DIY Manicures - all the things I have tried to paint my own nails

In my opinion, salon manicures were THE affordable luxury for middle class women starting in late 90s. The proliferation of mall-based salons offering walk-in manicures for under $30 contributed to the rise (I think the mall salon in my hometown did them for $12!). It was so accessible and what is more basic white lady than pretty nails? Painted by someone else?

Well, these days are kind of behind us now. First, we had gel upsells on nails (+$5) and then toes and then fees to remove your old gel. Now, in my area a basic mani is $35-40 and starting at $40 if you want gel.

That is still affordable as an occasional luxury, but the damage to your nails gel causes is insane. After a few rounds, your nails are paper thin, flakey and just trashed. 

Photo from when I gave mine away on
Buy Nothing Group

So what is our solution to save money and keep our nails looking good, strong and healthy? Ok well I have tried many things and here is my take.

Impress Press on Nails

I saw these recommended by multiple women on a personal finance page. I trust those women not to lead me astray so even though I was skeptical after trying press-ons in the 90s, I tried this brand. People insisted that this brand was good.

No, no it's not. 

I had a few pop off but that wasn't my real issue. No matter what I did, there was always a space between the top of my nail and the press on and it would collect dirt. I took them off after a few days becuase I was super grossed out.  I usually have pretty long nails, so if your nails are short, you might not have this issue.

It was gross.

Nail Wraps

I have tried several brands of these Color Street (thanks Buy Nothing Group!), some Amazon knock offs, but my go-to has been Lily and Fox.

Lily & Fox T-Rex & Trees

Nail wraps have the bonus of coming in really fun designs! The kind of designs you see on wraps would be spendy from a salon where they have to be hand painted.

They also cause only minimal nail damage. Taking them off the right way helps and I will admit sometimes I just scrapped them off when they had been on a while.

Color Street

So first Color Street. For the price of these (13.00 each from their website), I had expected them to be amazing. They are an MLM model which I also don't like to support. I got the ones I used for free on my local Buy Nothing Group.

I had a really hard time putting them on - I tore several. I wouldn't suggest using them when there are lower cost options.

Lily & Fox

These were my go-to option for a long time. They are 2.99 a set! I usually get 7-10 days from a set, but I've had a few that weren't great. They were both seasonal/holiday designs (including the T-Rex and Tress shown here), so your YMMV with those.

Tips for Lily & Fox:

• Don't shower after putting them on. Wait at least 4 hours, but ideally the next day.
• I do put on a top coat. I put one coat on either right after applying or the next day and then usually 3-4 days later, I do another top coat layer.

Semi-cured gel wraps

I will admit the marketing on these drew me in. The longeviety of a gel mani without the salon visit? Yes, please! The fun designs of a wrap? Yes, please!

The cost is about half of what you'd pay in a salon and they promised easy removal without damaging your nails. 

You will need a UV lamp to cure them.

Dashing Diva Glaze

This was the first brand I tried. They sell these on their website or Amazon but you can also get them from Ulta and I had a gift card! :) A friend of mine also uses their regular wraps (glaze is the gel wrap) and said they were great.

I bought their starter kit which was actually the same price as a set to get the UV lamp since I didn't have one already.

None came off. I did take one off on the second day because I had put it on wonky, make sure to stick them down good and I did put a regular top coat over them (not a gel one).

Napretty, a Halloween design

They are pretty great. I had them on for about 10 days and they still looked great. I took them off becuase I wanted a change.

They are about $15/set, so they cost more than regular wraps, but they came with enough wraps and sizes I think I can do another manicure with them.

Napretty

After success with Dashing Diva, I ordered a few sets from Napretty. The say you can let them extend over your nails, which was appealing.

Friends, this is the reason we don't order random stuff from Facebook ads. Learn from my mistakes. I will not be ordering from them again and here is why:

• The quality is cheap. They are clearly just re-selling the same thing I could buy for less money on temu but charging the same prices as Dashing Diva ($12-16/set)
• Within the first day, I lost 3 nails. They offer a 14-day guarantee.
• I ordered a gel top coat listed on their website as 12ml and they sent me 8ml (it's commically tiny for what I paid). I emailed them about this and got no answer.
• They only include 20 wraps in a set, which is less than Dashing Diva. The sizes were hard to have coverage for all of my nails and I definitely cannot use them for a second manicure.

I am going to try Polish Pops in the future. I will do an update after givng those a shot.

Regular Polish

Yes I've also tried regular polish. With a decent top coat (I like this one), most of them will last 5 days maximum for me. My favorite is Sallie Hanse Pure and Soothing Slate is one of my favorite colors. It's vegan and honstly, I really like the shape of the applicator brush. I mainly use that brand for my toes. On my hands, regular polish only last a few days before chipping.