Sunday 22 May 2016

Gel Manicures With Madam Glam



A few weeks ago I was sent a lovely little package in the post from Madam Glam; the nail varnish people. They wanted me to try one of their Gel Kits which includes 3 gel nail varnish's, a UV light, a scraping stick, a nail file and also some pre made foil squares for removal. Now if any of you aren't sure what gel nail varnish is, it's very similar to the standard varnishes you see in Superdrug and Boots, but it's set with a UV light. You'll generally find that gel nail varnishes don't chip as easily and last a lot longer than the standard varnishes. 

I used to get gel nails done at a salon for around £15, excluding removal costs which were about £5 each time. The gel used to last me about 2/ 3 weeks due to how quickly my nails grew so I was spending a good £40 a month on getting them re done. As I'm sure you can imagine this added up over the year; £40 is a weekly food shop for me.. That's a lot of food shops over a year I was technically spending on having sexy looking nails. Worth being hungry for? Probably not. 

When the kit arrived I was a little dubious. I remember the debacle of the gel removal when I was getting them done professionally and that was when someone who actually knew what they were doing was in charge of my nails! I was also a little concerned about how small and plasticy the UV light looked; I wasn't convinced it would set the gel once I'd applied it to my nail. Once I started applying the varnish though I was pleasantly surprised at how efficient the UV lamp was and also how pigmented and gorgeous the nail colours were. The lamp dried each coat in just 60 seconds and the "one stop" varnishes didn't even need a base or top coat. I was ready to go with completely touch dry nails in about 10 minutes all in all. 

The removal process was actually a lot less stressful than I thought it would be too. I applied the foil wraps securing the acetone soaked cotton pads to my nails and left them on for 20 minutes. I'd suggest doing one hand at a time for fear of fumbling around like some kind of Edward Scissor Hand look a like. After the 20 minutes were up I scraped the majority of the old polish off with the wooden scraper supplied. I then washed my hands and buffed off the final thin layer that was left, leaving me with completely clean nails ready for the next application!

Now I'm not going to lie, I think the gel varnish does tend to thin your nails out a little after all of that nail buffing, but it's a small price to pay for a long lasting polish. I'd suggest perhaps using it in between standard varnishes and for holidays. And definitely on your toes! It will last you months! 

If you fancy having a look at the video version of this review over on my YouTube channel click HERE. If you'd like to purchase your own Gel Kit from Madam Glam you can get 30% off with the code soPhY30 at the check out. 

Happy shopping!

DML
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