I recently wrote about how I had lost my Shellac virginity. Soon after this experience a friend and I decided that we wanted to be able to do Shellac at home so started looking into options but all we came up with were either too expensive or had terrible write ups so we filed it into the too hard basket and gave up. Yesterday I discovered that there may be an viable option after all with the Aussie brand Gelicious.
Gelicious is the brainchild of Libby Malcolm. Libby had seen that these salon products weren't all that hard to apply and that there must be a way that they could be done at home. When she found no such product available she decided to create her own and with the assistance of leading nail salon manufacturers Gelicious was born.
I was a tad concerned that home application would be difficult - especially with removal - but it actually looks super easy. Before applying, you just need to lightly buff your nails to remove the oils then you are ready to go. You apply the gel exactly like nail polish and seal it with the UV light between coats. To remove the gel, all you need to do is soak your nails in a 80% acetone nail polish remover for 10 minutes and the gel simply slides off. Have a look at the video below and you will see just how easy it is (the video only goes for just over 2 minutes so it's not a long one).
Now I haven't tried the brand just yet, I will be reviewing it in the coming weeks, so we will be able to see just how easy it is for someone without beauty training to apply it at home. I just wanted to introduce the brand to you first as they have a couple of amazing specials going on at the moment.
The first one is to celebrate their latest colour, Curiosity Does Mars, which has been inspired by the Mars landing. For $99 you get a travel sized UV lamp, plus three Gelicious polishes - Curiosity Does Mars, Hot Toddy and the high shine top coat. I paid $65 for my Shellac manicure and pedicure - so, for less than the cost of two salon Shellac sessions you have a kit to do it yourself at home.
The second special that i want to share with you is their Winter Special. They currently have all of their Gelicious polishes on sale for $29 (usually $45) and have an extra special deal that if you buy three then you can get a fourth colour for free. So that is 4 Gelicious polishes for $87. That is only a couple of dollars more than the cost of 4 bottles of OPI, yet these will last up to two weeks. They have a huge range of colours - 35 to be exact with more being created all the time. The entire range can be seen here.
Gelicious also have a cool voting system on this page where you get to choose the next colour that they make. They have a list of colours in the running and the one that gets the most votes will be created. I have voted for Gun Metal Does Glitter but it is being whooped by Beachy Peachy Coral so I need you to get voting for me!
Anyway, until I have swatched the colours I won't know for sure how good they are but I am really excited to find out so stay tuned for further updates!
What are your thoughts on being able to do gel manicures yourself at home? Awesome or would you miss the pampering of a salon experience too much?