Two At-Home Gel Manis That Will Make You Ditch the Salon for Good

Cut down on your beauty spending habits, one manicure at a time.
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Now that the holidays have completely ransacked those checking accounts, it’s time to buckle down on the expenses. The first thing on your list to eliminate from your beauty spending rotation should be bi-weekly visits to the salon for a gel mani. While we love a good beauty treatment as much as the next girl, this is an area where you can save big – but you have to know which brands to trust. Not all at-home gel manis are created equal, as we’ve tried and tested. After extensive research by our dedicated team here at Philly Mag, here are the two best DIY gel manis that are worth the buy. 

The Brand: OPI, $19.95 for base and top coat set, $12.50 for color polish at Ulta.

Real Talk: It’s a three-step process of base, polish, and top coat, which starts to add up very quickly.

Why We Love: If done right, this lacquer will stay on for about 10 to 12 days without a single chip. It goes on like normal polish, so you won’t have to worry about filing off the top layer of your nail. It also removes like a regular polish – no chemical-soaked, tin-foiled fingers here.

The Brand: Sally Hansen, $15.99 for polish and top coat set at Ulta.

Real Talk: It’s somewhere in between regular polish and an actual salon nail trip with UV lights.

Why We Love: It really doesn’t chip as quickly as regular polish. Expect at least a week of solid wear before any imperfections show up. The color selection is pretty extensive and on-trend, and there’s no clunky UV light needed. If you just want a long-lasting mani, this is the polish for you. However, we recommend springing for a salon visit if you have a vacation or multiple events coming up.
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