I love a good manicure as much as the next gal, but I'm not so fond of the price that comes with it. And to top it all off, I feel like I don't have any time to go to the salon. If this sounds like you, then you might wanna keep reading, because the solution to this problem is the SensatioNail Express Gel One Step Polish Manicure Kit ($59.99)! This kit is the ultimate kit for gel polish applications at home and comes with a gel polish (choice of either Red Your Profile or Made Him Blush), manicure stick, double sided nail buffer, and LED lamp.

I'm not going to lie, I've totally tried a gel polish kit at home years ago and I didn't like it at all. I gave away the kit and told myself I would never try it again, but when the opportunity presented itself again, I couldn't resist. I think that the added couple years of experience with painting nails (aka life) really helped this application go smoother... And maybe shaking the bottle really well helped a lot too. 

The application process was extremely simple and really only one extra step from a regular polish routine. Simple shape your nails and buff the surface a bit - I wouldn't say buffing the surface of the nail is mandatory as I skipped this step, but it definitely helps the polish adhere better. Then paint a thin coat on, being careful to clean the edges around the nail, and cure for about 30 seconds each nail. Repeat for a second coat and you're done! Here's a photo of my fresh af manicure in Red Your Profile that took me less than 15 minutes:

If you're impatient like me and want to fast track the process, the LED lamp allows you to cure at least 2 fingers at once with proper placement, but I sometimes double cure if the coat was too thick. I also noticed that there was slight burning sensation as the gel polish was curing, but this is something that normally happens to be when I get my nails done, especially with biogel.

So how long do these nails actually last? I'd say up to two weeks is a good time frame. I did a lot of cleaning on the first week, so nails were up to a lot more than normal, but the polish survived. The beginning of my second week was when the polish started to chip around the edges as you can see below - and I'm the type who picks at polish once it stops chipping so that was the end of that.