Don’t Try This At Home : UV Gel Manicures

There’s nothing worse than returning home from the nail salon only to notice that you’ve already chipped a nail and dented another. If you’re a hands-on gal like us, manicures seem like a futile venture. That was, until we discovered the UV Gel Manicure. This special formula requires UV light to harden the polish and bond the color to the nail – and promises to last, chip-free, for up to two weeks. Twice the price of a regular manicure we wondered if the results lived up to the hype. So, for you dear Modern Renaissance ladies, we tried both CND’s Brisa Gel manicure and OPI’s Axxium Gel manicure.

So, did either live up to the hype?

Without a doubt, YES!

Experience: Both products were identical in application and speed.  The polish is painted on with a paintbrush and then your nails sit under UV light for 2-5 minutes. The process takes between 30 and 45 minutes to complete and takes less than ½ of the drying time of normal polish.

Results: We were beyond thrilled with the durability of the Axxium manicure. We hand washed a sink full of dishes, pulled nails out of our wall with our bare hands, and sanded the grout job we had done in the morning—and yet our nails looked immaculate at the end of the day. They continued to look perfect for well over a week. During the second week we started to notice chips but discovered that you can easily paint over the manicure with your own nail polish. The UV polish underneath your own polish gives more durability to your nails and the non-UV polish that you apply. Win- win!

The Brisa polish was less durable than Axxium but still longer lasting that a regular manicure. It lasted between 5 and 6 days without chips. We found that painting over the Brisa gel wasn’t as seamless as the Axxium gel. Perhaps this was because the Brisa gel manicure ended with more chips than the Axxium gel.

We normally don’t go for “wild” nails. In part, it’s because they’re quite the statement, and in part because our nails normally chip too readily to deal with touching up a complex design. With these UV Gels we’d be more willing to try something fun like these monster nails. Cheeky, right? For now, designs can’t be made with the UV Gels, only solid colors. If this changes, we’ll be the first to give these little monsters a try.

We couldn’t recommend the OPI Axxium UV Gel Manicure more emphatically. We’ve been telling all of our friends about it—and now we’re sharing it with our online friends. Give it a try, you modern ladies!

WHAT/ WHERE:

Axxium UV Gel à OPI 

Brisa UV Gels à CND