Review: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish

I've been waiting and waiting to try Sally Hansen's new nail polish, Miracle Gel, for what seems like forever (but was probably just a couple of weeks).  I must not have visited my Target the week the Miracle Gel showed up on shelves (I know, shocker), and by the time I saw the displays all of the good colors were gone.  I kept checking back, until I finally realized that I could just order it online when I was purchasing some furniture.  I went for Wine Stock and also grabbed their top coat.

The Miracle Gel is supposed to be like a gel manicure, but without the UV light and without the tricky removal process.  You just apply two coats of the color (no base coat!) and then one coat of the special top coat and let it dry.  When it's time for removal, regular nail polish remover will take it off.
The polish itself went on really nicely, it has a big brush which helps it to go on in two or three swipes.  I was confused about whether it needed sunlight to dry (because the directions talk about it using regular light to dry), but painted my nails at night and they still dried fine.

The pros of this polish is that it is way shinier than regular nail polish.  At day seven it was just as shiny as on day one.  However, the polish makes the claim that it lasts up to fourteen days, and mine started chipping on day four.  Mind, I was building furniture (I gotta live my life!) but not all of the chips were from that.

Overall, I really liked the look of the polish (especially the lasting shine), and it did about as well as my regular nail polish usually does before it chips.  I'm definitely going to buy a few more colors!

Have you tried Sally Hansen Miracle Gel?  How did it work out for you?

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Three Tips for Better At-Home Manicures

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I used to have this struggle.  I would paint my nails, wait forever for them to dry, only to chip them the next day.  Sound familiar?  I used to think I just had really weak nails and was too rough on my hands, but it turns out that wasn't the problem.  I just didn't know how to paint my nails correctly!  Here are three tips to getting better at-home manicures:

1. Use nail polish remover liberally.  For some reason, I always thought you had to wash nail polish remover off of your hands.  So I would do all of the steps for an at-home manicure, use nail polish remover to get my nails really clean before I put on polish, and then wash and dry my hands.  Umm, d'oh.  You don't have to wash off the polish remover, and by washing and drying your hands after using it you may end up with extra gunk or fibers on your nails that stop the polish from adhering properly.  Just swab your nails with polish remover and start painting!
   
2. Don't let the polish dry.  Seriously.  I used to let my polish sit between each coat, thinking this helped it dry better.  I was totally wrong.  When you get a manicure, they don't let your nails sit for five or ten minutes between coats.  Just make sure you're using thin coats of polish, and go right into the next coat without leaving drying time.
   
3. Use the right base & top coats.  I used to skip base coat, and would always use no-chip topcoat, and my nails always chipped and would get dents or scratches across the polish.  Now I use strengthening base coat, which helps keep my nails strong under the polish, as well as quick dry topcoat, which helps my nails dry quickly without getting any dents or chips.  With quick dry topcoat (I prefer Essie's Good to Go) I only need about 10 minutes of drying time before I can use my hands again.

Do you use any of these tips already?  Have any other tricks for making your at-home manis look better?

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