The Lady with the Lamp

Well I thought you lot might like to hear about my UV exploits.
As most of you know I bought it to do gels for my sister, the least I could do after her mega shop and 'importing' from the US for me. She's chosen to go with Harmony Gelish, she liked the range of colours best and has had these done professionally before (no pressure then Loola...). So far I only have a bright pink that she's chosen for her toes, a pale pink for her fingies and she also bought me an opaque white to try as a base for neons and sheer shades. I did buy a bottle of blue-y sparkly stuff with the most ridiculous name (Ooocha Coocha Bing Bang Bam Alakazy Alakazam) yesterday to try on my toes.
I fired up the lamp and tested the pink out on practise nails yesterday and it was OK, a bit sheer on two coats and I'm still waiting for the wipey stuff to finish off with so it did still have the tacky layer. It does cure OK in my 36w cheapish lamp.
What I thought you lot might want to hear about is the Seche UV. I figured I'd get limited use out of the lamp myself so bought some of this to try.
I like that you can take as long as you like 'arranging' it on the nail, often with regular Seche it's started to dry before I've covered the whole nail. I bopped it under for three minutes and it still seemed to need longer (jeez, sitting and waiting whilst it cooks is bloody boring). I did another minute or so and it was better, but still felt a bit soft - it feels like it needs air dry time in addition. It looks maybe a tad shinier than regular Seche, but seems to wear the same (I did a control hand with regular). I also woke up with crinkling and squidging on it this morning but that may be because I really didn't let the under-polish dry very well at all. it removes like regular Seche.
I'll use it up, but whether I'll buy any more I doubt. My daughter likes it as she feels terribly grown up using the lamp!

I just nearly wet myself at that long winded Oochy Coochy polish name!  

Interesting Loola, thanks for posting this.

My mum is always wanting her nails done and I do paint them for her sometimes, or paint a set of falsies and stick them on her, but it doesn't last 5 minutes with what she does for work (she works in a shop). She had gel nails done and loved them and they lasted for ages on her, so I said I would one day get all the bits and bobs I need for it and give it a go... but I don't have the cash right now!

How much was your lamp if you don't mind me asking?

The lamp was only £20 from Amazon Laura. I'll let you know how well these last on my sister, she's partial to a bit of gardening and there's also the polo.

Oh forgive me addicts for what I have done...................... 

I did a full set of gel toes and fingers for my sister on Saturday, and gel toes for my daughter. I was really impressed at how easy it was to do and my (very particular) sister was very pleased with hers.

I loved the finish so..........................as she bought me a bottle of pure white when she was in the States (she's off again in a week or so  ) I caved.
I often see on blogs 'over a coat of white' casually written at the end of a sentence, and it's said coat of white I have trouble with - it's tricky stuff for me, streaky, patchy, blobby or doesn't dry. Then there's the design or neon, marbling or whatever still to do.

So I am currently sporting a set of stark opaque white gelish nails.
They feel armoured and invincible, the shine is fab. I'm worried about removal I can't deny but am looking forward to stamping, marbling, neon-ing or whatever and seeing if it works with the gel underneath and if the non-acetone remover on the tops.

I like the strength, a gel strengthener under regular polish would interest me so I'm looking into Vitagel.

I had a go at gels the other night as well...rather patchy lol. I'll post a pic tomorrow

Hehehe Sam, I feel like I'm having a sordid affair by using the gels

What range did you go for Sam?

I want gels dammit...

I agree about white nail polish, Satan's work that stuff is.

Laura wrote:I want gels dammit...

I agree about white nail polish, Satan's work that stuff is.

I'll post the pic I have of the white Gelish tomorrow Laura, but remember it was my first ever attempt on myself....... 

LoolaBeanbag wrote:

Laura wrote:I want gels dammit...

I agree about white nail polish, Satan's work that stuff is.

I'll post the pic I have of the white Gelish tomorrow Laura, but remember it was my first ever attempt on myself....... 

Would love to see

is it hard to aply gel nail polish? or expensive? i dont know anything about gels

The gelish stuff is easy enough to use annita, but it is expensive - and you need the lamp, foundation, colour(s), top coat, cleanser, and possibly bonder. And plenty of time!

I paid £20 for the lamp, the colours, foundation and top are about £14 each, the cleanser's about £3, the bonder's about £6 so it all adds up. There are a few mini bottles about but mainly from the US at £7 ish.

Laura wrote:

LoolaBeanbag wrote:

Laura wrote:I want gels dammit...

I agree about white nail polish, Satan's work that stuff is.

I'll post the pic I have of the white Gelish tomorrow Laura, but remember it was my first ever attempt on myself....... 

Would love to see

Voila!
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They look great Loola!

I can't paint nails neatly at all, I don't think I'd do too well with gel hahaha

Hey, this is the left hand Laura........!
To be fair, the right isn't far off either, I like that the gel is 'workable' until cured so you can spend ages fannying around getting it perfect(ish) and it won't start to dry and go draggy.

Ooh, very impressive Lola!

Lola - She drinks champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola......!

Thanks Sue, do you think one day you might have a pop? There are some beautiful and sparkly greens........ 

Only if you do them for me

Very nice Loola  

Ohhh loola they look great!

That white mani looks fab, Loola! How long do gel manis last?

Oh those are much better than my attempt... I think I used CND? I don't know, I went to my auntie's house for a nail painting session (although by the time we started painting nails, I was so tipsy I could barely see where her nails were) and she'd borrowed them off a friend so I had a play

Thanks everyone! They don't look quite like that any more though......................I've sparkly water marbled  I can't decide whether to Seche them and try removing the marble to re-paint over the white, or whether to try gel top coating; both of which seem to have varied results.  

I don't know how long it'll last fellrunner - two weeks seems to be the duration bandied about the net but mine won't last that long, if they did I'd get bored and will have removed the lot before then  

Wow, that looks superbly neat Loola.  

Thanks Baba. I'm a bit chuffed with my marbling so I've changed my avatar  
It's sparklier than I could catch it on the camera, it was OPI Goldeneye, Fashionista Mystical Dragon and an H&M Magenta sparkly. I did it with the gel top coat in the end, although I'll be stuck with it for a while it means I can spend a few evenings getting to grips with the currently non existent blog rather than painting.