicure, you should definitely check this out.

The contact details:

Powder Box Nail Salon

Barbara Asboth

Lainzerstraße 23/1

1130 Vienna

phone: 069915252526

Love,

Guinevere