I recently tried my hand (I realize how apt that expression sounds in this context) at the Kiss Gel Dress Nails and after having quite a bit of creasing at the tip of my nails using the full nail strips, I vowed to experiment one more time with just the French tips. Just a little bit of info for those of you who may have missed my first review, Gel Dress Nails are currently the only gel nail strips on the market that can be cured with LED/UV light and have peel-off removal. Cool, right?!
The design I chose was the top right one in “After Midnight” which I thought would look really pretty as a French manicure and I think I was right!
I won’t go into the same detail as I did for my review for the full nail strips as most of the information will be the same, but what I will say is that you can see from the pictures that there was essentially no puckering at the edges which made me VERY happy. I thought that the overall finished look was very chic and funky looking and was much faster to achieve than applying full nail strips. The curing time with the LED lamp was 60 seconds per hand, although it’s actually more like 120 seconds as you have to do your thumb separately.
Tips for the Perfect French KISS Manicure
- Instead of filing each nail one at a time, file the all at once. The nail beds should be completely clean of debris and filing the edges of the nail strips makes debris fly everywhere! Once you’re done filing, wipe your nail beds down with a lint-free wipe soaked in rubbing alcohol.
- Make sure the edges of the strips are fully stuck on to the nail as the strips will lift even with the cured gel top coat if contact is not fully there!
- Apply gel top coat as CLOSE to your cuticle as possible and wipe off any excess that gets on to you skin because it will BURN under the light!
- Seal your free edge.
Conclusion: The clear gel top coat gave my nails an amazing shine which was no surprise considering what we know of gel polish! I was able to get 3 days of wear out of the French tips, but had to reapply and cure the top coat on my right hand as there was some “tip liftage” and I didn’t want to worry about losing the whole piece. The French tips survived showering, a round of hand-washing my delicates as well as a hand massage at the spa so that’s pretty good in my books! I did end up losing two of the French tips on my right hand and the nail perfectionist in me couldn’t stand it, so I just removed everything. I removed the gel top coat by soaking a cotton ball with pure acetone and placing it on my nails. Once the gel was soft enough, I was actually able to peel it off fairly easily with NO DAMAGE to my nails! I buffed my nails a little bit to get off any extra top coat bits and I was ready for my next manicure!
PR sample provided for review. This whole post was the truth and nothing but the truth!
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