Sensationail Review

So I mentioned in this post that I have been loving using the Sensationail Gel Polish kit I bought, and I thought I would do a post to talk about it in a little more depth. I initially found out about Sensationail when it was only available in the US, and at the time I was desperate to get my hands on it, but it just wasn’t available. When it did eventually arrive here in the UK I put off buying it because it is rather an expensive purchace (depending where you buy it prices range between £60-£70 for the starter kit) and I was trying to be sensible, but since getting Invisalign I found that my nails have been chipping a lot more easily, and I wanted to try gel because it was becoming a bit of a pain having the same couple of nails always chipping on me, and I don’t really have the time to be painting my nails every few days. I bought the French Manicure starter set from my local Asda because it was the only starter kit they were actually selling, although I’m not actually all that interested in wearing french tips myself. It is nice to have the option to though, and I guess it’s a bit of a bonus having the white tips (pictured in the packets in front of the polishes in the picture above) just in case I need to do my nails ‘subtle’ for a change. Asda actually has the polishes on offer for £5 at the moment, so I’ve picked up a couple more colours and moved on from wearing Pink Chiffon Rose every day of my life. I’m sporting Juicy Sangria in the picture above, and it’s a nice bright red which is perfect for Autumn. The actual kit itself is so easy to use, it comes with instructions of course, but it’s not that much different to painting your nails with regular polish, except instead of waiting for each layer to try, you stick it under the UV lamp for a minute instead. There is no dry time and it’s really fantastic being able to finish a manicure and then do things with my hands immediately afterwards without having to worry about smudges. I have of course been experimenting with using regular polish on top, because I don’t want my embarrassingly vast nail polish collection to be completely neglected. I’d quite like to pick up a white colour, because I think that would make a fantastic base for using under any of my regular nail polishes! This stuff lasts really really well, I’ve had mine on for three weeks before having to take it off and reapply purely because the regrowth was getting a bit ridiculous. I’ve even managed to use it on my toes, and I’ve been rocking a coral pedicure for around two months now, although I’m probably due to switch that up pretty soon! The only tricky part is removal. I’ve heard a lot of stories about people not being able to get it off at all, and I have had a bit of difficulty myself, but what it comes down to is how long you let your nails soak in acetone for. Depending on how many layers you did, this might be longer than you think. I like to use the ‘alien hands’ technique, and wrap cotton wool soaked in acetone around each nail, before wrapping with tinfoil to keep everything in palce and stop the acetone from drying out. You can buy premade removal wraps, but I would rather just use the tin foil I already have lying around in my kitchen. Then the best thing to do is just sit back, chill out, and watch an episode of Breaking Bad or something while you give your nails time to soak. You need to give yourself at least 15 minutes to let them soak. I can just about manage to wrap both hands up at the same time, but it is a little tricky so you might want to do one hand at a time and that will obviously take a bit longer. Once they’ve soaked for long enough it really is SO easy to scrape off. You can buy a scraper tool like I did (pictured above) or just use an orange stick, finger nail, or anything that you can use to gently push the polish from your nails. If you are patient enough it actually doesn’t damage your nails at all which is great. I am absolutely loving this stuff, and I know you can get other gel kits but I looked into a few and this seemed to be the best value for money so I definitely recommend it if you’re looking to try at home gel. For the price of two trips to the salon I’ve already got my money’s worth!