Whew weeee. It feels like day 261725 of quarantine and I haven’t left the house (more about that later). It feels weird getting back on my blog to share something so trivial when it feel like the world is falling apart. But this little activity of actually doing my nails like I would get them done at the salon brought me a bit of joy and I thought I’d share. 💓
So I’ve been gathering these items in hopes that I could recreate a salon worthy mani at home.
I’m team gel nails or dip nails. Normal nail polish doesn’t last long for me (I hate when it chips!) and if you follow me on social you know I loveeee a good nail design. I’ve spent more time and money than I’d like to admit getting intricate little smiley faces, stars, crystals, you name it on my nails. There is something about nail art that is a continuation of my closet. It helps me express how I’m feeling. It makes me proud to have little works of art on my little canvases… I mean fingers 😂🙌🏿
So when I was served up an instagram ad from Ciate London of these modern designed nail stickers. I had to get them even though they were on pre-order.
They are pretty expensive! $18. But worth it to Quarantine Taelor. The designs are extremely cute! You get four nail sticker pages and each of them with a different theme. Abstract faces (my fav!) and the sheet that sold me, evil eyes, leopard spots, and neon geometric lines. How fun?!! I’ll probably do the leopard next! Loving the Lisa Frank vibes it’s giving off!
I then got this gel drying light that plugs into the USB of my computer. This is a must because that light is the reason my mani doesn’t have dents or imprints. Obsessed.
You can find kits complete with the polish and light on amazon for around $40.
Then I got a gel nail polish kit from Amazon. I liked this one because of the color palette and the fact that it came with a top and base coat. I’ve been obsessed with the bright spring colors. Saturated and pastel colors combined. After looking for a few minutes I thought this nail kit would be the best to create my dream rainbow nail LEWK.
It took me a couple of hours to complete this morning. I filed and cut my nails. Did the base coat, followed by two coats of color, then I placed the abstract nail stickers on and sealed them with the topcoat. Painting my right hand took a bit longer but by going slowly I was able to make it “perfect.” I’m so excited to have been able to do this at home. I’m obsessed with how it came out. And I didn’t have to deal with the scaries of the nail salon in person. Did I pick the right color? Can they do the design I want? What design do I actually want? Are my nails dry? Etc. AND wayyyy cheaper! Plus I’ll get a few manis out of this kit.
Lastly! I finished with a bit of cuticle oil. I loveee cuticle oil! Something about it just seals a manicure to me. I bought these cuticle oil pens from Amazon a while ago.
So if you are missing the nail salon I encourage you to give this a try. Bring the nail salon to you!
I’ve linked the exact products I used here with the exception of an alternate gel light.
And other products that I looked at or want to try for my next at-home-mani linked below
If you try this please send me pics! I’d love to see what you dream up 💓
Having an at home nail salon is amazing! I have one myself just like your set up and it has helped bring some joy into this quarantine 😀 thank you for the reminder to find the little things to get us through this tough time! ❤️