I have wanted to have a go at doing my own nails and creating nail art for so long, so when I got a voucher for my birthday I knew exactly what I wanted to spend it on! A gel nail machine. 

I am not the kind of person who is always done up to the 9s. I get my nails done twice a year.. Usually for a holiday or christmas. However when I do get my nails done it always feels like such a special treat. I started getting nail art a couple of years ago after seeing some examples on Pinterest. It’s always looked so therapeutic and I think painting nails is always a good distraction as I don’t know about you but I always have to concentrate pretty hard not to get it everywhere which stops me thinking about anything else which might be on my mind. 

When I started looking for a gel nail machine to buy I realised how many different options there are! There are so many, so so many, all seem to have similar reviews. Some good, some bad so which the hell do you go for?

I took my question to the world of instagram, as I would rather go on a recommendation rather than wing it and while 80% of the answers I got were “please can you share the results” I did get a few actual answers so as requested I am sharing them here with you today!! Ask and you shall receive! 

• My friend Natalie who owns a nail salon gave me some advice. She said I needed to get an LED and make sure that the wattage is high. She said in the salon they use Jessica Geleration lamps which are about £300 so obviously not a very affordable option for home use but she said Gelish *ones are good and easy to get hold of. 

• My friend Samio said she uses the Melodysusie *12w LED nail lamp and hers always look fab but that model isn’t available anymore however if you have a google you can find similar ones.

• My friend Faye said that she uses and recommends Professional nail 48w which she got on ebay. I can’t find it but it has flowers on the packaging and the search was “uv led nail curing light nail lamp dryer gel polish manicure pedicure 6/9/12/48w”.

• Another brand which was recommended quite a few times was Mylee *

• And then mentioned once was Bluesky and Sensationail. 

In terms of nail polishes the most popular brand which came up were Gelish,* My friend said she uses the Premier 2 in 1 base, *the colour and then the non wipe top coat and uses Elaimei magic remover *to remove. 

So yeah. Still quite a lot of information there but it is a start. A french brand called Manucurist, got in touch with me and asked if I would like to try their machine and polishes, they are 9-free, plant-based up to 84%, vegan and cruelty free and the first clean gel nail polish on the market without “bad ingredients” and last up to 10 days… so of course I said YES PLEASE!!!  I will update you when I have done my nails a couple of times and any tips or tricks I have learnt along the way! 

For fun I have popped some inspiration of how I think my nails will be looking in a few weeks time. If you want to see more I have a WHOLE BOARD full of ideas on Pinterest so feel free to check it and follow me by clicking here!

* Products marked with a astrix are affiliate links