<p>Do not confuse “gels” with “gel polish”- very different processes.</p>
<p>My experience with gel polish is that it does work better, dries, harder, lasts a little over 2 weeks, now has a good color selection, but that the manicurists really do a number on your nails to remove it each time- the soaking is never enough, so they scrape off the top layer of your nails. ( I have used it one my feet, same overall experience.)</p>
<p>God knows how carcinogenic ALL of this manicure stuff is…
And the level of hygiene is so hard to discern.</p>
<p>Does the gel look more real than acrylic? Are they thinner?
What about silk? How do those look & wear?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How do you tell the difference? When my manicurist did it, she said it was the new OPI gel polish. She applied several layers of polish and I had to put my hands under a UV light in between applications. I had to soak and scrap to get it off. Other than acrylics (which I did only a few times) I’ve never done anything other than a regular manicure, so I don’t really know the difference between gel nails and gel polish other than gel nails have been around for years and is new and supposedly better.</p>
<p>The new OPI GelColor polish line comes in a regular looking polish bottles. The older OPI Axxium gel lacquer line comes in pots and is applied with a paintbrush.</p>
<p>I started getting no-chip manicures and LOVE them…they are completely dry when you leave the salon (a huge plus for me as I always smudged my nails on the way home!) They truely do last two weeks without chips and look so shiny the entire time…Like MOWC, if I let them go longer than two weeks they start to peel and I can’t seem to stop myself from peeling them all off (yes…bad for your nails)
They just soak the polish off at the salon…or you can at home…(I have never had them scrape at my nails and would stop getting this manicure if they did!) and then repolish and dry under the lights for a few minutes…now I can finally have my own nails, with polish, that don’t chip or break! Yeaahh!!</p>
<p>katie…that is what I am hoping for. Day three and my nails still look like they did the minute I left the place. This was applied with a paintbrush…but is not very thick.</p>
<p>Thumper…I even got paint (touching up the trim in a bathroom!) on my beautiful manicure and I thought it was ruined…but no…I was able to scratch the paint off and the manicure was as perfect and shiny as the day it was applied! Mine is painted on out of a what looks like a regular nail polish bottle but it gets “cured” under the uv lights…I love that my nails look like they only have “regular” nail polish on…not any bit thicker or differently shaped…the no-chip polish also strengthens my nails while it is on because I used to struggle with nails that routinely broke or chipped, but not with this polish on…</p>