While I’ve been doing the whole nail rehab thang with my fingertips I’ve secretly roped in my toe nails to test something new. Now I’ve steered clear from gel kits or in-salon Shellac manis for two reasons: one – they’re pricey and two – the idea of committing to a colour for a matter of weeks seemed a little daunting. But when the Red Carpet Manicure Pro Kit* arrived on my desk I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about and got to work lacquering up my paws. One month later and the results are in…
I’ve had the shade Oh La Licious on my toes now for three weeks (I’ll save you the swatches on this one). There’s not a chip in sight, it still looks as glossy as the first day I painted it on and the only tell-tale sign that indicates I need to remove it and start again, is the ever-growing gap between the colour and my cuticle. Longevity-wise I have no complaints. I have no irks concerning the application either. I reckon it took around 30 minutes in total and consisted of ‘prepping, painting and curing the nail under an LED light’ cycle. Nothing too difficult for a cack-handed gal like myself.
My only sticking points? The removal can get a little messy and concludes with flakes of colour being distributed EVERYWHERE. And the colour range isn’t as exhaustive as it could be. Now I tried my trusty Nails Inc Porchester Sqaure sandwiched in between the gel layers as a test when I first got the kit and though it does work, you don’t get the weeks upon weeks of glossy talons. After about a 7 days it started to get a little chippy; that’s when I succumbed to the RCM colours and the rest is history.
I think for me gel polish will strictly be a toe nail thing. Why? Well it goes back to my original points about getting a little floozy with colours and the fact that I think the cuticle/colour gap would be much more noticeable on your digits. There’s also the question of whether or not it wrecks your nail beds. Now I haven’t found this to be a problem – yet – but it’s not something I want to chance with my now well conditioned tips. Let’s be frank here. I got this outlay free as a sample. But if you took it away from me now and told me to cough up the cash (all £81 of it for the Pro Kit, from Debenhams) I’d skip a Space NK splash out or two and happily hand it over. Yep, I’ve been converted. On my toes at least…Â
*PR Sample
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