Here is the video I uploaded to YouTube!
http://youtu.be/ce9SafuJ4go
This is what you need if you want to try this at home! You need a base coat, color, top coat, uv lamp, and rubbing alcohol to just get the tacky layer off once you’re all done.
I wanted to try this quickly since I had sprained my wrist, so I just went to Sally Beauty for it. I wanted to try CND Shellac but all they had was Harmony Gelish, which is the same process, so I grabbed that!
They have this Basics Kit, which is on sale quite a bit! It has everything you need but a color and the lamp.
The color I picked to try was Sweet Chocolate.
The lamp they had at Sally Beauty was a 9w one, so I decided I could wait 2 more days and got this UV light from Amazon, that has timer settings, which I love!
You can get the smaller 9W ones from Sally Beauty or somewhere online, it’ll just have to cure a couple of minutes longer. I’m too impatient, so I went with the full-blast one!
The kit came with a step-by-step tutorial video, so it was super easy! In case you didn’t want to buy that kit, I found a lot of how-to videos on youtube, or if you have any questions, let me know!
Some people even said they used the gel hybrid base and top coat but put normal polish on as the color… it wouldn’t last a few weeks, but it still lasted more than 1 week, so it is an improvement if you wanted to just get the base, top, lamp and alcohol!
Oh, and this stuff doesn’t come off if you use nail polish remover a lot on other people or your toes… there’s this top layer that protects it. So when you want to remove it, you just file a tiny bit off the top glossy layer (just for a few seconds, its really not a pain) and do the foil method where you just put acetone on a cotton/pad and wrap each finger with foil so it sits on the nail. After 10 minutes, you just pull it off with some pressure on each nail and it comes right off! It was so much easier than I thought.
I love this stuff!
I got some Shellac already and I got an OPI axxium of You Don’t Know Jacques… they are coming out with a lot more gel hybrids you can soak off at home too, so it should be pretty easy for you to find colors you like.
shimmerspark.com 
awesome! Thank you for this post! I will have to watch the video when my boss is not around or at home.
I have been soooo tempted to try the Gelish since it is on super sale this month. I have a crazy notion that it will help my nails grow out and be strong if I do Gelish ( I think it will kind of protect my nails) and then just paint over it since I change my mani almost daily.
I haven’t pulled the trigger yet on the whole idea but I am soo tempted.
Yes, that’s the other thing… they really do protect your nails so mine grew so much longer than I usually let them get! It is really amazing if you want to give it a try! I was more than impressed!
I have found a website that sells gelish polish for $12.95 a bottle and its not the mini sizes….its the full size of 0.50ml…. go to http://www.nailsupplyhouse.com for some great deals on all brands of gel polish! I am either getting the gelish or the LeChat perfect match gel…the neat thing about the LeChat is that the perfect match gel comes with a free bottle of Lechat nail laquer to match with the gel polish!!! that way your fingers and toes can MATCH!!!!! what a neat idea!!!! I luv that brown color from gelish.. it’s beautiful…I sooo need to try this 🙂
I luv your blog!!!! I soooo need to get this done!!! I want to try it out before I buy the items to do this at home!!! Here is another website I found for gelish : http://www.nailsupplyhouse.com the gelish polish is $12.95 for the full size bottle!!!! they also have CND, OPI and another gel polish called LeChat Perfect Match….the LeChat perfect match comes with a bottle of gel, and the nail laquer to match…all for $14.95 – $15.95 a bottle!!!! I luv the idea of having a gel polish and the laquer to match!!!! that way u have your fingers and toes the same color!!! what a neat idea…and the nail laquer is FREE!!!! u just pay the fee for the bottle of gel and get the laquer as a bonus….cool huh!!!!! I also like this other site called: http://www.buynail.com they offer tons of gel polishes and have free shipping on orders of $100 or more!!! check them out and keep up the gel mani’s
Oh cool! Thanks!! Sorry it didn’t show up quickly, it was marked as spam from the links. haha! I’ll go check those out!! 🙂