Sephora At Home Gel System Review

For Christmas, Joey got me the Sephora At Home Gel Colour system so I can start doing my gel nails at home and hopefully save us some money.  Right before we got engaged, I put on fake nails and loved them, but they are a lot of maintenance and I was tired of going every two weeks to get them done, and not to mention, it's expensive!  I've had shellac done a couple times at the salon and quickly fell in love.  It lasts for a couple weeks, which is my biggest complaint about regular nail polish.  I cannot stand to have a chip in my finger nail polish so regular polish never lasted very long on my fingers.  I've had a LOT of questions about how the system works so I figured I might as well do a review!

Here is everything that comes in the kit:

- Gelshine™ Base Coat 
- Gelshine™ Top Coat
- Gelshine™ Gel Colour (you get to pick this out in the store) 
- Gelshine™ LED Light 
- Nail Pads 
- Removal Nail Wraps
- Nail Cleanser 
- Buffing Block
- Nail & Gel Colour Remover 
- Brush-On Cuticle Oil 
- Cuticle Pusher
- Gloves 
- Instructions

I read the entire manual before I attempted to do it myself the first time.  There is also a video you can watch (I didn't watch it since I've had shellac done at the salon so I was pretty familiar with the process).  I followed the directions exactly and had no problems.  The key is doing thin coats of polish.  My first time turned out just ok - only issue was that one hand was darker than the other, ha.  The pictures below are from the second time I did it - so much better.  I also did it again last night and had no problems.  If you get the system, it definteily requires some patience.  It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to take off the previous gel color and put on a new color - but with that being said, I'm a huge perfectionist so I take my time making sure my nails look perfect.

Overall, I would say those are awesome results!  I had no chips at the end of my fingernails.  The only thing that started to chip a little was the part that was by my cuticle, which happens to me when I got them done at the salon as well.  I think this system is completely worth the high price tag.  It will pay for itself in a matter of months.  I've even used a different brand of gel nail polish (that I ordered off Amazon - much cheaper) and it worked the same so you have lots and lots of nail color choices.  My best tip is to be patient and make sure you paint the end of your nail (paint from your cuticle to the tip of your nail, and then go left and right across the tip of your nail to make sure to lock in the polish on the tips so you won't have any chips... hope that makes sense!).

Gel nail polish does take a little time/patience to take off, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.  My poor co-worker spent over an hour trying to get her first shellac off with a dull kitchen knife, ha.  I felt so bad for her!  All you have to do is soak your nails in 100% Acetone for 10-15 minutes and it will start to peel off.  Take your nail out of the solution and scrap the remaining polish off with a wooden nail stick.  Buff nails when you are done.  My best advice for this process is to do one hand at a time so you don't have to keep re-soaking.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll respond via email.  Have a great weekend everyone!

*Sephora did not pay me to write this review.  They have no idea I even exist.  These opinions are 100% my own.