How To Do Gel Nails At Home Using Sensationail Starter Kit

Sometimes I do find doing my nails a bit of a chore. You spend all that time doing them, then pretty much there is a chip the next day for some unknown reason. I can’t bare not having them painted though, I just hate them plain and I have been meaning to try out one of the home gel nail kits for a while. They promise chip free nails for two weeks, which just seemed to me the perfect and also cost-effective option to stop the chipping and also just forget about the nails whilst I get on and do other things.

I had seen the Sensationail starter kits in Boots every time I went there, winking at me and so finally I decided to give it a whirl. Inside the kit you get everything you need, an LED home lap, gel primer, gel cleanser, gel base & top coat, a colour gel polish and also file/buffer, cuticle sticks and lint-free wipes. The polish with this kit is a light pink colour which is actually really nice. However they also sell the polishes separately, so I have a red too which I’m using in this post.

First up you file and lightly buffer the natural nail. Then taking the gel cleanser, squeeze out a drop or two onto a lint free wipe. Make sure you have a tissue underneath and then wipe this across each nail.

After the cleanser, apply one layer of the gel primer to each nail and let this air dry. It’s just a clear solution, sort of like a base coat and will dry in really quickly.

Next up make sure you get the LED lamp plugged in and set up. Then apply a really thin layer of the gel base and top coat to each nail. Make sure to avoid the skin and cuticle. Cap the nail at the top by running the brush across it. Then the exciting bit, turn on the LED lap by pressing the top button. Place your nails inside the lamp and cure them for 30 seconds. You will know when you hit 30 seconds as it will beep when you are ready to take them out. The lamp stays on for 60 seconds which you will need for the colour polish. Do this on all nails, I recommend starting with the two thumbs on each hand, placing them both in together, then working on the remaining four fingers of each hand.

After the base coat, apply a thin layer of the colour polish, again avoid skin and cuticle (as much as you can!), then cure this in the LED lamp for 60 seconds. The lamp only stays on for 60 seconds so you can leave it in the whole time it’s on as it will auto go off. Once you have done one coat, do another and again cure for another 60 seconds.

Just like a normal manicure apply the top-coat and cure for 30 seconds in the lamp. Lastly remove the moisture layer by again adding gel cleanser to the lint-free wipes and wipe across.

It’s all a little bit fiddly and you really need to have the patience, but that aside it is so worth it. My nails after doing these last two weeks and the only reason I really take it off is because the nails have grown up, but there have been no chips at all! Which is perfect if you really don’t have the time to paint your nails all the time. You can also use other gel polishes with this, the times just vary on the curing. I am totally hooked to gel nails at home, the only drawback would be taking it off as this is not the easiest. You can do this by dipping your nails a bowl of acetone or you can also try the foil method which involves applying acetone to a cotton pad then wrapping this round the nail with foil. The nails are also very shiny and look just painted each day and if your better at painting nails than me will look really professional.

The Sensationail starter kit is £69.99 and is available from Boots in various colours. The scarlet red polish I used also comes with a starter kit but can be bought for £15.99 as a separate colour.

Have you tried gel nails at home or the Sensationail kit?