Being Thrifty, not just thrifting!

I have been wanting to get a pretty gel manicure.  They are a little pricey though, aren't they?  And I wonder about a product that I have to soak my fingers in for any length of time.   So I was looking around and have found the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel.  It is a gel that does not require a special curing light or soaking to remove the polish.   I received a bottle for my birthday last week and I thought I would give it a try.  At around 9 dollars a bottle for the color or 15.99 for the bottle of color and the necessary gel topcoat, it is a pretty nice deal compared to a salon manicure.

I liked this teal color my son picked out for me : )  I guess he noticed the teal I have been using around the house for decorating and remembered I liked it!   I probably would not have picked this color out for myself but I'm glad he did because I wound up really liking it.  

I always try to do thin coats so they dry really well even if I have to do an extra one for coverage.  I wound up doing 3 coats of this polish, shown below. 

I used the top coat to cure it and sat for awhile waiting for it to dry.   I did it in the evening and was up for a few hours so it did have a chance to dry.  Still the next day I wound up with several dings and scratches.   

 I smoothed them out with polish remover and then applied another coat to the ones that were damaged.  I had checked out a few websites and read that it helps to go outside for a few minutes so I did that.  That must be the trick because they held up very well this time.  

This is after 5 days, picture below and I think it did pretty well.  I actually did a lot with my hands, washed dishes, worked on beadwork, combed my dogs and kitty, my regular stuff.  I don't see it looking that great at 14 days but for me regular polish and topcoat usually starts chipping off in a day or two.  

I will definitely give Sally Hansen Miracle Dry another try and get some Red polish for Christmas.  Here is the link for a lady named Karen Falcon at imabeautygeek.com who blogged about it and shows all the beautiful colors there are.   She reviewed every other polish brand you can think of too so it's a lot of info!!  Probably too much for me.  

 (PS.  I am not associated with Sally Hansen in anyway or Karen, I just thought it would be fun to post my process and that someone might find it useful and a way to save some money : )

 

After 5 days, just started to chip a little at the thumb and the cuticle area on my index finger.