Nailuv kit

This Christmas I got a LED soak-off Gel kit (brand is nailuv). It took some fiddling but now that I can apply it properly it comes out looking superb. I find it does have a longer lasting power but if you are someone with their hands constantly in water than it doesn't last the 2 weeks. You might get a few days if you are lucky if you are a swimmer or a dishwasher or someone that has to for work (or whatnot) wash their hands a lot. I love the look of gel nails they look so sleek.

So this kit came with a buffer, a nail stick, an instruction leaflet,
a lamp,

a bottle of remover (acetone), a bottle of cleaner (rubbing alcohol),
a bottle of bonder (15mL),












a bottle of base/top coat (15mL)












and 5 polish colours (7mL; 0.24oz).












All-in-all a great kit, the sucky thing is at retail price it is more than $100 unless you can find it at Costco or some cheap warehouse like place.

So I am really getting into the gel polish, except for the prices of the stupid polishes.

Quo by Orly sells some 4.4mL (0.15 oz) bottles for about $10!












At Sally Beauty they had about 10mL (1/3 oz) bottles for about $15 which is getting more reasonable












and nailuv sells 15mL (0.5 oz) bottles for $10-15 which seems pretty good (if you don't include shipping). I know OPI has some gel polishes and I want to try those but I have to find them first... :P

Since we cure gel polishes under an LED or UV lamp (oh btw. all gel polishes can be cured with UV but not all can be cured with LED so make sure you buy ones that work with your type of lamp) sunlight can thicken the polish. This is why they are kept in opaque bottles (mainly black), to prevent sunlight from thickening and potentially ruining your beautiful, expensive polish.

Beauty Store

Yay! I found a beauty store in my area that sells lots of nail art supplies.

So I was looking online where to find some nail polish thinner since it was recommended that I don't use actual paint thinner. And someone on a forum was like I get mine at Sally Beauty, so I looked online and found one like right beside my mall and I was amazed that I had never spotted it before since I often drive past it to leave the mall.

Sally Beauty might be my new favorite store :)

There are lots of things for nail art like striping tape and rhinestones. There was also some polish brands I had been looking for but couldn't find, like Orly and China Glaze. There were also some gel polishes which is nice since so far I had only been able to find the little tiny Quo bottles, but Sally Beauty had 2 or 3 different brands that were actually normal sized bottles. :)

Price wise nothing too different (than I could tell) than other stores, though I did find their OPI polishes about $1.00 more but I think there is some sort of loyalty card that can make the prices drop a dollar or two.

Needles to say I got myself some polish thinner (I laughed since Orly and OPI both had a bottle the same size and with the exact same 2 ingredients and OPI's was more expensive), a white gel polish, striping tape and Seche Vite (which I had also been looking for)

I am now debating about paying $5 and getting a membership card. If I get the card they will give me a $5 coupon to be used within the month. As well as if I spend $35 in a month they give me a %15 off coupon. And If I don't save $5 worth my $5 membership for next year will be free.

I will probably only go there if I need nail art supplies, gel polishes, China Glaze or Orly. This is because the Shoppers near my house has a clearance rack where they often have $2 nail polishes which saves me on cost and limits how much I buy since I try to buy from only that rack (plus grabbing extras from there makes good presents)