I’ve saved myself £1,000 a year by doing my own g…

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A good outfit can be ruined by shabby nails. Whether you favour long or short, square or stiletto, nude or blood red, a manicure can help pull everything together. So it’s no wonder that luxury salon Townhouse do over 169,000 manicures every year, a whopping 200 per cent increase since 2023.

And as an ex-nail biter, if my nails aren’t painted, I will nibble, pick and slowly destroy my cuticles until my fingers become an unsightly, bleeding mess. So in the interest of self-preservation I keep them protected. I am now the proud owner of both long and strong talons.

But with prices for a bog-standard gel manicure setting you back between £30 and £50 (more for nail art, special finishes or extensions), that’s a lot of cash to splash across the course of the year. So how did it save myself all that dosh? I learnt how to do it myself of course.

My number one tip is to use Mylee’s The Massive Kit. It’s £155 but comes with literally everything you’ll need; an LED lamp with different timer settings (for curing your gels), a top and base coat, a builder gel (like BIAB – it’s a stronger gel for those who need extra strength), eight colours, their Prep & Wipe solution (used to prime the nail pre-painting and seal the final top coat layer), lint-free wipes (so you don’t get any cotton fibres stuck to your nails) and a cuticle oil, along with several nail art tools, a cuticle pusher, gel remover and soak-off clips. It’s bang for your buck too – I’ve been using my set for years and still not managed to finish up all of my Prep & Wipe solution.

I will caveat by saying that if you’re sloppy when painting your nails with a normal nail varnish, you will want to practice so you can be relatively neat when doing your own gel mani, as removal here is more labour intensive than a simple swipe of nail varnish remover. But more on that later.

Here’s exactly how I do it…

• Clean up your cuticles. You don’t want any flappy bits that can break the seal of the gel, and it makes for a cleaner mani.

• Lightly buff the surface of the nail, it gives the gels a better purchase and your mani lasts longer.

• Using the lint-free wipe soaked in Prep & Wipe solution, clean the nail thoroughly before letting dry.

• Apply a thin layer of basecoat, staying away from the edge of the nails to avoid touching any cuticle or skin. If this happens, you will find that your gels could start to peel off after a couple of weeks. Cure for 60 seconds.

• Apply a thin layer of Builder Gel. There are a few different shades, including clear, but I personally favour the Peach shade as it’s the closest match to my skin tone. Cure for 60 seconds.

• Apply another thin layer of Builder Gel. Add more gel to the centre line of the nail for extra strength, trying to create an even apex to the curve of the nail. If it looks a bit lumpy you can hang your wrist with your nails pointing towards the floor and tap your hand to even out any bumps. Cure for two minutes.

• Apply two thin coats of your chosen colour, curing for 60 seconds in between.

• Apply a top coat and cure for two minutes, before finishing with a lint-free wipe and the Prep & Wipe solution.

The resulting manicure lasts for three weeks minimum – but can be longer, depending on how long I can hack the increasing sliver of regrowth at the base of the nail. I try not to use my nails as tools, which probably helps, but I am yet to experience any chips whatsoever. Yes, it’s a bit of a faff. But setting aside an hour or so to do them means that I save about £1000 a year, which is not an insignificant amount of money.

Plus, it’s quite fun to experiment. Sometimes I like to just stick to my tinted Builder Gel for a natural look, sometimes I might use the dotting tool or do a coloured French mani, there are chrome powders you can buy to play with, the list is endless. And if you want extra colours to play with they go for £9.99 each.

But I must stress here that proper removal is key to not ruining your nails. Attempting to pick or peel will damage them to the point where you’ll have to wait for them to grow out to look normal again. Just don’t do it.

And it does take time. As I mentioned above, because of the hard-wearing nature of gels it’s not a case of a quick rub with some remover. You have to file off the shine of the gels before soaking them with remover for 15 minutes and gently scraping the softened gel away. The metal scraper provided is brilliant helping with this process. I like to use their 100% Pure Acetone and Remover Foil Wraps as it’s quicker and I have no patience, but you can use their Gel Remover or the Acetone-free Gel Polish Remover if you’re averse to harsher chemicals or have more time. Just don’t be tempted to go too hard or you will ruin your natural nails.

It’s always good to have a bit of a breathing break too, so consider giving yourself a few days off and rubbing lots of cuticle oil in to hydrate your nail plate.

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I’ve saved myself £1,000 a year by doing my own gel manicures – here’s how