At home gel nail kits - a full guide

I have been trying out at home gel nail kits for the past few weeks, after spending a lot of money in salons on OPI gels. I am addicted to gel nails now as you don’t have to worry about chipped nail varnish and they look so shiny!

The two kits I have used are both under £70 - Belle Gel Starter Kit (£59.95) and Sensationail Starter Kit (£69.99) which my friend Gemma owns. I tried at least two different colours for each kit, so it is a fair analysis. Before testing at home kits, you must make sure your nails are filed equally and roughly (so the gel can stick to your nail), cuticles pushed back and trimmed if necessary. This will ensure your nails last as long as possible. I also protected my nails with hand cream and cuticle oil to make the manicure last as long as possible. Both manicures lasted two weeks, without any major chipping which is excellent for home kits.

Here’s a bit more about each kit:

BelleGel Starter Kit is an at-home gel nail care range that provides a shiny and strong finish, creating a professional gel manicure or pedicure that unlike many other techniques will not damage the natural nail. The gel will shield your natural nails and allow them to grow and strengthen. The gel is as easy as applying nail polish and provides a long-lasting high gloss colour and can last for up to 2 weeks without wearing or chipping.

The SensatioNail™ Deluxe Gel Nail Polish Starter Kit contains all the tools you need for 10 beautiful gel polish manicures. The gel nail kit includes the unique Pro 3060 LED Nail Lamp, which has been specially designed to set and dry your favourite SensatioNail™ Gel Polish in no time – safely locking in the colour to give your nails a glossy, long-lasting finish. I love the range of colours as well Sensationail offer for just £10 in Boots and online, lots of choice! Belle Gel colours are limited to just a few colours.

The Belle Gel kit looks fantastic and I love the gel nail pots and separate brushes. This ensures you can always keep your brushes clean to get the best finish. The formulas are also solvent-free and contain no Toluene, Formaldehyde and Dibutyl Phthalate, providing a gentle gel polish that is kind, preserving the integrity of the natural nail without sacrificing quality. This is important to me as that’s one of the reasons why I like the OPI gels as they don’t damage your nails at all.

However the main big downside to the Belle Gel kit, is the time it takes to do your nails. It takes AGES! If you look at the step by step guide below you will see each step, per hand takes 5 minutes! I was nearly 2 hours doing my nails and that’s just too long for me to spend on my nails. Other kits like Sensationail only require you to spend 30 seconds maximum curing the nail, each step. That’s a huge difference.

So my final conclusion of the two kits I tested:

Best for your nails – pick the Belle Gel nail kit

Quickest and best range of colours – choose Sensationail

What do you think of at home gel nail kits?